News & Insights

Macpherson Kelley’s Brisbane office has moved to the CBD after embarking on a staff engagement and change management process that aligns the workspace with its bold and progressive values.

Macpherson Kelley will be taking up residence at Waterfront Place, 1 Eagle Street on the building’s 30^th level.

COO David Ward spearheaded the relocation project, working closely with a cross-section of staff and guided by a Steering Committee of leadership within the office. The firm engaged Workplace Strategy Consultants Meta5 (also clients) to help with the change/strategy side. For David, involving the firm’s people in every step of the journey was integral to the project’s success.

“It was important that our office move be guided by our main purpose statement – to help our clients and our people succeed in business and in life. Practically we needed more space and we wanted to make it the kind of space our people were proud to call ours and in turn a space that lent itself to doing more with our clients face to face. We could see that our current premises weren’t achieving that, and we needed to invest in this change,” said David Ward.

“What attracted us to Meta5’s strategy was that it encouraged us to work collaboratively with our people, giving them a voice and an opportunity for us to build a tangible version of our values and ways of working in the form of our future workspace.”

The new space is beautiful. It looks over the winding Brisbane river and was designed by Unispace to be fit for purpose – with shared workspaces, collaborative break out rooms and private nooks to accommodate the demands of the modern legal professional.

The new workspace also ties in the firm’s existing policies and way of working such as the firm’s flexible working policy (Flex+), dress for your day and its commitment to environmental sustainability.

“One of the reasons we settled on Waterfront Place was the building’s innovative sustainability practices,” said David.

“Our firm joined the Australian Legal Sector Alliance (AusLSA) last year where we participate in publicly available reporting that identifies our firm’s commitment to ESG initiatives, one of the areas of improvement we identified was our environmental footprint when it came to our office space. Waterfront Place has a 5.5-star Nabers Energy rating, a 4.5-star Water rating and follows sustainable waste management systems.”

The firm isn’t stopping in Brisbane when it comes to modernising its workplace. Macpherson Kelley’s Sydney office will soon be undergoing a similar relocation project as the firm embarks on its continuous quest for improvement. According to Brisbane Managing Principal Lawyer Cathy Russo, the project has been well worth it.

“It comes back to our value of ‘better each day’. We want to do better for our clients and the people who make this firm the great place it is. I want our teams to always be looking for ways we can improve – this is just one of many things we can do,” said Cathy Russo.

The information contained in this article is general in nature and cannot be relied on as legal advice nor does it create an engagement. Please contact one of our lawyers listed above for advice about your specific situation.