Lot Fourteen’s Entrepreneur and Innovation Centre set to transform the nature of work

The $400m Entrepreneur and Innovation Centre will seek to transform the modern workplace.

The Entrepreneur and Innovation centre will be the flagship building of the Lot Fourteen innovation district on North Tce.

Devised well before the pandemic, Adelaide’s version of Silicon Valley is emerging as a global exemplar of how to attract tech talent in the post-Covid era when these in-demand workers can operate anywhere, anytime.

The flagship building of the Lot Fourteen innovation district on North Tce, the $400m Entrepreneur and Innovation Centre (EIC) will seek to transform the modern workplace in terms of how it looks and feels, and how it is used.

The 16-level tower will be the highly visible showpiece of Lot Fourteen, the seven hectare site of the old Adelaide Hospital now attracting tenancies from at least 72 established businesses and 56 start-ups, including from the space, defence and cyber industries.

Owned and managed by the specialist property firm Quintessential Equity, the EIC is intended to raise the bar even higher in terms of providing an engaging and collaborative workplace. Once completed in 2024, the EIC is expected to house between 3000 and 4000 workers across high-growth industries.

Quintessential executive chairman Shane Quinn describes the EIC as the “post-pandemic building of the future” and even the “Disneyland for office workers”.

“We think it will be a game changer for offices in Australia,” he says. “It will be the place people are drawn to so they want to come back to work. We want to curate everything in the day for that working person to have the best experience they can.”

Visually, the Cox Architecture designed building will incorporate twisting and interconnected floorplates, a faceted facade, public atrium and landscaped podium roof terrace.

With a central core, the building will have floor-to-ceiling windows on all sides to allow for natural light. Rather than being dominated by battery hen-style desk cubicles, the 41,000sqm of space will feature parent rooms, dedicated equal-access facilities, a wellness centre with a concierge and gym, and ample meeting facilities.

Other tech-heavy features include electric vehicle and bike charging stations, contactless doors and secure 5G network availability (including in the surrounding green spaces). The ground and first floor will house the $20m Innovation Hub, a place for idea exchange, accelerating research translation and commercialisation between business, universities and the public sector as part of the Adelaide City Deal.

Quinn says the EIC building is targeting a 5.5-star efficiency rating under the local NABERS grading, a six-star Green Star ranking and a six-star rating under the international Platinum WELL system. (The EIC would be only the second building in Australia to win the WELL rating, the first one being Quintessential’s WorkSafe premises in Malop St, Geelong).

Lot Fourteen’s appeal as a tech hub has already been validated by global tech giants Amazon, Google and Microsoft all taking out space among the district’s cluster of refurbished historic buildings. Other Lot Fourteen tenants include Australian Space Agency, the Australian Institute for Machine Learning, start-up incubator Stone & Chalk, and the Australian Cyber Collaboration Centre.

The Entrepreneur and Innovation Centre (EIC) to be developed at Lot Fourteen as viewed from the Adelaide Botanic Garden. Picture: Supplied.

Last month the Commonwealth Bank added its heft to the rota of tenancies, becoming the first private entity to commit to space in the EIC. Covering a whole floor, the CBA’s space is a key plank in the bank’s wider strategy to recruit hundreds of IT specialists outside of its home base of Sydney.

CBA chief information officer for technology Brendan Hopper says that after assessing sites in other capital cities, the bank opted for the EIC space because Lot Fourteen aligned with the bank’s thinking on IT skills development. He says that as the direct employer of 4500 tech engineers, the bank has a responsibility to ensure Australia has the tech skills it needs.

“When Australia does well, we do well, and tech is a major part of that,” Hopper says.

More practically, the bank’s EIC footprint will enable it to compete for talent at a time it intends to hire at least 600 software engineers and 200 data scientists – if it can find them.

Hopper says the bank’s hybrid approach to office-versus-remote working recognises that workers will go to the office not because they have to, but because they want to.

“We see the office for complex problem solving, collaboration, connection and mentoring, not for everyday tech work,” he says.

Reflecting this, the CBA’s space will contain about 125-130 seats, compared with a targeted hybrid occupancy of 150 people.

“Space is not a constraint,” Hopper says. “We will hire as many people as we can grow, reskill, or find in the market to work from Adelaide. There’s no cap on what percentage of our workforce could be working in South Australia.”

Meanwhile, Quinn says that Quintessential has been in “deep discussions” with several government and private tenants across the defence, cyber and technology sectors.

Quinn notes a discernible “buzz” around the Lot Fourteen district, which is a mortar board’s throw from University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia, as well as the city’s East End entertainment precinct. This vibe is evidenced by the willingness of like-minded tenants to join minds – and share intellectual property – for a mutually beneficial result.

“The philosophy is that if you can solve half of a problem, we’ll solve the other half,” Quinn says. “They realise that because tech is moving so fast, if they don’t collaborate they are not in the race.”

Quintessential’s involvement in the EIC deepens the firm’s confidence in Adelaide’s emergence as a centre for commerce and innovation. The firm’s existing $400m Adelaide portfolio includes 431 King William St, 100 King William St and the 33ha Port Adelaide Distribution Centre.

“Adelaide has always had an attractive lifestyle and that’s demonstrated by being voted the third most liveable city in the world, and by far the most liveable city in Australia,” Quinn says. “Overlay affordability, lifestyle and aspirational world-class jobs in high tech; it’s so obvious that Adelaide is going to boom.”

The CBA’s Hopper says Adelaide tech professionals no longer have to choose between a favourable lifestyle and moving elsewhere to pursue a career.

“All of the organisations here – both domestic and international – have incredible potential and we really wanted to make sure we were at the ground floor and there at the start,” he says.