“Innovation is now an important determinant of quality,” says industry stalwart Stephen Ballesty as the Property Council releases the third edition of ’A Guide to Office Building Quality’.
The chairman of the Property Council’s Office Quality Guide Steering Committee since its inception in 2004, Ballesty has “navigated a diversity of stakeholders and coordinated multiple committees through the debates to settle on clear guidance on the seemingly subjective and intangible concept of quality”.
The 28-strong steering committee spent 12 months scrutinising “hot” issues – carbon neutrality, wellness, density, resilience and more – and re-examined standard practices, from lift designs to egress requirements. This was followed by 16 months of public consultation and board review to arrive at the new guide.
This third edition retains the familiar matrix originally conceived for the first edition in 2006, but has been updated and reformatted into a single integrated document. While the third edition is a similar size to its predecessors, it captures “far more complexity”, Ballesty explains.
Ballesty maintains “perceptions of quality change over time, and are shaped by technology, regulatory and social issues”. His committee’s role was to “interpret the current market perceptions of quality and glimpse the future”.
Emerging technology, including the Internet of Things, real-time monitoring, integrated building systems, big data, blockchain and cybersecurity, are now on the radar, as the office market seeks “to accommodate an array of user demands and workplace strategies”.
Ballesty says the latest edition “reflects that innovation is now an important determinant of quality – and this is largely being driven by the dynamic and diverse needs of the market”. 
Some quality parameters in previous editions are no longer necessary because they are now business-as-usual, like power factor efficiency. Others are redundant, like mail rooms. The Grade D category for existing buildings is no longer needed, because “market rents alone are a sufficient determinant for such assets”.
Calculations for occupancy densities in new buildings are unchanged and clarified, being based on one person per 10 sqm for 100 percent of a building’s net lettable area, except for lift services that remain at one person per 12 sqm. Density calculations for existing buildings have been clarified as being acceptable at one person per 12 sqm. It is recognised that some tenants might choose for offices to be designed explicitly for higher or lower density than is described in the guide.
The guide is voluntary, assumes statutory compliance and “is not a standard or a specification”. But the “ultimate measure” of office quality is clear: the rent or financial value an occupant is willing to pay in return for the amenity and services delivered.
Ballesty emphasises that buildings are not required to achieve every quality parameter or meet all the criteria outlined in the Guide. “This is not a ‘tick the box’ exercise”. Rather buildings should “overwhelmingly meet the stated criteria” to achieve the grade. “An office should, in the first instance, reflect its current user’s requirements, and consider future flexibility.”
Ballesty spent nearly four decades with Rider Levett Bucknall before establishing In-Touch Advisory last year. He has devoted many years of service to industry boards and committees, including his work on behalf of the Property Council with Standards Australia and in turn the International Organization for Standardization. He believes “nowhere else approaches the assessment of office quality with the same rigour as we do in Australia”.
“The Property Council’s establishment and continued support of the Quality Guide represents true leadership.”
The third edition of the Property Council of Australia A Guide to Office Building Quality comes into effect on 1 July 2019. Order your copy today.