HSBC HQ Design: Building Sustainability, Human Capital & Service Culture

Design Research & Change Management Rollout | DEGW x HSBC (2010) | 187,550 sqft / 1,850 pax

BACKGROUND | The advent of financial meltdown of 2008 prompted many large banks around the world to examine the efficiency and performance of their real estates portfolios built during the prior heydays. For HSBC, it was a question of the necessity of the need for individual desk ownership, and of whether the space can deliver the ideal experience to its diverse clientele and employees. To address these questions, HSBC Singapore engaged DEGW to develop a design and implementation strategy for the reorganization of the business groups at its new home at Mapletree Business City (MBC).

PROCESS | Through in-depth user research and engagement with business units, DEGW identified an opportunity to introduce an 80% non-territorial work environment with an average desk to people ratio of 1:1.1. To support this new way of working and meet the diverse requirement of teams, DEGW developed new kit-of-parts shared space concepts to expand the range of support spaces in conjunction with the provision of new mobile technologies and IT infrastructure. To embed this change, DEGW delivered a comprehensive change program, including change workshops, internal communications, and training of in-house staff, sustaining the engagement with users.

RESULT | A brand new visitor experience streamlined with the supporting back-end service, increased staff satisfaction and a new operational efficiency equating to $25m USD cost-savings over 8 years. Future growth can also be accommodated without change to real estate by increasing the sharing ratio over time.