The South Australian Business Chamber Corporate Member Bedford recently expanded their Panorama offices to include a series of high-tech offices at Tonsely. Bedford-supported employees Cameron, Chelsea and Tony love their new digs. And who wouldn’t when you’re in the epicentre of a Smart City, overlooking a tropical rainforest with a mist-spraying volcano?
“The offices are very modern and so easy to use. I am finding Tonsley a good place to work, and it is easy to park my vehicle,” Tony said.
About 30 Bedford team members from their finance and transformation team recently relocated from their main site to Tonsley. According to Chief Finance Officer Sam Hunter, the move was triggered by the expansion of the Day Options program, down the road in Panorama.
“We knew Day Options was growing fast and in demand. So instead of putting people on a waiting list, we decided to free up the space to accommodate their rapid expansion,” Mr Hunter said.
Adjusting to a new site was easy for some, as many staff had already been working from home or in a COVID-safe hybrid model. For others, like finance clerk Cameron, who has a great group of friends at Panorama, the transition took a little longer.
“At first, I thought it was going to be a challenge ’cause I will miss all my friends at Panorama, but we text each other. After a while, I settled down into the new environment, and the team here also enjoys working together.”
No sooner had the space freed up in Panorama, the tradies started creating exciting new spaces and new services for Day Options such as a pottery room, sensory rooms, cooking and IT facilities.
Being at Tonsley initiated conversations with the neighbouring start-ups and tertiary institutions such as SAGE Automation for open employment pathways and Flinders University to undertake a study in measuring social value.
“This move made sense. And now my team really loves their new environment and being surrounded by so many interesting and innovative businesses. I think that goes a long way to changing people’s mindset about how you can operate your organisation in the future.
“It’s exciting. The future vision is to collaborate with like-minded organisations and get into fit-for-purpose sites, so Tonsley is the first step towards achieving that vision,” Sam Hunter said.
