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In many commercial workplaces, interior systems designed to last decades are routinely removed after a single lease cycle.
Dexus’s ‘Forever Fitout’ approach proposes an alternative model: one where workplace environments are designed to evolve, adapt and retain value over time rather than be repeatedly demolished and rebuilt.
At 1 Bligh Street in Sydney, Dexus and Woods Bagot explored how a premium workplace could be created around principles of durability, flexibility and reuse, while still delivering the quality, performance and experience expected from a contemporary commercial office environment.
Central to the approach was the idea of creating a workplace from adaptable “kit-of-parts” elements – modular systems capable of supporting changing spatial needs, future tenancy shifts and evolving patterns of work.
For Optima, this aligned closely with the thinking behind the Adaptable Meeting Room (AMR) system.
LocationSydney
ArchitectWoods Bagot
ContractorQuadric
Designing for change rather than replacement
Originally conceived as freestanding meeting architecture, the AMR system was designed to accommodate one of the defining challenges of modern workplaces: change.
As organisations evolve, workplace requirements rarely remain static. Spaces designed for focused work may later need to support collaboration. Meeting areas may need to expand, contract or relocate entirely. Yet conventional fit outs often struggle to accommodate these shifts without substantial reconstruction.
At 1 Bligh Street, the AMR system was used to create a range of enclosed work settings, from individual focus rooms through to larger collaborative meeting spaces. Rather than functioning as fixed architectural interventions, the rooms were designed as modular elements capable of being relocated, resized and reused over time.
This flexibility formed part of the wider Forever Fitout ambition to reduce repeated strip-outs, minimise construction waste and extend the useful life of interior assets.
The approach also reflects a broader shift within workplace design – moving away from interiors conceived around a single occupancy cycle and towards environments designed for long-term adaptation.
Balancing flexibility with workplace experience
While adaptability sat at the heart of the project, workplace experience remained equally important.
The design needed to support focused work, collaboration, privacy and acoustic comfort within a high-performing commercial environment.
The AMRs were therefore conceived not simply as enclosed rooms, but as fully integrated workplace settings incorporating acoustics, airflow, lighting and connectivity considerations.
For larger meeting spaces, glazed walls were combined with solid acoustic elements and fabric-wrapped panels to balance visual openness with acoustic separation, allowing enclosed spaces to sit lightly within the wider floorplate rather than feeling heavily built-in. Individual focus rooms incorporated additional visual screening while maintaining access to light through glazed front elevations.
Acoustic performance was a key consideration throughout the project, recognising the growing importance of sound control within contemporary open-plan workplaces. Airflow, lighting quality and integrated services were similarly considered as part of creating spaces capable of supporting comfortable and productive daily use.
This balance between performance and adaptability is central to the Forever Fitout philosophy. Flexibility alone is not enough – the workplace must also remain desirable, functional and enduring in both aesthetic and operational terms.
Durability as a sustainability strategy
One of the more significant ideas underpinning Forever Fitout is that sustainability is not solely about material selection at the point of installation, but about extending the useful life of what is already created.
Dexus’s design narrative identifies durability, aesthetic longevity and long-term cost effectiveness as critical project drivers alongside sustainability.
Within this context, reusable systems become part of a wider circular economy approach to workplace interiors – reducing the environmental and financial impacts associated with repeated demolition, replacement and reconstruction.
Designed from the outset to be demountable and reusable, the AMR system supports changing workplace requirements without requiring complete replacement. Combined with the system’s ability to be relocated and reconfigured over time, the approach reflects a broader shift away from short-life workplace fit outs towards more circular interior environments.
Towards a more circular workplace model
The 1 Bligh Street project demonstrates how commercial interiors can begin shifting from a linear fit out model towards one based on retention, adaptation and reuse.
The project was recognised as the first 5 Star Green Star Fitout certified project under the Green Building Council of Australia’s Green Star Fitouts pathway, reflecting its focus on circularity, flexibility and long-term environmental performance.
Importantly, the project does not position sustainability in opposition to workplace quality. Instead, it suggests that adaptability, wellbeing, performance and longevity can increasingly be considered together as part of a more resilient approach to workplace design.
As organisations continue to reconsider how offices are used, occupied and valued, the ability for workplace environments to evolve over time may become just as important as how they perform on day one.
