The Shoprite Group of Companies, is Africa’s largest food retailer. It operates more than 2,829 stores in 15 countries across Africa. The company’s headquarters are in Brackenfell in the Western Cape

Shoprite redeveloped the Fairbridge Mall complex to include two office floors to accommodate additional growth within the head office campus.

Collaboration was appointed to design the interior of the building which was to accommodate approximately seven hundred and sixty staff, including the various facilities needed to support the working environment. Many months of planning went into creating the layouts, which balanced open plan working areas; enclosed meeting spaces and informal collaboration spaces. The collaboration spaces are strategically placed in and around working areas with work tools in the form of furniture and technology to promote collaboration and idea sharing. The working environment’s flexibility was enhanced by the high number of staff using laptops throughout the environment allowing more dynamic use of the various spaces provided.

The building consists of two floors with circulation passages in the center of the floors and around the central open air courtyard. Both floors have a reception and external meeting room zone; enclosed offices that can be used as meeting rooms when not occupied; internal meeting rooms; focus rooms; pause areas and ablution facilities. On the first floor is a canteen with a coffee shop and entertainment bar which has access to the internal open air courtyard.

Mobility was a key consideration in that all employees work on laptops allowing for maximum mobility to be able to meet and work from any location within the new offices or remotely from home. Desk sharing and work scheduling forms a key part of the workspace strategy to accommodate the headcount working on a rotation between office based and home working.