Department of Employment and Workplace Relations look to London Quarter building to boost low office occupancy

The employment department alongside the Department of Education and Australian Electoral Commission plan to move to a newly constructed 70,000-square-metre building on the corner of London Circuit and Northbourne Avenue in 2026.

Facing the public works committee, the employment department's first assistant secretary Scott Wallace said low attendance indicated that existing workspace was not suitable.

"Our current utilisation of our existing accommodation footprint runs at around about the 50 per cent mark, so on any given day, about 50 per cent of our desks are occupied," he said.

"Clearly that's something which reflects an inefficient use of that space, and combine that with the lack of collaboration spaces, there are certainly significant opportunities for us to adopt new ways of working."

"We hope to get a much greater occupancy rate in the new building," Mr Wallace said.

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Public servants for the departments and electoral commission are currently spread across 11 offices in Canberra, nine of which are located in the city, with leases due to end between 2022 and 2025.

The new building, which will feature a $149.62 million fit out across 11 floors, will also see a reduction in the total floor space leased, from 90,000 square metres to 70,000.

Flexible working arrangements appear to have been incorporated into the design, with eight desks allocated to every 10 Department of Employment and Workplace Relations public servants.

Mr Wallace, as well as the department's deputy secretary Deborah Jenkins, and the AEC's deputy electoral commissioner Jeff Pope spoke of ageing buildings which lacked modern and efficient workspaces.

"They are very much in the old style of large offices that are not flexible," Ms Jenkins said.

"So there is quite a waste of space in the current layout, the other thing in terms of unsuitability, would be the time that we spend running between the buildings."

She added that consolidating the leases was estimated to save the federal government $9 million per year.

Liberal Party Senator David Van questioned whether the entities could not find savings elsewhere.

"So if there's a reduction of space in this new thing, and that's producing the saving, couldn't just one of the leases have been given up... or as many as needed?"

"Therefore achieve that saving without the disruption."

Labor MP David Smith also raised the issue of the reduction of 20,000 square metres of floor space and how that could impact future growth or changes.

"Is that going to make it difficult if there's a requirement for growth in staff numbers?"

"Or possibly the movement of other allied organisations such as, and I'm not suggesting that they will move, but potentially something like the Fair Work Commission."

"Will it be difficult to accommodate future growth?"

Mr Wallace said there was capacity for approximately 10 per cent growth on current staffing levels in the new building, while Mr Pope added that the AEC's projected growth had been factored in already.

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