In a surge of growth and expansion, Citibank commissions new centre of excellence in Irish capital to sustain business development in an expanding economy.
Citibank have been present in Ireland since the mid 80’s but in 1993, with the Irish economy starting to expand with its entry into the EU, and the establishment of numerous high-tech internal investments by US multinationals, the bank began to expand its operations in order to better serve its customers.
This resulted in a rapidly-expanding need for accommodation, and by 1996 it was using four buildings in central Dublin, either for operational needs or for training. Facing an inevitable inefficiency and cost from these multiple locations, the bank decided to build its own headquarters building in the newly-established International Financial Services Centre that the Irish government was promoting to regenerate a run-down area in the city centre.
It was a massive undertaking, recalls John Brophy, Vice President, Asset Head for Ireland, whose task it was to lead the teams responsible for a programme of accommodating an increase of staff from about 180 to a total of 1800 staff within a three-year period, and providing for further potential growth for several hundred more.
With the need to get the building built from a bare site within a 24 month timescale, timing was critical, and all elements of the trades and suppliers had to perform on schedule for the project as a whole to succeed. Citibank had worked with Herman Miller’s representatives in Ireland, MJ Flood Ltd, for a number of years in various of the previous locations, and it was a natural progression for them to compete for the headquarters.
The project team were anxious to ensure that the internal ambiance of the building was a quality one, mindful of the need to attract and keep top-calibre staff in an expanding economy. ‘We want to be an employer of choice,’ says Brophy, ‘and providing workplaces, seating office accommodation that matches that need is critical to us.’
The project team’s task was to come up with office accommmodation that was comporable to or better than anything that the bank currenty had in Europe or even the world.
When it came to selecting the furniture and seating, focus groups were held, whereby business managers from various parts of the business nominated team members to trial various manufacturers’ offering. ‘It was a long and arduous task, organising the focus groups,’ recalls Brophy ‘but we got a lot out of it, and the staff got a lot out of it. We were seen to be very proactive in including the staff in the whole thought process. We ended up with a comfortably-sized workstation of 1600 x 1600, which was a base design, and which people feel that they have had a chance of influencing. The feedback that we’ve had on the new furniture is very positive.’
When the base workstation design was established, the project team then were able to adapt and extend it to make it suitable for managers and for different roles and functions within the organisation. ‘It’s typical of Citibank to bring the staff along in this type of decision-making’ says Brophy.
The bank prefers an open office environment and the move to the new headquarters was also the occasion to sweep away much of the cellular accommodation that had been a feature of the previous buildings portfolio.
‘We’re phenominally proud of our achievement to date’ says John Brophy, ‘and Citibank are rightly pleased with what has been achieved here, which will lay the foundations for our activities here in Ireland for years to come.’
