After more than 20 years designing and delivering workspace projects of every size and budget, I set up The Workspace Strategist for the part I’ve always cared about most: the thinking that comes before the design.
My goal is simple: to help businesses avoid costly mistakes, make confident decisions and create workplaces that genuinely work for their people.
I started my own practice for the same reason many of my clients started theirs: to build something on my own terms rather than fit into someone else’s model. It’s why I pay attention to the business you’ve built, not just the building you’re in.
Most businesses move from “we need a new space” straight to viewing properties and signing documents, and skip the part in between: the thinking about what the space actually needs to do, for how the business really works.
Across more than 100 workspace projects, I saw the same pattern. The decisions carrying the most money, which building, how much space, what the fit-out needs to do, were made before anyone asked the team how they work.
I help business owners clearly define what their workspace actually needs to do, before they sign a lease, commit to a refurbishment or agree a fit-out scope.
I work online anywhere, and can facilitate on-site throughout New Zealand and Australia.
How I can help:
The Workspace Performance Survey An anonymous online survey with a personalised link for your business, set up for your team to answer over five working days. Find out how your space is actually working for the people in it.
The Diagnostic™ A 60-minute call to work through what the decision you’re facing actually involves: the risks specific to your situation, the questions you should be asking before anyone gets a fee, and what the process looks like from here. You leave with a clear picture, and a view on whether a full process is worth it for you.
The Intensive™ A fully facilitated strategic briefing process engaging your whole team to surface what’s actually going on, and turn it into a written brief that’s entirely yours, one that gives you something to hold every agent, designer and builder to.
You walk into every conversation that follows with the clearest possible picture of what your business actually needs.
An interior designer focuses on how a space looks, feels and functions. I work at an earlier stage, helping you understand what your business needs from its space and why, and turning that into a clear brief your designer and every other professional can work from. I spent over 20 years on the design side, so I know what a good brief needs to give a designer.
Ideally, before you start looking at properties, sign a commercial lease or engage an architect or fit-out company. The earlier the thinking happens, the more options are still open, and the less it costs to change your mind.
Yes. I work with founders signing their first commercial lease as well as established businesses planning a move or a major refurbishment. The same strategic thinking that protects a large organisation’s investment protects a small business’s too, and for a small business the money is often personal.
Yes. I help you assess how your current space is working, what the business will need from here, and which option will best support your team, operations and budget. I don’t start from the assumption that a move or a refurbishment is the answer.
Your agent can help you find and negotiate a property, and they’re paid when a deal is done. Architects and fit-out companies are paid to design and build. I’m independent, with no commissions or fees tied to what you decide, so the only thing I’m working for is the right decision for your business.
