Shaw Communications Campus

Due to a change in leadership and strategic direction, Shaw Communications merged and restructured their 1,200-person IT and engineering departments to create a single division that was re-branded as Technology and Network Operations (TNO).

Following this change in leadership and structure great strides were made to establish and authenticate a new TNO culture, but the fact remained that they were still fragmented and housed in physical silos across various locations. The teams were sluggish in embracing the new strategic direction and in delivering new technologies at the speed required to stay relevant in the cable and wireless industry.

Shaw’s leadership team decided to repurpose a 210,000 square foot building, previously used as a call centre, located on their Shaw campus. It was the ideal opportunity to co-locate the TNO departments to one single location and design a space specifically for this unique team. A physical merger to a new, neutral location had the potential to unlock a refreshed TNO ecosystem of cross-collaboration, knowledge sharing and transparency of work processes that reflected their recent shift in strategy and vision.

Hive led Shaw’s in-house workplace strategy, and along with the in-house design and construction team collaborated with Kasian interior design to execute the design and construction of the new TNO space. Change management was completed by Shaw’s facilities and communication teams. Their collective efforts were focused on the following project drivers for the TNO workplace study, which were defined and validated by the TNO leadership team and employees:

• Create a workplace design that supports the groups, teams, individuals, and work processes.
• Ensure a flexible design to allow for co-location of industry-based partners and the expansion and collapse of team requirements.
• Promote productivity and increased engagement with a focus on knowledge sharing, cross-collaboration, leadership development, transparency of work, and trust building.

The outcome of the workplace strategy resulted in designing an office with seven “neighbourhoods”, all linked by a central hallway system that runs throughout the main floor of the L-shaped building. This design made it easy for staff to meet and work together in one of the office’s dozens of breakout rooms, booths, lab areas and presentation spaces to ensure their space supported the work they needed to do.