Workplace Wellness Done Well - Our Top 3 Picks

In our digital age, what can the physical office offer that home cannot? This is a question we are constantly contemplating at Office Habitat.

Recently, the industry gathered together across the country for the Property Council of Australia’s Mid-Year 2026 Office Market Report Event Series. The main finding was that the total Australian office vacancy increased from 15.8% to 16.1% in the six months to July 2026. Furthermore, across all states, demand was concentrated heavily on premium A-Grade spaces.

Commuting through traffic, paying for petrol and parking may seem wasteful when most work nowadays is dependant only on a fast internet connection. Across our features covering Australia’s best workplace design, we have been observing this common theme of offices struggling to motivate people back into the physical space. These findings only confirm it. We believe that the gap lies within unlocking broader lifestyle offerings.

1. 101 Collins (RISE & ONE) by Gray Puksand

Picture this … You commute to your Melbourne CBD office as the sun is rising, well before the work traffic. You exit the elevator to a light-filled basement and walk into your morning yoga class. You linger on the suspended hammocks and mingle with others working in your building. You shower and change in luxury end-of-trip facilities. Feeling fresh, you grab your laptop from your locker and head upstairs to commence your day. You experienced a day that was full but not just from work.

We believe 101 Collins exemplifies workplace wellness at its finest. Gray Puksand’s design thinking in this project extends beyond mere work by acknowledging employees' broader lifestyle factors and problem solving them. RISE offers a purpose-built wellness precinct featuring hot yoga, TRX studios and consulting suites. ONE offers luxury end-of-trip facilities, onsite childcare, and even a tech-enabled concierge service for parcel collection and dry cleaning. For those working here, it is clear that all their needs have been meticulously thought through to ensure a smooth and convenient workday.

2. White Fox by PMG Group

Imagine an office that has a library, a gym, two saunas, a pilates studio, a golf simulator, a spray tan vending machine, a podcast studio, a massage room, an auditorium, a pink tennis court and a hot pink slide landing into a ball pit to top it all off.

One of the most amenity-rich workplaces we’ve seen thus far is White Fox’s new Sydney headquarters by PMG Group.

Again, it is the overall lifestyle elements that make employees and guests alike, want to linger before and after work. A game of ping-pong between meetings, an impromptu photoshoot, a sauna catch-up after work.

It’s about integrating lifestyle into the overall work experience and creating organic opportunities for real connection. This is how real work culture is fostered, not necessarily through the work itself, but through everything else.

3. Mayfair by Hassell & Bates Smart

Working in the city itself is its own lifestyle that requires a level of flexibility to make it feel as aspirational as it looks. Melbourne’s historic Mayfair building, 171 Collins, is now a premium commercial office tower designed by Bates Smart in 2013.

Bates Smart’s later end-of-trip refurbishment in 2021 introduced 280 bike racks, showers, lockers, dry-change facilities and wellness-oriented amenities designed to encourage healthier and more conscious commuting patterns.

More recently Hassell introduced a new Level 2 amenities floor. It includes a lounge café and bar, wellness spaces, a multi-faith room, collaborative lounges and flexible meeting environments, designed like a boutique hospitality setting.

This is exactly the kind of in-between space that encourages people to mingle, share a drink and linger even beyond work hours.

Our conclusion …

Rather than separating work and life entirely, the contemporary workplace is beginning to blend the two. We believe that wellbeing within the workplace is the cumulation of offering balanced lifestyle options, inspiring design and a thriving social atmosphere that makes people want to stay, even beyond work hours.

Credits

101 Collins

Base Building Architect

Denton Corker Marshall

Interior Architecture & Design

Gray Puksand

Photography

'ONE' Tatjana Plitt
'RISE' Shannon McGrath

Furniture

Tom Raffield, Jardan, Stylecraft, Living Edge

Builder (RISE)

MPA