TRAVELLING THE WORLD FROM THE VIADUCT

New Zealand t ech success story Online Republic, a global travel group specialising in cruise, car rental and motor home travel bookings, will be one of the first tenants in the 12 Madden St building, occupying the whole fifth floor–a total of 1, 480 square metres.

Chief executive Vaughan Magnusson says t he company was looking for a space in an up-andcoming part of the city when they heard about it.

“We were keen to find a space that aligned with our own values of maintaining high energy, agility and an entrepreneurial culture.”

After being spread over two separate offices in Generator’ s Excelsior House for the past three years, Ma gnus son believes a single floor plate will do wonders for the company’ s organisational culture.

Although Online Republic aren’t in a coworking environment, Ma gnus son says their open plan set up encourages as much team interaction as possible.

“Despite the fact that we are no longer a startup, we never want to lose those core startup values of passion, energy, agility and resourcefulness. Aside from cost efficiency of co-working spaces, I think small and early stage ventures feed off the energy of one another and t hat general vibe of excitement associated with new ventures.”

He says networking opportunities and serendipitous conversations that take place in coworking spaces aren't as readily achievable when you' re not immersed in that environment.