HASSELL is a leading international design practice with studios in Australia, China, South East Asia, and the United Kingdom.

The firm’s design values are shared globally, across all the HASSELL studios, by the talented people who work in them: architects, interior designers, landscape architects, urban designers, planners, and specialist consultants.

Objectives

  • Improve document management
  • Collaborate with clients and consultants
  • Reduce administration
  • Eliminate loss of project emails
  • Optimise information searches

Results

  • Shared project folders improve collaboration
  • Email is properly filed and managed
  • Straightforward implementation ensures migration across all studios
  • Information searches are quick and easy
  • Project teams have more time for important tasks

HASSELL uses Newforma software to connect international studios and streamline information access.

HASSELL has become a leading Australian design firm by integrating the skills of dispersed teams who are experts in a range of disciplines. But the firm found their need to collaborate and manage project information extended beyond the capability of their legacy document management system.

After a review of their options, HASSELL implemented Newforma Project Center software. It’s the industry’s first and most comprehensive solution for project information management. As a result, the people of HASSELL have transformed their project delivery processes. The benefits extend far beyond email management and collaboration.

Newforma makes access faster, reduces risk.

Strengthened connections

HASSELL Design Systems Manager Johnny Chloride found that, with the use of Newforma software, their project teams have been better able to collaborate.

“Even though Newforma has a whole breadth of different features, the key features we’re using to best effect are those for project email and file transfers – being able to send large files outside of HASSELL to our clients, consultants and collaborators,” Johnny said.

“Using the Info Exchange website enables people outside the HASSELL network to connect to files that have been shared directly from the project folder. At any time, people can log in from a website and access those files from any device with a web browser.”

Search capabilities

“Before Newforma software, it was possible to connect across studios, but being able to see and search the files was so slow it wasn’t really workable,” Johnny said.

“When we first implemented Newforma, people were able to find files they thought they’d lost in our project folders.

“Newforma acts almost like an internal Google. It lets you search through different project folders and will index not just the files, but also the text within the files, and is able to return those results back to you really, really fast. It’s quite incredible.”

Risk mitigation

“The Project Email activity centre reduces risk because it makes it so easy to find and sort emails filed to projects,” Johnny said. “Then conversely, when people leave HASSELL, we have saved those emails in the project itself.”

Integration and implementation

“We’ve now completed the implementation across all of our different studios. We rolled out quite aggressively,” Johnny said.

“Since we have over 250 different applications and add-ins, it was important that implementing Newforma software was really straightforward. It acts as an additional layer that connects into the existing project folders.

“For new users it’s quite easy, and we’ve found people have taken to it really quickly. I think that’s because it’s laid out in a straightforward manner.”

Image: In Melbourne’s Medibank Place, HASSELL created a building to promote mental and physical well-being. Photo © Earl Carter