First staff make their move to The Bendigo Centre

Today will not be any ordinary day for staff at Bendigo Bank’s headquarters.

The first of almost 1000 Bendigo Bank staff will work their first day in The Bendigo Centre today, marking a significant part of the Bank’s history.

Bendigo Bank Managing Director Rob Hunt said the move was significant for a number of reasons.

Perhaps one of the most important was the fact that The Bendigo Centre would eventually bring all Bendigo Bank head office staff together for the first time in more than 10 years, Mr Hunt said.

“As the building has come closer to completion, the anticipation amongst all Bendigo Bank staff has grown,” he said.

“This state of the art building will provide the ideal environment for our staff and will bring them together in the one place, creating a closer and more cohesive team,” he said.

“This is a major commitment to Bendigo and one which confirms the city’s status as a major financial centre and as a prosperous and vibrant city to live and work in.

“Although we have branches in every state and territory in Australia, the fact that our headquarters remains here, in our home city, is a distinct advantage for our company.”

Staff from the Bank’s Victorian state office, and from the operational risk, Community Bank® and insurance departments will be some of the first to start work in the centre today.

Over four weekends in June, almost 450 staff will move into the centre.

They will be followed by additional staff in July and August, and the remainder of Bank staff in 2008, once the second and third stages of construction are complete.

The Bendigo Centre has a range of environmental features including:

• external sun shading
• double glazed windows
• automatic light dimming
• solar hot water
• underfloor air-conditioning, which also allows individual user control
• rainwater collection
• grey and black water recycling
• recycled water used in toilets and mixed with rain water for irrigation