Exciting things were afoot on Friday, 25 March – home appliance giant Dyson officially moved into its new global headquarters at the historic St James Power Station in the HarbourFront area. The building had undergone an extensive facelift for the last three years, including restorative works to the facade and the installation of 18 laboratories.
The reception area at Dyson’s 110,000 sq ft office space at St James Power Station, which underwent extensive restoration efforts from late 2018 to early 2021. The building’s steel beams, columns and roof trusses were stripped to a bare finish, de-rusted and re-painted with three new coats.
PM Lee Hsien Loong (left) and Sir James Dyson were at the launch of the company's new global headquarters at St James Power Station.
According to architects and conservation consultants overseeing the restoration project, the exterior facade of St James Power Station proved most challenging. Each brick was assessed and restored by hand through the work of skilled artisans, with most of them able to be repaired and retained. Only those severely damaged ones had to be replaced.
The new headquarters comprise 18 state-of-the-art laboratories to fuel Dyson’s ambitions to enter new research fields and develop new technology products with increasing inbuilt intelligence, says the company.
A “Technology Showcase” section features the latest from Dyson and also demonstrates how its machines are displayed in over 318 of its Demo Stores worldwide.
The “History Walk” traces the evolution of Dyson technologies over the past three decades - starting with Dyson's first bagless vacuum cleaner, the DC01, which was launched in 1993. Other key products include hair straighteners, air purifiers, lighting and hand dryers
The building was designed to support the wellbeing of its occupants, through the use of technology and engineering to promote collaboration and personal performance, according to Dyson. It also features carbon-neutral flooring and acoustic engineering to create zones for “deep thinking and focus”.
One prominent architectural feature is a spiral staircase, described by founder Sir James Dyson as resembling a cyclone. Dyson says its office was designed to use minimal embodied carbon, and harnesses sustainable, recycled and environmentally-friendly materials instead.
The office features biophilic elements such as open collaboration spaces with ample natural light, where engineers may come together to develop new Dyson technologies.
Dyson purifiers and Dyson lighting technology - in complement with natural light - are deployed throughout the facility to enhance focus and support productivity, according to a company press release.
A model of the Dyson Electric Vehicle is also on display in the premises. In late 2019, the company pulled the plug on widely-publicised plans to build the car in Singapore, saying it was no longer commercially viable.
Originally published in The Straits Times.