RESIDING on the top floor of the Nova 93.7 building at 464 Hay Street, IT company Lateral Sands is well situated to enjoy all the benefits of its cosmopolitan location.
After spending three years in West Perth, the digital hardware design services company is enjoying its new digs.
Chief executive Scott Goodheart said the firm, which has a staff of mainly male software engineers, had “exhausted” the West Perth cafe strip and was in the search of new stimuli.
Riding the tail end of the tech boom, Lateral Sands took advantage of the low Australian dollar and swiftly tripled in size by supplying hardware to America’s technology centre, Silicon Valley.
After outgrowing two offices in West Perth and expanding from four engineers to about 45, Lateral Sands started searching for new premises in 2000.
Mr Goodheart said areas considered included West Perth, the Perth CBD and Subiaco.
“Back in 2000 there was not much commercial space in Subiaco,” he said.
The area’s central location, relatively cheap parking, proximity to the city, extensive hospitality, retail facilities and comparable rents to West Perth offices encouraged Lateral Sands to put its name forward when the lease came up for space in the Nova building, Mr Goodheart said.
“It is good when you work late here and go outside and there are people around; in West Perth after 5pm it was like a ghost town,” he said.
“It was one reason we didn’t go to Tech Park.”
With the American technology industry now a shadow of its former self, Lateral Sands has also downsized. While still exporting to the US, the firm is also pursuing plans to expand operations further afield, into commercialising creative applications.
Mr Goodheart said a vibrant work environment was an important factor in fostering innovation among Lateral Sands’ engineers.
He said more technology firms were moving into the suburbs, particularly when many exported most of their wares overseas and did not require an office profile.
