Dyson To Start Moving Into St James Power Station Soon
SINGAPORE – Dyson has verified that it will “shortly” start moving into its new global headquarters at the St James Power Station, which is a historical landmark in the city-state’s Harbourfront area, reported ChannelNewsAsia (CNA) on Wednesday morning (14 April, SGT).
The Tech firm revealed that the restoration works at the colonial-era power station has been completed. However, works to equip the building is ongoing. When finished, the head office will house the company’s robotics laboratory and other research labs, in addition to global functions like finance, sales, and administration, divulged its CEO Roland Krueger.
In 2019, Dyson first announced that it has chosen the St James Power Station, which previously contained the 1st coal-fired power station in Singapore, as its new global headquarters, months after relocating its head office to the city-state from the United Kingdom.
With a gross floor area (GFA) of 110,000 sq ft, the company’s new head office is poised to open at a time when the virus outbreak has altered the way people work and has put into doubt the relevance of the office. Still, Singapore’s government has recently increased workplace capacity to 75 percent.
Queried on whether Dyson is also reviewing the need for physical office space, Krueger responded that they “strongly” believe in collaboration out of all a company’s functions as it’s crucial to innovation.
“I always say literally sitting around one table and finding solutions together, and that’s kind of the Dyson way that we believe in. Therefore, it is necessary that we all come together in one place and work together.”
Notably, Dyson is known for inventing bagless vacuum cleaners and bladeless fans.
Moreover, the company said that despite its new global headquarters, it will retain its 88,000 sq ft workspace at the Singapore Science Park that presently functions as its primary location for product testing & development, besides its hi-tech manufacturing plant in Jurong that constructs its patented digital motors.
Furthermore, Dyson revealed that it intends to set up a new global cybersecurity centre in Singapore.
“As a company that’s working on innovation and technology, we need to protect our intellectual property (IP). And as you know, cybersecurity is something that everybody is concerned about when you want to protect your IP,” said Krueger, adding that the city-state is the ideal place to establish a cybersecurity centre thanks to its robust laws on intellectual property.
