I was a business student at the AGSM when Fred Hilmer, Helen Nugent, and Roger… Read More →
July is peak whale watching season on the east coast of Australia. Up to 40,000… Read More →
Six months after its launch in the Melbourne CBD, a new kind of third space… Read More →
For traditional life here on this continent for the First People, all knowledge was sung.… Read More →
Working-from-home is the start of the distributed hybrid workplace model the planet needs right now.… Read More →
"There’s the soft build and the hard build. You need to start acting as if… Read More →
The Soft Build is a strategy consultancy that helps people use buildings as a scaffold for organisational change.
Hello and welcome! I’m Sue Wittenoom, founder of The Soft Build. As a young architect coordinating reflected ceiling plans and scheduling door hardware, I realised that I was more interested in my client’s journey than the challenges of construction. I turned to project management and consulting. Over the past thirty years I’ve built a unique skillset that bridges strategy for change and building delivery. I understand how you connect the two worlds to get the most impact from a project.
The Soft Build is the culmination of this experience – my independent consultancy that helps people leading the projects that need to be new and different. This website will give you an introduction to me and my work. I’ll flag new ideas and key insights in the top banner stories. You can browse through case studies and reflections from practice using the themes at the bottom of the page.
There’s never been a time quite like this. Every building needs to be different, needs to do better with less. Let’s start the conversation to explore how we can work together.
“We ask too much of our buildings and not enough of ourselves” Jane Jacobs
Services
Planning
Planning
A clear assessment of current space issues and the criteria for future success.
Briefing
Change
Journal topics & case studies
Design for change
When a building needs to be both new and different, then the design process needs to be a change process.
Hybrid workplace
COVID-19 has proven that the distributed workplace is possible in a crisis, now let’s make flexible workplace productive for the long term.
Sustainable cities
We want cities full of life and activity. And we want walkable, thriving neighbourhoods at home.
Better with less
We should act as if our house was on fire. Because it is. Every decision we make for the next decade must address the climate crisis.
Case Studies
Read more about the impact of The Soft Build’s work in case studies that highlight key collaborators and clients.
Learning futures
How do we design for the next generation of students and support the current generation of teachers?