New Melbourne headquarters triples in size, features testing lab and nod to company’s beginnings

Catapult’s Melbourne-based company headquarters have relocated from the Docklands to High Street, Prahran, tripling the size of the previous space to keep up with staff growth.

The new space has several exciting features that bring to life the company’s values of accountability, candour, intelligence, and ambition, including:

• A testing laboratory that is bigger than the company’s first two offices in size, combined. This space is fully equipped with ClearSky and is where every device that leaves headquarters is tested.
• All 80 Melbourne-based staff working on the same floor, with amenities and co-working spaces on the second floor.
• A broadcast bunker where operations and sports science staff hunker down during league-wide broadcast opportunities involving fan engagement content.
• Bleacher seating, table tennis and foosball tables, and an open-plan communal space for staff engagement.
• Walking distance to enough cafes to keep the biggest Melbourne coffee snob happy.

The office has six meeting rooms, each with a name that reflects the company’s history. Upstairs, Dalmore, Ferrars, and Aurora each recognise the street names of the previous three Melbourne offices, while downstairs, Catapult’s early growth story is shared through through three key individuals:

The Allan Hahn Boardroom

One of the fathers of sports science in Australia, Allan Hahn was at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) when he identified the Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) project focused on microtechnology, recognising the huge opportunity to take laboratory-based measurements into wearables that could provide real-time data while athletes were competing.

Allan led the partnership between the AIS and CRC, and when the CRC was scheduled to close down in 2006, Allan got funding from the Australian Sports Commission to support Catapult’s development as an independent commercial company. Catapult would not exist without Allan’s vision and support.

The Tomkins Room

Prior to Catapult becoming an independent commercial company, the technology was used exclusively by the Australian Olympic team. During this time, Australia had its two best Olympic campaigns in history with 16 gold medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and 17 at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

One team that relied on insights obtained from Catapult’s underlying technology in 2004 was the Australian rowing team – in particular, the men’s pair, Drew Ginn and James Tomkins. James was the stroke of the gold medal-winning Coxless pair, taking home the medal at 39 years old.

James finished his career as a seven-time World Champion and a three-time Olympic gold medalist.

The Davenport Room

Clive Davenport was the CEO of the Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) for microtechnology – a government-sponsored research agency that aimed to commercialise products using breakthroughs in the manufacturing of tiny smart sensors. Clive brought in commercial partners for the research projects, one of which was the Australian Institute of Sport via Allan Hahn.

When the CRC was closing down in 2006 he provided the initial technology license that enabled Catapult to form, was instrumental in finding government funding to launch, and continued to mentor the business through its early years.

The new Melbourne office address is 75-83 High Street, Prahran VIC 3181.

To find out more about Catapult’s Melbourne office, or discover which job opportunities are available in each region, please visit our contact page.

Photography credit: David Ascoli (ascoli.com.au)