Yesterday, I had an incredible opportunity to visit the new LEGO Australia offices in North Sydney and am honoured to give you a tour of what it’s like working in their flashy new headquarters.
Along with several other Australian-based Fan Media (Cheepjokes, The Rambling Brick + Frostbricks who joined remotely), we were hosted by some of the LEGO Australia team for an annual Fan Media Planning session, where we get taken through some of the big initiatives and plans for the next year, as well as voice out concerns, suggestions and ideas from our respective communities, and the wider Australian LEGO fanbase.
We also got the opportunity to interview Troy Taylor, the Vice President and General Manager of LEGO ANZ for the Extra Pieces Podcast, so keep an eye out for our next episode where he talks about how LEGO has been performing Down Under, the growth spurred by adult fans, and how the landscape has changed in his 20 years with the business.
This was my first time visiting the LEGO Offices in Sydney, and when the opportunity came to check out their new offices (they just moved in 2 weeks ago), I couldn’t say no and made the commute up along, so I’m pleased to be able to give you a peek into what it’s like working at LEGO Australia.
Opening the elevators, you’re greeted by the reception with this massive LEGO sign. It may look familiar as this was a fixture in their old offices in Macquarie Park.
The LEGO logo is absolutely massive, and upon closer inspection, you’ll notice that it’s made out of hundreds of minifigures! It’s my first time seeing this sign in person, and it was quite a sight!
There’s also this cool frog on the reception desk, with mints that you can grab.
Behind the reception is a waiting lounge, and also one of the key highlights of the office, this massive brick-built model of a surfing kangaroo, and koala.
Because it’s a LEGO office, you can expect there to be plenty of playfulness, and this model is meant to be an interactive photo booth, where you can pose with these too-cool-for-school Australian icons for photos, as a memento of your visit to LEGO Australia.
To fit in with these cool marsupials, there are these brick-built sunglasses, and ice cream cones that you can wear and use as props for photos.
Can confirm that this is very fun and you can walk away with some great photos.
Love the energy and vibes from the surfing kangaroo.
👍
Oh, and just around the corner is this LEGO Darth Vader statue, which you might remember from the 2015 LEGO Star Wars Day event in Melbourne.
As you’d expect from a LEGO Office, it’s bright and colourful, but with plenty of Australian twists. Meeting rooms are named after key Australian landmarks or locations, with names like Great Barrier Reef, Twelve Apostles, Barossa Valley and Uluru to reflect the diversity and rich natural heritage that Australia is blessed with.
As the office is quite new, there’s plenty of room to spruce it up with LEGO, and in the Uluru meeting room, there was this small MOC of one of Australia’s most important natural monument.
Troy Taylor also gave us a quick tour, and he worked closely with LEGO’s in-house Creative team to decorate the offices and ensure that every bit of design accurately reflects key aspects of Australia.
For example, the carpeting is colour-themed, and different areas evoke sandy beaches, blue and aquamarine oceans and more.
The massive boardroom was also home to this cute LEGO Friends baby turtle in the corner.
Littered across the offices are these charming minifigure illustrations, full of Australian iconography, which were a highlight to me.
Firstly, love this guy pulling a LEGO Wooden Duck being chased by 2 kangaroos, including one on a scooter. The Kangaroo designs are amazing, and hopefully is a glimpse into what an actual LEGO System Kangaroo COULD look like if LEGO were to ever produce one.
There’s even a Cassowary, which is confusingly located next to the Emu meeting room.
This fella with a Cork Hat, a symbol of Outback Australia is also very neat.
Check out these Koalas too!
We’re getting an actual LEGO Koala in 2023, with LEGO Minifigures Series 24 and it looks pretty close!
And the thing I got most excited about is this illustration of a Koala Costume Minifigure, which offers a really hopeful glimpse into what a potential minifigure could look like! Look at how cute it is! I want one STAT.
Here’s some other illustrations that caught my eye.
There’s a large open space kitchen area and some very brightly-coloured orange shelves showcasing various LEGO sets, MOCs and promotional models.
This life-size Red Five helmet was pretty neat. It’s so much bigger than the retail LEGO set version!
There’s a selection of builds celebrating Australia’s Big Things. And yes, if you ever visit Australia, you can visit The Big Banana or Big Pineapple depicted here.
Here are some Melbourne-themed Flinders Street Station builds.
Always lovely to see the LEGO Saturn V, and this massive Heart from The LEGO Movie 2.
And this LEGO 90th Anniversary Birthday Cake was pretty neat too. And that’s model of The Big Lobster.
The LEGO Office had immaculate views of the Sydney CBD, including an uninterrupted view of the Harbour Bridge, and you can even see parts of the Opera House, which in this photo is obscured by a massive cruise ship.
Some other cool and rare LEGO items displayed in the office that I got to see was this LEGO Honor Guard statue, a special memento given to LEGO team members who have spent 10 years working at The LEGO Group.
When you cross 15 years, you get a little medal for your Honor Guard, and when you cross the 20 year mark, the Honor Guard gets his own hut with the number 20 proudly displayed in the front!
And when you cross 25 years, the Honor Guard gets a lovely pocket watch!
Here’s what it looks like when you open it!
Very cool stuff, and not something you’d see everyday, so I’m glad to have been able to share this.
And last but not least, near the exit, there’s this umm, model of a dog urinating. I personally love how irreverent this is, and it really captures Australia’s carefree sense of humour really well! The more I look at it, the funnier it gets that this is even a thing in LEGO Australia’s HQ.
And that’s it for a quick tour of the new LEGO Australia headquarters!
I didn’t take photos of any of the working area as I felt it was a little rude to photograph people at their desks, but rest assured there are desks, pods and meeting rooms aplenty because work actually needs to get done!
I also can’t share anything that was discussed as most of it is confidential as it covers what’s to be expected in 2023, but I can say that there’s plenty of exciting campaigns and launches on the horizon with something for everyone.
What we can share is that we have a short podcast interview with Vice President and General Manager of LEGO ANZ, Troy Taylor which has plenty of great nuggets of information. It’ll be released on the Extra Pieces Podcast soon, so be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts from to hear it first!
Special thanks to LEGO Australia for the invitation, and for hosting us while in Sydney!
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Pls tell them Australia wants exclusives like the SDCC sets, minifigs, brickheadz too.
I want to go there
What kinds of work do they do there?
Any evidence of product development happening?
Do they get to decide how many of each set we get in Australia? Or do they just distribute what they are given?
Cheers.
Thanks Jay for sharing your visit.
The years of service mementos are terrific.
It must be a fun and happy company to work for.
I have to get myself a job here.
Congrats, looks like an amazing building. The kangaroo and dog are def my favs.