Quake moves IT execs into rugby clubrooms

Adscale Labs chief technology officer Manfred Friedrich with the cut-out face of colleague Thorsten Castor - ready to use for Skype conferences. Photo / Amanda Cropp

It's pretty hard to imagine a rugby club bar being taken over by a bunch of software geeks, but that's exactly what happened when the High School Old Boys club leased its Christchurch premises to an IT company forced to abandon earthquake damaged offices.

Adscale Labs new work place is dominated by a massive polished concrete bar and although the hoses to the beer taps are not connected, there's plenty of beer in the fridges for after work functions.

The rugby players still have access to the showers and toilets after games in nearby Hagley Park giving the software geeks the run of the rest of the Ayr Street club facilities: two bars, a wooden villa in the car park, and an outside dining area.

Adscale Labs is the Christchurch-based engineering and system administration arm of Adscale GmbH Germany which runs a real time marketplace for online advertising.

Chief technology officer Manfred Friedrich spent a month frantically searching for new office accommodation following the quake. "It was really hard. We had to deal with landlords asking for 10 year leases and really ridiculous rents.

"Here we are paying $200 per square metre per year. We were paying $180 and that was top notch. In other places we were quoted $240 to $300."

Despite the rent hike Frierich says they fell on their feet finding the clubrooms. "We're really lucky. Even if it is unusual, it has its charm."

When the fate of the space-hogging concrete bar was put to the vote, staff decided it had to stay. But the club will remove glass cases filled with rugby trophies and players' honors' boards from what will become the company board room.

However Friedrich says they plan to carry on the rugby theme with an honours board for long serving software developers, and that seems only fitting given that the company uses the "scrum" management system to develop its software.

After the quake Adscale staffer Thorsten Castor moved to the North Island with his partner, but he still works in Christchurch two days a week, and on other days his colleagues communicate via Skype with a cardboard cutout of his face strategically placed on a stand amid the rows of desks.

A built in gas fire adds a homely touch but the clubrooms' décor looks rather jaded compared with the smart offices Adscale occupied in Peterborough Street. Gone are the classy glass partitions and the brand new kitchen, and Frierich plans to invest up to $100,000 on a major revamp.

With a four year lease he says it is a worthwhile investment because a pleasant working environment is important if he is to retain skilled people.

"I can't put my staff on a busy road where every truck that goes past shakes the building. We want a proper kitchen, not just a kitchenette in a corner, and we wanted parking spaces because people commute from everywhere and because public transport is not that good, finding a place like this with parking is hard."