UPDATE: UnderCurrent would like to sincerely apologise to the good people of the Sutherland Shire and to Dyson’s tireless back office staff for the column below, originally published Wednesday 25 March 2015.

Of course Dyson’s warehouse and logistics teams are essential and brainy employees and The Shire is indeed a lovely place to live, work, swim, surf and support the Sharkies. UnderCurrent was being tongue in cheek in suggesting otherwise and it certainly didn’t mean to cause offense.

As punishment for its sins, UnderCurrent is being forced to clean up the whole office with a rival brand of vacuum cleaner, which of course makes the task harder, longer, coughier and altogether unpleasant.

…

Dyson’s local management, sales, marketing and administration teams are set to move from the company’s longstanding home in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire to trendy new digs in the heart of inner city Alexandria.

The famous English appliance brand has been based for years in Taren Point, just around the corner from the Harvey Norman Commercial supercentre and within eyesight of Woolooware Bay, at the mouth of Georges River. UnderCurrent understands this unusual location for the subsidiary of a global electronics megabrand — and even  interstate people will be aware that The Shire, as it is known in Sydney, is famous for insularity — is because it was near the home of Dyson’s Australian founding father Ross Cameron.

Local vacuuming legend holds that Cameron started the Australian Dyson business out of his Sutherland Shire home, growing it into the force it is today through hard work, dedication and determination. Since Cameron’s retirement, Dyson has continued to grow, entering new categories, expanding channels and becoming, essentially, the Apple of appliances. Already both companies are passionate about new technology, spend billions of dollars on engineering and design and, before too long, Dyson will be opening its own branded concept store.

Like an office worker putting on a business shirt on the first working day back after Christmas and discovering it’s just a little bit too tight, Glenn Andrew, the current MD, has seen his head office team swell sufficiently to now require larger premises, at least for the white collar staff. Warehousing and logistics will still be housed at Taren Point, so it will be Red Rooster and Subway for their lunch, but for the brains of the operation, it will be homemade ginger beer garnished with a lemon wedge served in a jam jar at über-trendy hipster cafe The Grounds. UnderCurrent can’t wait for the office tour!

And speaking of tours, the new head office is adjacent to O’Riordan Street, home to flagship stores from several known Dyson retail partners, like Harvey Norman, JB Home, The Good Guys and Bing Lee. Nothing like a bit of lunchtime mystery shopping to break up the monotony on a slow day.