Developed for Poly Australia, the new commercial workplace tower at 210-220 George Street in Sydney, will be the property group’s first A-grade commercial office development in Australia.
Situated within the emerging Alfred, Pitt, Daley and George Streets (APDG) precinct, adjacent to Circular Quay, 210-220 George Street will be part of an ensemble of buildings designed by international architecture practices, including Foster + Partners, Kengo Kuma and Kerry Hill.
This historic neighbourhood has been slated for transformation into a leading global arts and cultural district by the City of Sydney.
Grimshaw has been selected through a Design Excellence Competition. Grimshaw’s scheme seeks to capture the spirit of this transformation, with a unique ‘human-experience’ led workplace tower, designed to attract the emergent ‘millennial worker’; servicing Sydney’s growing creative and knowledge based economies and tech and finance innovators.
‘Sydney is uniquely placed to attract and retain 21st Century talent, we see the opportunity to create a leading-edge workplace that inspires the day-to-day working lives of its occupants, enlivens the public realm and adds vibrancy to city life,” Grimshaw Managing Partner Andrew Cortese said.
The circumstance of 210-220 George Street – a compact site, flanked to the north, east and west by significantly taller structures – calls for a design response that relies on the experience of the workplace, rather than on ratings, aspect or location.
The 26-storey workplace is proposed as communities of 90 to 120 people, across twin floorplates. The larger floors within the low-rise present as double height, arching cantilevered terraces opening onto George Street. Within the high-rise, the smaller floors contain a suspended mezzanine with sunlit double height volumes.
This two-storey volumetric approach offers the twin benefits of an increased lettable area – an NLA offering of 1,100 sqm at the high-rise level – and superb environmental amenity; with greater visual and physical connectivity, daylight and air circulation.
At the low-rise levels a series of terraces, offer the potential to introduce biophilic elements, taking advantage of Sydney’s temperate climate.
Expressive and sculptural in form, the design manifests via a tripartite of elements, crafted to recall the great 20th Century structures of Sydney.
The west facing George street facade is composed of vaulting arched cantilevers and expressive concrete soffits, which address and engage the public realm. Behind this is the primary working floorplate, a glazed vertical element that spans the length of the tower and set back to provide a tower lobby entrance off the corner of George and Dalley Streets.
A sculpted, hard-working, concrete core sits on the eastern boundary of the site, creating a highly efficient, contiguous floor plate ideal for flexible arrangement, and the opportunity for a large scale public art installation.
Finally, a remarkable city room atop of the building, references the vaulting shells of the Opera House.
Immersion into the public realm is another key driver. At ground level, a double height retail and entry lobby extends along George street, with the opportunity to integrate public art and other entertainment and drink/dine offerings into the basement and north-east corner, contributing to the creation of an 24/7, accessible public realm and thriving night-time economy.
“210-220 George Street is Poly Global’s first commercial building in Australia, and Grimshaw has shown a disciplined respect for the streetscape and surrounding heritage buildings through their design,” said Jay Carter, Poly Australia’s Sales and Marketing Director.
‘With the addition of the Light Rail extending from Circular Quay along the George Street civic spine as well as the planned developments at Circular Quay, there exists within the northern CBD the opportunity to make a financial and creative hub of global significance for Sydney,’ said Mr Cortese.
Construction of the AU$90 million tower is due to begin in early 2019, with completion expected in 2022.