Decision details

Minute by the Lord Mayor

To Council:

Last month I was pleased to participate in the opening of the new commercial building at 180 George Street. Known as Sydney Place, this will be the flagship site for the global software platform, Salesforce, and will also be tenanted by real estate agency, JLL. What makes this development special is the negotiated public outcomes which will be a significant public benefit for city workers, residents and visitors.

The building is an impressively designed office tower by Foster + Partners with Architectus, and a public plaza with a plaza building that will activate the area and includes a major public artwork, designed in collaboration between architect Sir David Adjaye and Sydney-based Aboriginal artist Daniel Boyd. It was developed and constructed by Lendlease, in a joint venture with Ping An Real Estate and Mitsubishi Estate Asia.

We’re currently looking for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander operator to manage, curate and program the plaza building which includes a ground floor retail space, multipurpose space on the first floor and a public viewing terrace. These spaces could become a café, exhibition space, cultural display or performance space for the enjoyment of the community.

Almost half the entire site, which was once taken up by tired office buildings, will become public space for the people of Sydney with the George Street Plaza and a laneway network extending through to Pitt Street, Underwood Street and Alfred Street. Later tonight, Council will consider naming those two lanes, Ah Toy Lane and Sai Ying Lane to celebrate the Chinese-Australian history and businesses of the area.

By March next year, the network of laneways beneath the tower will host 24 new retailers, a curated dining precinct with Sydney hospitality heavyweights and the return of the Jacksons on George pub, designed by Stewart Hollenstein. This site will appeal to workers and visitors and re-energise this very important northern part of Sydney which is so close to our stunning harbour.

This development has benefited from the City’s design excellence program, and its public benefits were secured by negotiations with the City. Recently, Fabrizio Perilli, former Managing Director of TOGA and now an advisor to the NSW Building Commissioner, said that greater collaboration is needed between developers and councils and other governments. He said most councils need to articulate their vision for their community and that unlike other jurisdictions, the City of Sydney does this well, which is an exception. The exemplary goodwill and collaboration between Lendlease and the City on this project is a great example of this.

In collaborating with the developers, the City owned part of a laneway on this site which we transferred to Lendlease, along with another triangle of land and a contribution from Lendlease to consolidate public space. Without the transfer, this tower could not have been built, and the City would not have received the plaza and public cycle facilities for 200 bikes below nor the other public benefits mentioned previously.

While public art was a condition of consent, we enabled Lendlease to meet their obligations with Daniel Boyd’s stunning canopy artwork as part of the plaza building. This 20-metre artwork is not only highly visible but adds to the amenity of the plaza. It allows the sunlight into the plaza when the sun is low during winter and provides shade when the sun is high in summer. This is the first new plaza in the city centre to be dedicated to the public in decades.

The City also negotiated to deliver the public end-of-trip facilities including 200 bike racks and amenities.

The building’s sustainability credentials have already been awarded a Platinum WELL rating and a Six Star Green Star Design and is targeting a 5.5 Star NABERS energy rating. Sustainability is now a bottom line in all we do, and I congratulate Lendlease and their partners on meeting the challenge head on and setting benchmarks for other Sydney developments.

To add to the public benefits from this development, the first three floors of office space has been provided to the City for 20 years. The City will let our three floors of office space for 100 high-performing climate technology start-ups and scale-ups creating 1,500 jobs over the first ten years.

This is a complex and nuanced development that serves both private and public interests. It complements the renewal of this part of the City, where we have approved a further $30 million to extend the pedestrianisation of George Street to Circular Quay which will transform the street and improve the entrance to this precinct.

Buildings and precincts such as these will help to boost interest and investment in our city, will attract international visitors, and provide a new and exciting place for workers, shoppers and residents.  

COUNCILLOR CLOVER MOORE

Lord Mayor

Moved by the Chair (the Lord Mayor), seconded by Councillor Scully –

It is resolved that Council:

(A)        note the completion and opening of the Salesforce Tower and George Street Plaza at 180 George Street and the many public benefits this development will provide to our City including a public plaza, plaza building and artwork, laneway connectivity and activation, public end-of-trip facilities and floor space for climate innovation;

(B)        acknowledge the architects, designers, project managers, builders and investors who brought this building to life; and

(C)        commend the City’s planning staff under the leadership of Director Graham Jahn, who worked collaboratively and negotiated with the project team from the beginning to achieve the many public benefits for our city, as well as other areas such as City Design, City Projects and Legal and our Design Advisory Panel, Public Art Advisory Panel and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Panel who contributed to this complex project.

Carried unanimously.

S051491