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