2023-03-08
08 Mar 23

Designed for success, new office tower wins Development Approval at Perth City Link

Lot 9 Perth City Link commercial building, Far East Consortium

DevelopmentWA has approved plans for a key 21-storey commercial tower in the heart of the Perth City Link urban regeneration precinct, linking the city’s CBD with the cultural hub of Northbridge.

The tower at Lot 9 is the third of three buildings designed by architecture studio Woods Bagot for developer Far East Consortium, and sits between another planned office building at Lot 10 and a residential tower located on Lot 4.

Woods Bagot principal Kukame McPierzie said the complexity of the sites – located above the dive tunnel for the Fremantle railway line – has been a key consideration for the design team.

“To successfully connect Northbridge with the CBD, the design outcome needed to provide coherent and connected spaces that prioritised people,” McPierzie said.

“We’ve approached the design holistically, developing a sequence of buildings that support activated public spaces, provide fine grain interfaces and a diversity of destinations for people to live and work.”

He said all three buildings straddle the dive structure, presenting an engineering challenge the design team embraced and treated as an opportunity to innovate.

“With the tower at Lot 9, we’ve used our environmental toolkits to optimise its shape – a performance-based approach with multiple benefits, including maximizing light into the nearby public realm, the creation of flexible and desirable floorplates and a building with a dynamic form and scale,” he said.

“Site history and local context are also integral to the design, ensuring a workplace solution authentic to its place.”

Lot 9 Perth City Link commercial building, Far East Consortium

Lot 9 Perth City Link commercial building renders.

The building encompasses 29,000sqm net lettable area, three outdoor terraces, a double height lobby, three different floor plate sizes and a rooftop garden with sweeping views of Northbridge and the Perth CBD, a visual bridge connecting the two areas.

The site presented a “significant challenge” that’s been elegantly met through a combination of smart design and engineering, said Laura Ainsworth, Senior Development Manager at Far East Consortium.

She said the infrastructure and services are anchored in the land adjoining the tunnel, while the building and public areas cantilever over the top. 

“It’s been quite an experience for the architectural team to work with our structural engineer and, for them to deliver the outcomes they have, is a great achievement,” said Ainsworth.

Far East Consortium owns five sites at the western end of Perth City Link, opposite or adjacent to RAC Arena.

“We’re creating a precinct within a precinct and have really been careful to curate the mix of what’s in those lots to bring together the ultimate in connected living,” said Ainsworth.

At Perth Hub, the residential tower is underway, with a hotel, two offices and a further residential development to follow.

“Our goal is to ensure you’ve got that 24/7 activation and that people can live, work and play within the area,” she said.

On Lot 2, Far East Consortium has started work on a 32-storey residential tower. Next door at Lot 3a, construction is scheduled to begin on the 263-room Dorsett Hotel, which it will also operate.

Lot 4 is a 23-storey residential tower offering 215 dwellings and a variety of commercial tenancies at Roe Street and Wardang Gardens. The design was submitted for Development Approval at the end of 2022 and a decision is pending.

The 14-storey office building located at Lot 10 in the Perth City Link received its Development Approval in 2021. The King Street Campus has a focus on wellness, featuring ample outdoor spaces and end-of-trip facilities.

Martin Kelly
Content and Communications Leader (Australia & New Zealand)
Woods Bagot

Laura Ainsworth
Senior Development Manager
Far East Consortium

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