Atlassian unveils plans for its new Sydney headquarters
Atlassian has outlined the design for its new $1 billion-plus headquarters, the world’s tallest hybrid timber building to date, which will consume half the carbon in construction and half the energy of a conventional equivalent building after its planned opening in 2025.
The locally based, Nasdaq-listed software company has confirmed plans for its 180-metre, 40-storey Sydney office tower – first reported by The Australian Financial Review in February – and revealed a steel and glass skeleton will wrap around the building divided into different vertical zones.
New York-based SHoP Architects and local firm BVN Architecture have designed the tower, which will rise above the historic Inward Parcels Shed next to Sydney’s Central Station. It will be the flagship project in a NSW government-backed technology precinct that will eventually link Ultimo with Redfern on the CBD’s southern edge.
It will sit next to the $2.5 billion Central Place Sydney project, a twin tower development by Dexus and Frasers Property Australia.
Atlassian will be the major tenant, with 4000 staff in the tower that is likely to be owned fully or partly by a third-party investor. The YHA will take up lower floors to accommodate 480 beds and the parcels shed, which currently functions as a YHA backpackers’ hostel, will be converted into public space.
“This will be home to thousands of workers and the best new ideas,” Atlassian co-founder and co-chief executive Scott Farquhar said.
“If you want to work in tech – this is the place you will want to be.”
Atlassian declined to confirm the construction cost – likely to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars – or the end value, which on Sydney office values alone would likely be more than $1 billion. Development applications will be lodged in coming months, with construction due to begin next year. A builder has not yet been appointed.
The building will be divided into neighbourhoods, or “habitats”, BVN co-CEO Ninotschka Titchkosky said.
The tower is a hybrid timber building, as it will have steel-and-concrete floor plates dividing the habitats, each of which is four or five storeys high.
“The big challenge with timber buildings is fire compartmentation and structural loading,” Ms Titchkosky said.
Each of the habitats will be constructed of Glulam timber columns and beams and cross-laminated timber floor slabs. Each habitat will have its own garden sitting.
The steel and glass facade will generate its own electricity, while also being able to shade the building.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said it was fitting for Atlassian to have its headquarters in Sydney.
“Tech Central will rival Silicon Valley as the place to be,” Ms Berejiklian said. “This means more jobs and opportunities for all of our citizens.”
Mr Farquhar said the project would help the state and the nation bounce back from the impact of COVID-19 and that even in an era when an increasing number of people are working from home, offices were crucial.
“Even with a highly distributed workforce, we’ll need a place to come together,” he said. “Now we can design this space especially for these new ways of working.”
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