Articles Australian workplace, Olderfleet, selected by CTBUH as Best Tall Building Award of Excellence Winner in two categories

Olderfleet →, a new Premium Grade workplace in Melbourne, Australia, has been selected by the Council for Tall Building and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) as a Best Tall Building Award of Excellence Winner in two categories; Best Tall Building 100-199 meters, and Best Tall Office Building.

As part of the 2022 CTBUH International Conference, the Awards Program recognises extraordinary contributions to the advancement of tall buildings and the urban environment through an independent review of new projects, judged by a prestigious panel of experts.

Designed for leading developer and building owner, Mirvac, co-owner, Suntec Real Estate Investment Trust (Suntec REIT), and anchor tenant, Deloitte, Olderfleet comprises a new 40-storey commercial tower that is respectfully integrated with three of Melbourne’s significant heritage buildings, known as the Olderfleet Buildings. Situated between these and the new tower is a 25-metre-high atrium; a light-filled lobby that provides legibility of the repurposed heritage fabric and grounds the new tower elements to create an exciting juxtaposition while unifying 58,000sqm of flexible office and third spaces.

A community of uses is heralded by the building’s heritage street address which accommodates a café, bar and co-working spaces

to adaptively reuse and celebrate the existing fabric of the Olderfleet Buildings.

Within the lobby, the restored heritage façade is opened up and serviced by new lifts and stairs to maximise the internal floor plates of the integrated heritage fabric while the lobby itself hosts and provides direct connection to cafes, restaurants and bars, a business lounge, and wellness, childcare and premium end-of-trip facilities.

“Our future-focused design for Olderfleet comprises three vertical workplace neighbourhoods, each designed in response to unique tenant requirements. This tenant-led design approach at both the workspace floor and within the building community resulted in more than 90% of space being let prior to the building’s completion,” said Stonell.

Each of the vertical neighbourhoods features expansive client floors with recessed external terraces situated between each neighbourhood to accentuate the massing.

Floorplates are designed to create highly flexible, contiguous space. with the interior quality of fire stairs elevated so they may also form part of the tenant fitout and circulation experience. This optimises the area and flexibility of the floorplates to promote an active, healthy workplace.

“We are delighted that Olderfleet has been recognised internationally by the CTBUH, both as a tall building and an office building that seeks to make a significant positive impact on the individuals who work within it, and the city of Melbourne in which it is located.”

Neil Stonell, Managing Partner, Grimshaw

The position and configuration of a side-core arrangement further enhances the highly flexible floorplates and allows for optimal natural light and views, allowing the creation of workspaces that not only significantly foster collaboration and productivity, but which may also provide for future workplace needs.

The integration of smart technology optimises the quality of Olderfleet’s built environment through better air flow, air purification, and energy use. A more lyrical approach to the quality of the built environment is demonstrated by ‘Solar’, an artwork by internationally renowned UK-based artist, Wolfgang Buttress. Created specifically for Olderfleet’s lobby, ‘Solar’, is a suspended sphere that harnesses natural light and responds to the real-time building data feed of solar radiation, connecting those that journey through the lobby with the environmental aspirations for Olderfleet.

The building’s design targets 6-star Green Star, 5-star NABERS Energy, and 4-star NABERS Water ratings, and in 2018, Olderfleet became the first building in Australia to achieve Platinum WELL pre-certification for the base building – shell and core, and it’s 

soon to be one of the first buildings in Melbourne to achieve WELL Platinum Certification for the base building.

WELL certification is achieved through a performance-based system that involves on-site measuring, certifying and monitoring of building features that impact human health and wellbeing through seven concepts: air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort and mind.

Designed as a future-workplace precinct to create a highly flexible, rich urban-community experience, Olderfleet connects workers with the grandeur of Melbourne’s Victorian architecture while providing an internationally recognised new normal workplace that nurtures, supports and engages its occupants.

As one of four projects to be selected as an Award of Excellence Winner in the Best Tall Building 100-199 meters category, and one of seven to be selected in the Best Tall Office Building category, Olderfleet will be presented by Grimshaw at the CTBUH 2022 International Conference, to be held in-person in Chicago on 9-12 November 2022

31.03.2022