Parramatta bulks up with another Barangaroo-sized commercial tower proposal
Parramatta is rapidly boosting its credentials as the economic and social hub of Western Sydney, with another very large commercial tower likely to join its ranks.
Scentre Group, the owner-operator of $35 billion-worth of Westfields in Australia and New Zealand, has lodged a development application amendment to alter a previous approval dating back to 2014. That scheme allowed for additional retail shopping floor at Parramatta Westfield and a 120 metre commercial tower to be constructed at the corner of Church & Argyle Streets.
The fresh amendment seeks to move the commercial tower component of the project 80 metres west along Argyle Street, allowing for a significant increase in its size and improved integration with its immediate environs.
The new tower is proposed to reach 210 metres and accommodate 41 levels of premium-grade campus-style office space, offering market competitive flexible rectilinear floor plates of slightly more than 3,000 square metres per floor.
With an overall Net Lettable Area of 112,000 square metres, it will be one of the largest commercial office buildings in Australia. The tower is similar in size to Barangaroo’s International Tower 1, which is the current holder of the title.
Such is the scale of development in Parramatta that Westfield's proposal will play second fiddle to nearby 6-8 Parramatta Square, which will offer a still larger 125,000 square metres of premium-grade floor space upon completion in 2021.
Westfield Tower's proposed new location on Argyle Street would activate a currently neglected pocket of Parramatta's CBD, drawing in a continuous stream of office workers and visitors accessing both the commercial tower and Westfield itself.
The tower lobby will be integrated into the streetscape, offering street-facing retail and cafe/restaurant premises, helping general activation.
Retail space will also be provided on the sixth floor of the development. Office workers and shoppers alike will be able to utilise a ‘social garden’ which sits between the lobby and the sixth-floor retail precinct.
The relocated tower would also disrupt fewer retail tenancies during construction. According to documents, the new location allows the structural supports for the tower to punch cleanly through a slice of the Myer multi-storey retail tenancy, with a negotiated use of their retail floors during construction, allowing Myer to continue trading uninterrupted.
Woods Bagot are responsible for the design of the premium-grade building which will target a five-star Green Star rating.
