SEEK and you will find... a new Cremorne headquarters
Architecture practice HASSELL is heading design efforts for a new office development with an end value of $163 million that will see job search firm SEEK take root within Cremorne.
The atypically shaped campus-style building was lodged with City of Yarra earlier this month, nominating a large land parcel at 60-88 Cremorne Street as SEEK's new headquarters. Arthur Land Pty Ltd is the listed land owner and applicant within planning documents, although The Australian has nominated Gus Coopers' Cremorne Properties as the developer.
60-88 Cremorne Street's double-peaked roof along with a smaller annex building will encompass 29,493sqm of commercial floorspace. The bulk will tend to the needs of SEEK, with additional space dedicated toward retail, a wellness and education centre and a tech incubator.
Currently, at 541 St Kilda Road, SEEK's 800 local employees will be shifted to the purpose-designed Cremorne complex upon its completion.
60-68 Cremorne Street application summary
- Frontages to Cremorne Street, Blanche Street and Parkins Lane
- 6,734sqm site
- Proposed seven storey building at 36.2 metres to top of architectural ridgeline
- 3,500sqm floor plate across lower levels
- Education centre with capacity for 68 students
- 156sqm indoor recreational facility
- 231 car parking spaces and 309 bicycle spaces within two level basement
- 454sqm across three retail spaces
- 390sqm terrace on level six
- 635 jobs during construction
In HASSELL's words
A ‘Contemporary Warehouse’ approach has been adapted with modern form, finished in traditional materials. The approach achieves a building that is both strong in form and sensitive in footprint.
Leveraging from the industrial heritage of Cremorne, the proposal at 60 Cremorne Street Cremorne, will seek to provide a highly integrated and diverse language of materials and form to reinforce its place within the existing urban and historical context.
The intent of a ‘contemporary warehouse’ is driven by the gabled brick roof forms which are prolific throughout Cremorne, most notably the former Cremorne Street State School, listed on the Victorian Heritage Database, which is directly adjacent to the subject site.
The external architectural response cleverly reinterprets the historic buildings which occupied Cremorne and the wider Richmond area through a composition of materials and building form.
This outcome addresses policy aspirations within the Swan Street Structure Plan to ensure that new buildings “reinforce the industrial and commercial building character of the precinct” and “to promote development that responds to the diverse character and architectural styles of the precinct’s existing built form.
Urban Context Report, HASSELL
Greening and softening
Each floor will include winter gardens, alternating between east and west facades from level to level. Serving the needs of SEEK's staff, the winter gardens also soften the buildings external appearance.
HASSELL's integrated approach to 60-88 Cremorne Street's green appearance also sees a considered outcome to the proposal's street frontages. All four frontages feature accessible paths for foot traffic and social engagement, along with varying degrees of greenery at street level.
The ground floor is as much about Cremorne’s community as it is the building’s occupants – an incubator space, a networking zone, an event platform, and an opportunity to connect over a quick bite.
HASSELL
The expected new street level activation is a far cry from the fenced off, gravel car park that currently occupies the site.
60-88 Cremorne Street development team
- Developer: Cremorne Properties
- Architect: HASSELL
- Project Manager: Case Meallin
- Planning: Contour Consultants
- Landscape Architecture: HASSELL
- Traffic: GTA
- Services, Acoustics, Structure, Fire & ESD: ARUP
- Waste: Leigh Design
- Heritage: Bryce Raworth
- 3D visuals: Scharp
- Economic: Urbis
