Woodside Plaza
Encyclopedia
Woodside Plaza is a 29-storey skyscraper
in Perth
, Western Australia
. The 137 metres (449.5 ft) tower serves as the headquarters for Woodside Petroleum
and incorporates several energy-efficient
design features. When completed in 2004, the building was the first premium-grade skyscraper completed in Perth since Central Park
in 1992. It is currently the sixth tallest skyscraper in Perth.
since the opening of Exchange Plaza
and Central Park
in 1992. As a result, by 1998 Woodside had its Perth staff spread across six sites, including Central Park and the headquarters at 1 Adelaide Terrace.
Woodside Petroleum called for tenders for a tower to be constructed for the company. Perron Group put forward a proposal to leave Woodside in its existing headquarters on Adelaide Terrace and build a tower beside it to house the other staff. Meanwhile, Consolidated Press Holdings and Multiplex
proposed to build a tower on CPH's Westralia Square site. Jones Lang Wootton proposed a new tower on the Bishop's See site.
However, it was announced in April 1999 that the winning tenderer was Hai Sun Hup Group subsidiary Knoxville Group. This proposal was to develop Hai Sun Hup's site at the corner of St Georges Terrace
and Milligan Street into an office tower and hotel project. This 9000 square metres (96,875.2 sq ft) site stretches all the way from St Georges Terrace to Hay Street
, and had been bought by Alistair McAlpine
for $100 million, before later being sold to Hai Sun Hup in 1996 for just $20 million. The mostly vacant site was occupied by small buildings fronting Hay Street and vacant land fronting all three streets. The corner of Milligan Street and St Georges Terrace also featured the eight-storey AWA Computer House. The development also necessitated the demolition of the building on Hay Street which housed the Matsuri Japanese Restaurant, which moved to new premises in QV.1
.
Approval of the office tower was delayed due to a dispute with the Department of Transport
about the number of car parking bays which could be included in the development, and it was rumoured that the building may not proceed due to difficulties in Hai Sun Hup securing financing. However, the construction was made viable by the booming
resources industry in Western Australia.
Planning approval was received from the City of Perth
in December 2000, with plot ratio
concessions awarded to the development in return for allowing pedestrian thoroughfare and providing a public square at the base of the tower similar to that at the base of the Central Park tower. The $250 million development contract was signed on 30 January 2001. Under this deal, Deutsche Asset Management
paid Hai Sun Hup $23 million for the building site and development contract, and Woodside agreed to lease 32500 square metres (349,827.1 sq ft) of the tower for 15 years, with two five-year options to extend. Hai Sun Hup retained ownership of the Hay Street side of the site.
Site works began on 31 January 2001, with a groundbreaking
ceremony held on 27 February 2001. Construction on the tower by builder Baulderstone Hornibrook began in March 2001.
Although the building would add 46000 square metres (495,139.9 sq ft) of office space to the central business district and raise the premium-grade office floor space in the central business district by 24 per cent, Woodside was to occupy so much of it that only 13500 square metres (145,312.8 sq ft) would be available to other tenants. By October 2003, building manager CB Richard Ellis
had leased all but three floors of the building, after securing law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth
and the joint venture alliance between Transfield, Worley Limited and Woodside. This was reduced to less than two floors unleased in April 2004 when accounting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
signed on as tenant, vacating its office in Central Park.
The building was effectively completed in early 2004, and was officially opened in March 2004. It became Perth's third largest building by total floor area, and was the city's first new high-rise office building in eight years and the first premium-grade tower since the completion of Central Park in 1992. It was thought that the move of Woodside to the western end of the central business district would draw other resources companies to the area.
The plans originally included the construction of a hotel adjacent to the new office tower on the Hay Street side of the site. The 13-storey hotel was to be a 220-room 5-star
Stamford Hotel. The hotel, which was expected to cost $50 million, was put on hold by Stamford Land Corporation (the new name for Hai Sun Hup) in 2001 and construction would only proceed if the local hotel market became strong enough. A 13-level, 13000 square metres (139,930.8 sq ft) A-grade office tower was proposed for the site by Stamford Land Corporation in 2008.
level and a fully equipped gym.
The structure is of concrete frame, with a conventionally reinforced jump-formed core containing all of the lifts
, stairs and service risers. The office floors are formed from post-tensioned band beams supporting conventional reinforced slabs. The perimeter of the building has columns spaced 8.2 metres (26.9 ft) apart and supporting post-tensioned edge beams. The support columns were formed from 80 MPa (11,603 psi) concrete to minimise the column size at ground level.
Woodside Plaza has two basement
levels, two plant
floor levels, 23 office floor levels, a mezzanine and the ground floor, giving a total of 29 floors. The building has a total floor area of 77000 m² (828,821.1 sq ft), of which 46000 m² (495,139.9 sq ft) is lettable. The building is divided into three elevator zones: low-rise, mid-rise and high-rise. Four generators and a 60000 litres (78.5 cu yd) fuel tank allow the tower to operate without any external electricity for up to four days.
The tower is noted for its efforts towards efficient energy use
. For instance, the building's air conditioning
plant utilises variable-speed fans to consume less energy when extra cooling is unnecessary, and the floors are divided into several air conditioning zones. Internal lighting dims when natural ambient light is brighter, and the heat load of the building is reduced through the use of "low emissivity" glass on the building's facade. The building also implements water-saving measures through the installation in early 2008 of waterless urinals, saving an estimated 9000000 litres (11,771.6 cu yd) of water each year.
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
in Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
. The 137 metres (449.5 ft) tower serves as the headquarters for Woodside Petroleum
Woodside Petroleum
Woodside Petroleum Limited is an Australian petroleum exploration and production company. It is a public company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and has its headquarters in Perth, Western Australia.-History:...
and incorporates several energy-efficient
Efficient energy use
Efficient energy use, sometimes simply called energy efficiency, is the goal of efforts to reduce the amount of energy required to provide products and services. For example, insulating a home allows a building to use less heating and cooling energy to achieve and maintain a comfortable temperature...
design features. When completed in 2004, the building was the first premium-grade skyscraper completed in Perth since Central Park
Central Park (skyscraper)
Central Park is a 51-storey office tower in Perth, Western Australia. The building measures from its base at St Georges Terrace to the roof, and to the tip of its communications mast. Upon its completion in 1992, the tower became the tallest building in Perth...
in 1992. It is currently the sixth tallest skyscraper in Perth.
Planning and construction
Woodside Petroleum experienced strong growth in its business during the 1990s. However, there had been no major expansion in office space in the Perth central business districtCentral business district
A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...
since the opening of Exchange Plaza
Exchange Plaza
Exchange Plaza is a 40-storey skyscraper in Perth, Western Australia. Completed in 1991, the building is the State headquarters of the Australian Securities Exchange...
and Central Park
Central Park (skyscraper)
Central Park is a 51-storey office tower in Perth, Western Australia. The building measures from its base at St Georges Terrace to the roof, and to the tip of its communications mast. Upon its completion in 1992, the tower became the tallest building in Perth...
in 1992. As a result, by 1998 Woodside had its Perth staff spread across six sites, including Central Park and the headquarters at 1 Adelaide Terrace.
Woodside Petroleum called for tenders for a tower to be constructed for the company. Perron Group put forward a proposal to leave Woodside in its existing headquarters on Adelaide Terrace and build a tower beside it to house the other staff. Meanwhile, Consolidated Press Holdings and Multiplex
Multiplex (company)
Brookfield Multiplex is a global contracting and development company that designs, builds and maintains property and infrastructure assets.- History :Brookfield Multiplex was founded as Multiplex in 1962 in Perth, Western Australia by John Roberts...
proposed to build a tower on CPH's Westralia Square site. Jones Lang Wootton proposed a new tower on the Bishop's See site.
However, it was announced in April 1999 that the winning tenderer was Hai Sun Hup Group subsidiary Knoxville Group. This proposal was to develop Hai Sun Hup's site at the corner of St Georges Terrace
St Georges Terrace, Perth
St Georges Terrace is the main street in the city of Perth, Western Australia. It runs parallel to the Swan River and forms the major arterial road through the central business district....
and Milligan Street into an office tower and hotel project. This 9000 square metres (96,875.2 sq ft) site stretches all the way from St Georges Terrace to Hay Street
Hay Street, Perth
Hay Street is a major road through the CBD of Perth, Western Australia. The street was named after Robert William Hay, the Permanent Under Secretary for Colonies. Sections of the road were called Howick Street and Twiss Street until 1897...
, and had been bought by Alistair McAlpine
Alistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of West Green
Robert Alistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of West Green , is often known as Alistair McAlpine.He became a life peer in 1984 as Baron McAlpine of West Green of West Green in the County of Hampshire. In the 1990s he had a high-profile business collapse in Australia.McAlpine was a prominent...
for $100 million, before later being sold to Hai Sun Hup in 1996 for just $20 million. The mostly vacant site was occupied by small buildings fronting Hay Street and vacant land fronting all three streets. The corner of Milligan Street and St Georges Terrace also featured the eight-storey AWA Computer House. The development also necessitated the demolition of the building on Hay Street which housed the Matsuri Japanese Restaurant, which moved to new premises in QV.1
QV.1
QV.1 is a 40-storey modernist skyscraper in Perth, Western Australia. Completed in 1991, the building is presently the fourth-tallest building in Perth, after Central Park, the yet to be completed BHP Tower and the BankWest Tower...
.
Approval of the office tower was delayed due to a dispute with the Department of Transport
Department for Planning and Infrastructure
The Department for Planning and Infrastructure was a department of the Government of Western Australia that was responsible for implementing the state's planning, infrastructure and transport policies...
about the number of car parking bays which could be included in the development, and it was rumoured that the building may not proceed due to difficulties in Hai Sun Hup securing financing. However, the construction was made viable by the booming
Boom and bust
A credit boom-bust cycle is an episode characterized by a sustained increase in several economics indicators followed by a sharp and rapid contraction. Commonly the boom is driven by a rapid expansion of credit to the private sector accompanied with rising prices of commodities and stock market index...
resources industry in Western Australia.
Planning approval was received from the City of Perth
City of Perth
The City of Perth is a local government area and body, within the Perth Metropolitan Area, which is the capital of Western Australia. The local government body is commonly known as Perth City Council. The city covers the Perth central business district and surrounding suburbs...
in December 2000, with plot ratio
Floor Area Ratio
The floor area ratio or floor space index is the ratio of the total floor area of buildings on a certain location to the size of the land of that location, or the limit imposed on such a ratio....
concessions awarded to the development in return for allowing pedestrian thoroughfare and providing a public square at the base of the tower similar to that at the base of the Central Park tower. The $250 million development contract was signed on 30 January 2001. Under this deal, Deutsche Asset Management
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG is a global financial service company with its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. It employs more than 100,000 people in over 70 countries, and has a large presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and the emerging markets...
paid Hai Sun Hup $23 million for the building site and development contract, and Woodside agreed to lease 32500 square metres (349,827.1 sq ft) of the tower for 15 years, with two five-year options to extend. Hai Sun Hup retained ownership of the Hay Street side of the site.
Site works began on 31 January 2001, with a groundbreaking
Groundbreaking
Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are often attended by dignitaries such as politicians and...
ceremony held on 27 February 2001. Construction on the tower by builder Baulderstone Hornibrook began in March 2001.
Although the building would add 46000 square metres (495,139.9 sq ft) of office space to the central business district and raise the premium-grade office floor space in the central business district by 24 per cent, Woodside was to occupy so much of it that only 13500 square metres (145,312.8 sq ft) would be available to other tenants. By October 2003, building manager CB Richard Ellis
CB Richard Ellis
CBRE Group, Inc. , a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles, is the world’s largest commercial real estate services firm . The Company has approximately 31,000 employees , and serves real estate owners, investors and occupiers through more than 300 offices worldwide...
had leased all but three floors of the building, after securing law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth
Corrs Chambers Westgarth
Corrs Chambers Westgarth is an Australian commercial law firm. It was founded in 1841.-History:Corrs Chambers Westgarth traces its history back to 1841 with the founding of the firm's first office in Melbourne. Corrs has offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth...
and the joint venture alliance between Transfield, Worley Limited and Woodside. This was reduced to less than two floors unleased in April 2004 when accounting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited , commonly referred to as Deloitte, is one of the Big Four accountancy firms along with PricewaterhouseCoopers , Ernst & Young, and KPMG....
signed on as tenant, vacating its office in Central Park.
The building was effectively completed in early 2004, and was officially opened in March 2004. It became Perth's third largest building by total floor area, and was the city's first new high-rise office building in eight years and the first premium-grade tower since the completion of Central Park in 1992. It was thought that the move of Woodside to the western end of the central business district would draw other resources companies to the area.
The plans originally included the construction of a hotel adjacent to the new office tower on the Hay Street side of the site. The 13-storey hotel was to be a 220-room 5-star
Star (classification)
Stars are often used as symbols for classification purposes. They are used by reviewers for ranking things such as movies, TV shows, restaurants, and hotels. For example, one to five stars is commonly employed to categorize hotels.-Restaurant ratings:...
Stamford Hotel. The hotel, which was expected to cost $50 million, was put on hold by Stamford Land Corporation (the new name for Hai Sun Hup) in 2001 and construction would only proceed if the local hotel market became strong enough. A 13-level, 13000 square metres (139,930.8 sq ft) A-grade office tower was proposed for the site by Stamford Land Corporation in 2008.
Design
The tower was designed by architects Kann Finch Group. It features 251 basement car parking bays, a bar on the ground floor, shops, a 120-seat auditorium on the mezzanineMezzanine (architecture)
In architecture, a mezzanine or entresol is an intermediate floor between main floors of a building, and therefore typically not counted among the overall floors of a building. Often, a mezzanine is low-ceilinged and projects in the form of a balcony. The term is also used for the lowest balcony in...
level and a fully equipped gym.
The structure is of concrete frame, with a conventionally reinforced jump-formed core containing all of the lifts
Elevator
An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...
, stairs and service risers. The office floors are formed from post-tensioned band beams supporting conventional reinforced slabs. The perimeter of the building has columns spaced 8.2 metres (26.9 ft) apart and supporting post-tensioned edge beams. The support columns were formed from 80 MPa (11,603 psi) concrete to minimise the column size at ground level.
Woodside Plaza has two basement
Basement
__FORCETOC__A basement is one or more floors of a building that are either completely or partially below the ground floor. Basements are typically used as a utility space for a building where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, car park, and air-conditioning system...
levels, two plant
Mechanical floor
A mechanical floor, mechanical penthouse, or mechanical level is a storey of a high-rise building that is dedicated to mechanical and electronics equipment. "Mechanical" is the most commonly used term, but words such as utility, technical, service, and plant are also used...
floor levels, 23 office floor levels, a mezzanine and the ground floor, giving a total of 29 floors. The building has a total floor area of 77000 m² (828,821.1 sq ft), of which 46000 m² (495,139.9 sq ft) is lettable. The building is divided into three elevator zones: low-rise, mid-rise and high-rise. Four generators and a 60000 litres (78.5 cu yd) fuel tank allow the tower to operate without any external electricity for up to four days.
The tower is noted for its efforts towards efficient energy use
Efficient energy use
Efficient energy use, sometimes simply called energy efficiency, is the goal of efforts to reduce the amount of energy required to provide products and services. For example, insulating a home allows a building to use less heating and cooling energy to achieve and maintain a comfortable temperature...
. For instance, the building's air conditioning
HVAC
HVAC refers to technology of indoor or automotive environmental comfort. HVAC system design is a major subdiscipline of mechanical engineering, based on the principles of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer...
plant utilises variable-speed fans to consume less energy when extra cooling is unnecessary, and the floors are divided into several air conditioning zones. Internal lighting dims when natural ambient light is brighter, and the heat load of the building is reduced through the use of "low emissivity" glass on the building's facade. The building also implements water-saving measures through the installation in early 2008 of waterless urinals, saving an estimated 9000000 litres (11,771.6 cu yd) of water each year.