After a five-month refit project with a strong focus on ESG and commitment to Net Zero, WSP’s Sydney-based teams have settled into their refreshed workplace, which will provide more opportunities to work collaboratively with clients and colleagues.
The office, which houses more than 1,000 people, covers three floors with a variety of contemporary, appealing spaces for colleagues to work, meet, collaborate and socialise.
Prioritising sustainability
When the lease on the office at 680 George Street drew to its end, WSP chose not to move to a new building, which may have required demolition to return the previous office to base building condition. Instead, we entered into an innovative leasing agreement with Brookfield, aligning with our sustainability priorities and net zero commitments. The decision to retrofit the existing office delivers a positive impact on the environment, despite being more disruptive for WSP’s teams during the works.
Brookfield has engaged WSP to undertake an electrification assessment and Green Star Performance certification. Brookfield’s goals are to make the entire building carbon neutral by 2025, fully electric by 2030, and maintain a 5-star NABERS energy rating and 4-star Green Star performance.
Embedding circular economy principles for sustainability
Throughout the fitout, we embedded a circular economy approach in the design to prioritise reuse, refurbishing, donation and recycling of construction and fitout materials. The circular design approach was coordinated by the WSP Waste Management & Circular Economy team who worked in collaboration with WSP Workplace, Davenport Campbell, eight WSP specialists design teams, Project Manager, Turner & Townsend and the contractor SHAPE from the early stages of the design through to construction.
Valentina Petrone, WSP’s Circular Economy Lead, said “This is truly a demonstration project of how circular economy principles and strategies can be brought to life to achieve great environmental, social and economic outcomes, thanks to a collaborative approach among all project stakeholders.”
In the office renovation we reused and refurbished existing furniture, but also incorporated circular design solutions that allowed the reuse of existing building services systems and interiors components into the new fitout such as air conditioning units and ducting, feature lighting, power and communication systems, ceiling tiles, doors and insulation batts. When furniture and lighting couldn’t be reused on site, the majority of items were donated to charities. Another notable initiative is the new kitchen island benchtop, manufactured using recycled materials including waste glass, waste textiles, and waste polyester wall insulation sourced from WSP office defit.
The circular economy initiatives executed within this project represent industry leading application. These were monitored during the design, demolition and construction phases of the project to document benefits including:
- Ceiling tiles and air conditioning ducting
- Blinds and skirting boards
- Power and data cabling
- Office chairs and workstations
- Staff lockers
