Barangaroo milestone: First look from the top of Australia's biggest office building
The view from the top of the tallest and final skyscraper in Lendlease’s trilogy of International Towers at Barangaroo has been revealed to the public for the first time.
Members of the media, key tenants, government officials and Lendlease’s construction team gathered on Thursday for a topping-out ceremony held outdoors above the top floor of the 49-storey Tower 1, with panoramic 360-degree views of the CBD skyline, harbour and surrounding suburbs.
With more than 100,000 square metres of office space on large floor plates – big enough to eventually accommodate 11,000 workers – Tower 1 is considered Australia’s largest and most sustainable office building.
Over the next six months, it will become home to its first 4600 workers from anchor tenant PwC, HSBC, Marsh & McLennan Companies and Servcorp.
By the end of the year, there would be around 16,000 office workers in Barangaroo.
Video: Pat Stevens
From the top of the building – still clad with scaffolding and surrounded by cranes – Sydney landmarks including the Opera House, Sydney Tower, Pyrmont and the Balmain peninsula all can be seen from a new perspective more than 210 metres above the ground.
Tower 1 from the ground at Barangaroo South. Photo: Rebecca Holland
The topping-out ceremony – an old Scandinavian tradition intended to make amends with any spirits displaced during construction – marks the milestone of a building reaching structural height. The ceremony is carried out for every major Lendlease project.
NSW Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events Stuart Ayres described the ceremony as an historic moment not just for the once derelict Barangaroo precinct but for Sydney as an emerging international economic powerhouse.
“It is a signal of how strong the confidence in this city is, it’s a signal about the strength of the partnerships between government, community and commercial operators is in the city and it’s sending an incredibly strong message to the world that Sydney is one of the best places to come and invest,” he said.
Steve McCann, Lendlease Group chief executive officer, at the Tower 1 topping-out ceremony. Photo: Lendlease
View to the harbour and Sydney Opera House from the top of Tower 1 – still covered in scaffolding.
Both Mr Ayres and Lendlease Group chief executive officer and managing director Steve McCann paid tribute to the project’s namesake Barangaroo – a pioneering indigenous woman and the wife of Bennelong.
PwC’s managing partner of strategy and transformation Sammy Kumar said he was looking forward to introducing more than 2500 employees to Tower 1.
“Not just our building but the precinct is really coming alive,” Mr Kumar said.
“You see a lot of it on paper and charts and plans for a long time but to actually feel it is very different and I can’t wait to share it with our people.”
The tree in place for the topping-out ceremony.
A Tower 1 team photo more than 200 metres above the ground. Photos: Rebecca Holland
Mr McCann said the International Towers’ six-star Green Star environmental credentials and its work on sustainability were attracting interest from all over the world.
“We’ve invested around $6 billion in capital into the Barangaroo precinct alone, and we’ve delivered all three towers and all of the retail in the first stage of the project, which is much more than anyone originally planned or expected to do,” Mr McCann said.
