Developer ICD to build Adelaide's greenest office tower
Melbourne-based ICD Property hopes to build Adelaide’s greenest office building after targeting a Six-star Green Star rating from the Green Building Council for the commercial portion of its $400 million redevelopment of the city’s Central Market Arcade.
The 15,000 square-metre all-electric office tower within ICD’s Market Square precinct will feature rooftop solar, rainwater capture for irrigation and use only locally sourced recovered and recycled materials in its construction wherever possible. A minimum of 90 per cent of waste generated from the building will be diverted from landfill.
Designed by architects Woods Bagot, the development is a joint venture with the City of Adelaide. The building will offer 2140 sq m average floor plates, along with floor to ceiling glazing, extensive use of natural materials and a carbon-neutral base.
A Six-star Green Star building, as defined by the Green Building Council of Australia, must be “designed to be fossil fuel-free, highly efficient, powered by renewables, and built with low carbon materials”.
Other buildings targeting a Six-star Green Star rating include the new $1.8 billion hybrid wooden office tower being built for software company Atlassian next to Sydney’s Central Station, which Dexus will take a two-thirds stake in on completion.
Although more expensive to build, greener commercial buildings are becoming the norm amid the push to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. They are also becoming more sought after by both investors and tenants.
“We want to deliver buildings that stand the test of time,” ICD Property managing director, Matt Khoo, told The Australian Financial Review.
“We want to push the limits with green initiatives while still making our projects [financially] feasible. We believe we’ve struck a good balance with this project.”
He added that tenants would benefit from “significant savings through lower ongoing operational costs”.
While no tenants have been locked in, Mr Khoo said the developer had held “good conversations with a number of large corporates as anchors for the building”.
He said there was strong demand for new office space within the Adelaide CBD, which is characterised by a lot of old stock.
Adelaide Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor said the office tower would be “one of the first all-electric buildings in South Australia”.
Alongside achieving the Green Building Council’s highest Green Star Rating, ICD is also targeting a 5½-star NABERS (National Australian Built Environment Rating System) rating, and Gold WELL rating from the International WELL Building Institute.
The office tower forms part of ICD’s mixed-use precinct that will replace the 8500-square metre Central Market Arcade site between Adelaide’s historic fruit and vegetable market and the Hilton Hotel and running all the way from Grote Street to Gouger Street.
Under plans approved last year, the precinct will feature a 37-storey tower at the Grote Street end with 212 apartments and a 251-room hotel. The seven-level A-grade office building will stand at the Gouger Street end.
Both towers will sit above a multi-level retail podium that will include a central atrium. A 3000 sq m rooftop terrace will connect the two buildings.
Over 90 per cent of the 212 residential apartments have sold off the plan, though a $10 million penthouse – the most expensive in the Adelaide CBD – remains up for grabs.
Construction will kick off in June and the project will take three and a half years to complete. Multiplex has been chosen as the project’s builder.
Mr Khoo said ICD planned to retain both the office and hotel as long-term assets.”We may bring a partner in [on these investments],” he said.
