Media

6th May, 2021

North Sydney tower inspired by the waratah

Warada, 63-83 Walker Street, by Woods Bagot.

A proposed blood red, 27-storey North Sydney tower, inspired by the waratah, is being billed as “a new sculpture in the heart of the city.”

The curved tower designed by Woods Bagot incorporates a through-site link, a central atrium space, and flexible office floor plates. In total it will have 33,000 square metres of gross floor area.

In planning documents before North Sydney Council, the architects explain how the design references the waratah, New South Wales’ official floral emblem, which is a symbol of resilience and regeneration – and an analogy for the post-pandemic renewal of North Sydney.

VIEW GALLERY

Warada, 63-83 Walker Street, by Woods Bagot.

“Surrounded by existing multi-storey commercial towers, the proposal seeks to strengthen North Sydney’s position as a major commercial centre by introducing a new premium commercial offering to the mix,” Woods Bagot’s design report reads.

Developed by Thirdi Group and Couloumbis Property Group, the $191 million tower will be built at 63-83 Walker Street, a site formed through an amalgamation process involving 21 owners and 31 lots across two freehold and two strata buildings.

Ethos Urban notes in a report that “It constitutes one of the last remaining significant redevelopment sites in North Sydney.”

The design of the office space aims at creating diverse workplace experiences that are more attractive than working from home.

Planning documents describe “A new approach to spatial layout that encourages a porosity of movement through divisible lobby and workspaces with separable cores.”

With landscape architecture by 360 Degrees, the tower will include multiple outdoor work spaces, including roof gardens and a street-level urban outdoor room.

The building will be called Warada, the Eora word for the Waratah

A proposed blood red, 27-storey North Sydney tower, inspired by the waratah, is being billed as “a new sculpture in the heart of the city.”

The curved tower designed by Woods Bagot incorporates a through-site link, a central atrium space, and flexible office floor plates. In total it will have 33,000 square metres of gross floor area.

In planning documents before North Sydney Council, the architects explain how the design references the waratah, New South Wales’ official floral emblem, which is a symbol of resilience and regeneration – and an analogy for the post-pandemic renewal of North Sydney.

VIEW GALLERY

Warada, 63-83 Walker Street, by Woods Bagot.

“Surrounded by existing multi-storey commercial towers, the proposal seeks to strengthen North Sydney’s position as a major commercial centre by introducing a new premium commercial offering to the mix,” Woods Bagot’s design report reads.

Developed by Thirdi Group and Couloumbis Property Group, the $191 million tower will be built at 63-83 Walker Street, a site formed through an amalgamation process involving 21 owners and 31 lots across two freehold and two strata buildings.

Ethos Urban notes in a report that “It constitutes one of the last remaining significant redevelopment sites in North Sydney.”

The design of the office space aims at creating diverse workplace experiences that are more attractive than working from home.

Planning documents describe “A new approach to spatial layout that encourages a porosity of movement through divisible lobby and workspaces with separable cores.”

With landscape architecture by 360 Degrees, the tower will include multiple outdoor work spaces, including roof gardens and a street-level urban outdoor room.

The building will be called Warada, the Eora word for the waratah.

https://architectureau.com/articles/north-sydney-tower-inspired-by-the-waratah/

6th May, 2021

Thirdi Plans $191m North Sydney Office Tower

Thirdi Group, with acquisition partner Couloumbis Property Group, has lodged plans for a second commercial tower in North Sydney that it hopes will spark a regeneration of the office sector.

The $191-million, waratah-inspired tower of 27 storeys was designed by Woods Bagot has a through-site link, rounded facade, 33,000sq m of gross floor area and a landscaped shared space above the six-level podium.

The Sydney-based developer worked with 21 owners to amalgamate the 1825sq m site, which currently has four office buildings under nine storeys between 63-83 Walker Street, North Sydney.

According to the office market summary by Ethos Urban, the area is falling behind the rest of the city and needs modern buildings to attract international tenants.

“Currently, the existing offer in North Sydney is characterised by secondary grade commercial office buildings with the majority offering smaller floorplates of 1000sq m or less,” the report stated.

“As such, the North Sydney CBD struggles to compete with the Sydney CBD and other metropolitan office markets such as Parramatta and Macquarie Park.”

Thirdi director and co-founder Luke Berry said they wanted to bring the “wow factor” back to the North Sydney skyline and inspire people to return to the office with the red tower design.

“It’s been a quite enjoyable experience sharing our proposed renders with people before we lodged the DA,” Berry said.

“Our brief to Woods Bagot was to create a building that maximised the buildings generous 1400sq m-plus floor plates [and] create as many open-air collaboration spaces as possible.”

 

Woods Bagot principal Jason Fraser said they had channeled waratah and banksia flowers into the design.

“When you think about the timing of this development, it was conceived during the bushfires and designed during a pandemic and we have used these events of adversity to help shape and create a workplace of the future,” Fraser said.

“Similar to how Australian native plants regenerate after a bushfire, we see Warada on Walker representing a rebirth of sorts for North Sydney’s commercial sector.”

The name warada is the Eora First Nations people’s word for the waratah and means beauty and visibility from afar.

This tower adds to Thirdi’s billion-dollar development pipeline which includes the Blue & William commercial precinct, a joint venture with Phoenix Property Investors.

That building, at 2-4 Blue Street, North Sydney, will have 14,436sq m across 10 floors and is expected to be completed by April, 2023.

An expected completion date for Warada on Walker “still has a way to go” according to Berry.

“If Blue & William has taught us anything, we certainly won’t be rushing the design and are committed to working with North Sydney Council and the North Sydney’s Design Excellence Panel to get the best outcome for the site and broader community,” he said.

https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/thirdis-191m-plans-to-spark-north-sydneys-office-sector

17th March, 2021

‘Stella’ Views Emerge

AS THE scaffolding comes down from the Stella apartments in Wickham, developer Thirdi Group is turning its attention to the final piece of its West End precinct puzzle. The Stella on Hannell complex, which the Newcastle Herald toured on Tuesday, is the company’s third development in the suburb. It is two months off completion. Construction started in early 2018 and despite the impact of COVID-19, has pressed ahead with little delay. More than 1000 people have worked on the project. The development’s presence in the skyline and external look is slowly being revealed as scaffolding is taken from the upper levels, as are sweeping harbour and city views. Stella on Hannell features two 14-storey towers with a mix of one, two and three-bedroom units. Only 16 of the 149 apartments remain unsold and are expected to be snapped up over coming weeks. Thirdi director Luke Berry said more Novocastrians had bought into Stella than the group’s past projects.

“More local downsizes and local investors are buying into our developments than when we first started,” he said. “When we first came to town, it was predominantly out-of-town investors under- pinning the sales. “This time round we’re more established, we’ve got a track record and reputation, and there is an appetite for apartment living that wasn’t here seven or eight years ago. At the moment it’s probably 60:40, owner-occupiers to investors, where it was the other way around before.” The two and three-bedroom apartments left vary from between $660,000 to more than $1.2 million. Architect Luke Mahaffey said constructing two towers rather than one allowed more sight lines of the harbour from nearby buildings to be maintained. “Breaking it into two towers provides not only benefits and a level of amenity for residents here, but it also helps with the character of the area and you’ve still got views from … surrounding developments,” he said.

Thirdi Group has previously built the West and Eaton on Union apartments, which along with Stella form part of the company’s four-development West End precinct. The ‘T’ of W.E.S.T will be a development on the former Dairy Farmers Corner site in nearby Newcastle West. Mr Berry said those plans were being drafted and a development application would be lodged in June. The yet-to-be-named development would “bookend” the area, he said, given the site is at the western end of a stretch of properties where buildings can rise 90 metres.

https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/7169299/stella-views-from-this-new-development-at-wickham/

16th March, 2021

Exclusive living at Sydney Harbour

The Kurraba Residences located on the harbour in Sydney, are impressive residences that offer a unique and luxurious living environment. The interiors of the penthouses and residences were designed by Mathieson Architects and exude luxury, elegance, modernity and openness.

We have already written blogs and articles about the impressive projects of Mathieson Architects. In our summer edition of 2020 you could read more about the spectacular Costa Brava villa. Today we take you through the penthouse and flats of the Kurraba Residences in which Mathieson’s typical and most important characteristics such as openness, modernity, proportion and light are central.

With the right use of light, proportions, materials and handcrafted details, a sense of understated luxury is created

Kurraba Residences is a collection of luxury boutique residences on Sydney Harbour at Kurraba Point developed by Thirdi Group. Consisting of residences and penthouses, these homes offer a unique and majestic living environment. Mathieson Architects provided the interior design, which was visualised by LAAN Studios. Luke Berry of property developer Thirdi Group commissioned Mathieson to design, among other things, a penthouse of international allure and to take advantage of the spectacular views of the city and port. The penthouse is about 430 m2 in size and runs over two levels.

With the right use of light, proportions, materials and handcrafted details, a sense of understated luxury is created – in both the penthouse and the other residences. The unique experience begins when you enter the private lobby with lift. At this entrance level, there is a formal living and dining room, kitchen and butler’s pantry. The private area includes a sitting room with fireplace, library and wine cellar. The private living quarters are generous to say the least, with a 250 m2 private garden terrace and pool with spectacular views. This level is connected to the private bedroom level by a large stone staircase and lift. Here you will find four bedrooms, each with its own dressing room and ensuite bathroom. The master bedroom is one of the most impressive and beautiful rooms in the penthouse. It is located in a vaulted glass room. The adjoining dressing room has glass cabinets and the ensuite marble bathroom has a sculptural bathtub.

The homes were given a contemporary look with lots of light and open spaces that flow into one another. A feeling of space, cosiness and exclusivity is central and is enhanced by a modern and luxurious interior design with quality materials and both sober and interesting colour combinations. ‘These homes are designed as the ultimate entertainers; a place that brings people together with seamless transitions to alfresco terraces overlooking the shimmering water. They represent everything that is best about exclusive living at Kurraba Point,’ we hear. Kurraba Residences is a true architectural and exclusive masterpiece.

https://imagicasa.be/en/story/exclusive-living-at-sydney-harbour