Arup Targets Podium Finish for Brisbane CBD Headquarters

Global consultancy group Arup has unveiled one of Australia’s most sustainable offices at its Brisbane headquarters. It worked with Hassell to design the refit of three floors at 123 Albert Street for its 450 staff in Brisbane’s CBD. And while the dust has settled and they have moved into the new space, the job is not quite finished. The group is working towards the Living Building Challenge certification and if successful would be just the second in Australia to achieve it. Living Buildings incorporate regenerative design that connects occupants to light, air, food, nature and community. They are self-sufficient and remain within the resource limits of their site, and create a positive impact on the human and natural systems that interact with them. Arup principal and Queensland leader Eliza Howell says the Living Building Challenge assesses the building across the course of a year. “It’s not just about the build—it’s how you live or you work in, or use the space that meets the accreditation,” Howell says. “We’re on track to achieve it … but even if we don’t, we’re really happy to be part of it, to really lift the industry, be the trailblazers [working towards] achieving it.” ▲ Arup’s headquarters at 123 Albert Street combine new and salvaged materials to create a modern workplace. Salvaged materials have been used throughout the office refit, which required a strong collaborative relationship between Arup, architects Hassell, Five Mile Radius, Blaklash, and Buildcorp, which undertook the refit. Championing circularity, regenerative design Fixtures and furniture were repurposed and reused from other sites within the CBD, including timbers and metals from demolition sites in the city, as well as display boxes from the Museum of Brisbane, which were turned into furniture. Hassell principal architect Scott Walker says the procurement process was “very different from online shopping”. “It’s probably more like going to a marketplace or a thrift store and fossicking through the thrift store to find the piece you like, as opposed to going online and saying I want a red shirt, size medium,” Walker says. The architects had to be adaptable in the design of the building to ensure they could use locally sourced and salvaged materials. Walker says green granite from a nearby demolition job had been incorporated into the winter gardens in the office, and 73 per cent of all materials used were locally sourced or salvaged from Queensland. The Brisbane office is the latest in a decade-long collaboration between Hassell and Arup to create vibrant workplaces across the country. Its latest and possibly most ambitious project in Brisbane is setting a benchmark for sustainability. ▲ Access to light, greenery and water features were prioritised within the design of the office. About 90 per cent of all building waste was diverted from landfill, with more than 100 different materials salvaged and repurposed. The intentional design is being celebrated for its material sourcing strategy, which prioritised readily available and reusable elements instead of a design-first, source-later approach that remains prevalent in the industry. Leftover perforated metal from a closing Ripple Iron factory became distinctive café joinery and wall cladding, while Brisbane volcanic tuff, a local rock type sourced from site work excavations at Brisbane Airport, is incorporated, echoing the natural ruggedness of the nearby Kangaroo Point cliffs. Howell says a few Arup offices around the world have worked towards the Living Building Challenge and the regenerative refit of 123 Albert Street reflected the company’s strong sustainability values. “I think we’re on track to be maybe the second workplace in Australia that will achieve the certification,” Howell says. “I love the quote by Carl Alafanti, ‘the greenest building is one that already exists’. That really links strongly to the reason why we wanted to do a retrofit or a refurb. “We’ve got so many existing buildings within Brisbane that would really benefit from that. We’ve obviously done the blank canvas of the office space. And really seeing, again, what is possible with our space.” The headquarters also features 1900 native plants, about four plants to every person, across the office. The spaces have been broken up into neighbourhoods with different design, colours and textures that converge on a main forum area. Howell says it is a place of gathering for the Arup team, while comfortable nooks around the building provide more private spaces for conversation or lunch breaks. ▲ Employee wellbeing was considered part of the sustainability embedded in the design of the refurbishment. There was also a strong focus on community and inclusivity with prayer rooms and parents facilities incorporated in the design. Arup also worked with building owner Dexus to design changes to the facade to enable some indoor-outdoor space, opening windows and winter gardens. Howell says biophilic design and connection to natural light is an important aspect of the design. “We’ve also got biophilic design where the temperature and the lighting intensity changes to match the outdoors. There are sensors on the roof of the building that inform those changes so you kind of have that indoor-outdoor experience,” she says. “Three-quarters of all of the workstations can see indoor planting or water features … we really wanted to reflect the feeling of the Queensland environment.” Sustainability is also about wellbeing Hassell’s Scott Walker says the notion of sustainability has become much more “well-rounded” in its embedded design principles. ▲ Hassell principal Scott Walker said 73 per cent of all materials used were sourced from Queensland, reducing the carbon footprint significantly. “It’s moved on from just thinking about energy use or material reuse. It’s moved into the realm of health and wellbeing, comfort and mental health,” Walker says. “There’s a real acknowledgement that the amount of time people spend in the workplace and the importance that it actually has in supporting a healthy lifestyle. “Sustainability is not just using good materials, it’s how people feel in the space, it’s not one or the other, it’s a hand-in-glove approach.” The design is also reflective of the modern workplace Walker says, with about half of the floorspace dedicated to shared and collaborative spaces. “The idea of work isn’t just sitting at your desk plodding away at the computer,” he says. “It’s the engagement of people and the conversations you have which are often unscripted, and creating the space for that.”

Arup Targets Podium Finish for Brisbane CBD Headquarters

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