Green Light for $85m Charter Hall, Abacus Office Extension

Charter Hall Group and Abacus Group have received the green light from the City of Sydney for their $85-million office extension. 

They will now proceed with the planned podium extension at 201 Elizabeth Street in the Sydney CBD, which they sought permission for back in March 2021.

The office tower was purchased by the pair in 2019 for $630 million with Charter Hall taking the majority stake (68 per cent). 

The A-grade, 38-storey office tower built in 1978 will now be augmented with a new 11-storey podium with flooplates up to 1900sq m, adding a further 8600sq m of A-grade office space to the building. 

Approval was granted for a landscaped roof terrace and solar photovoltaic panels as well as “ state-of-the-art arrival, end-of-trip and wellness experiences”. 

The building, close to the Sydney Metro Pitt Street Station scheduled to open in 2024, will also have an additional 900sq m of retail on Castlereagh and Park streets.

Charter Hall Office chief executive officer Carmel Hourigan said that the approval “demonstrates the ongoing demand for high-quality office buildings in the city’s CBD”.
 
“We are witnessing—and responding to—an unprecedented flight-to-quality towards workplaces offering superior amenity, sustainability and wellness facilities that provide collaboration, cutting-edge technology, social interaction and human connection,” she said.

As part of the redevelopment, 201 Elizabeth Street will target 5-star Green Star, 5-star NABERS Energy, 4-star NABERS Water and a Gold WELL Certification. 

It is committing to a 20 per cent embodied carbon reduction and will focus on procuring low embodied carbon structural materials.