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