This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
THE Federal government is keen to move 1 Bligh St in the Sydney CBD, after a committee said its current home at 70 Phillip St, had the worst facilities in Sydney.
The government’s lease at 70 Phillip St had lapsed in February and it had been considering signing a new lease and spending $7 million to refurbish the space over a two-year period, which would require staff to move out temporarily.
Instead the committee favours relocating to Dexus Property Group’s 1 Blight St at the cost of $21 million and would move in by November 2012.
The government also favours 1 Bligh St Sydney because it is the first six-star green star building in Sydney and New South Wales.
The space will serve as the Sydney offices for the prime minister, cabinet, ministers and visiting senators and members.
Despite the cheaper option of staying put, the parliamentary committee on public works is not keen on 70 Phillip St, citing concerns including deficiencies in security, functionality, architecture and flexibility.
“Finance stated that refurbishment of 70 Phillip St has not been pursued as an option as there are several fundamental issues with the building that cannot be remedied through renovation alone,” the committee said.
“For some time now the inadequacies of the current Sydney Commonwealth Public Offfices (CPO) have been impacting upon many stakeholders, who range from tenants to Comcar drivers and all sorts of visitors.
“We formed a view with PM&C some time ago that it clearly was no longer fit for purpose and could not be made so. It has a very dated and inefficient fit-out and has no flexibility. It is established within a building with dated amenities, with difficult access, with inadequate car parking and vehicular access, and a very limited security infrastructure. In comparison with the other CPOs around Australia, the Sydney facilities—which are the busiest in the country—are quite obviously the worst,” the representatives of the Department of Finance and Deregulation said.
The government is negotiating to lease levels 19, 20 and 21, totalling 4,891 sqm, which is 479 sqm fewer than 70 Phillip St as it will co-locate facilities for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, including the Prime Minister’s office, the Cabinet Room and office suites.
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