This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
BILLIONAIRE media tycoon Kerry Stokes-backed developer Flagship has secured approval for the $180 million Kings Square 5 office tower in Perth’s City Link Precinct.
DevelopmentWA has given green light for the 27-storey building at 580 Wellington Street after Flagship unveiled plans late last year to build the tower within the 13-hectare, $5.2 billion Perth City Link urban renewal development, which will reconnect the CBD with Northbridge.
According to design firm Architectus, the Kings Square 5 tower’s considered positioning on site and podium resolution have been influenced by the “desire to create a commercial building in harmony with the city vision”.
“The building design is a careful balance of context and scale. The tower is simple and contemporary. It responds to the form and order of the Wellington Streetscape and the developing precinct. An incision in the tower’s western façade symbolises the ‘language of erosion’ that has shaped the natural landscape of Perth across time.”
Architectus said the theme of water and erosion is carried into the ground plane design, where a landscaped public plaza subtly envelops the ground plane from the north-western corner of the site, integrating active café and restaurant alfresco areas with the commercial lobby entrance and further permeating to the upper podium’s complementary activities.
The Kings Square precinct has welcomed major tenants Shell Australia, John Holland Group, HBF and P&N Bank
Elsewhere within the Perth City Link precinct, DevelopmentWA has approved the $695 million Edith Cowan University campus – next to the 2012-opened RAC Arena – while joint venture partners Far East Consortium and Cbus Property last year received a permit for a $100 million commercial development on the corner of King and Roe streets, named the King Street Campus.
The 14-storey building will deliver 26,000 sqm of new office space, 1,100 sqm of retail space and three levels of parking.
Far East Consortium’s local arm bought five lots in the area in 2016 and is also developing a $100 million, 263-room Dorsett Hotel and a 32-storey residential tower overlooking Perth Arena with 314 apartments.
Early stages of the Perth City Link project included sinking the Fremantle rail line, station upgrades and new links between Perth station and Perth underground to be able to link the Perth CBD with Northbridge, and a new underground Busport in place of the Wellington Street bus station.
