22 O’Riordan Street: Sydney’s new walk-up workplace
As the impact of COVID-19 unfolds, organisations are acknowledging that the workplace is no longer a place that you have to be, it is a place you must want to be – a place to meet and interact. The energy, collaboration and motivation that comes from working together in an interconnected and vital ‘place of gathering’ will define the new workplace.
22 O’Riordan Street, Alexandria, in Sydney’s inner-south celebrates this evolution by creating a ribbon of connectivity – a sculpted walkway and an abundance of natural light that reaches every floor. Weaving through the built form, this staircase creates a journey of green spaces, with terraces inside and outside at different scales and levels, culminating in a lush rooftop garden.
The connectivity applied to the workplace is replicated in connections to the local urban fabric. Part of this approach is to reach out to the local street network, extending connections, via a new laneway through the building in a permeable and inclusive way. This brings a new visual and active destination to the street, breaking down the barrier between public space and the new development.
Tony Grist says 22 O’Riordan Street forges a new path in office space, developing a unique contextual language specific to Alexandria and Sydney.
“This project continues the reinvention of Alexandria stimulated by recent developments like Green Square,” Tony said.
“22 O’Riordan provides a genuine alternate to city workplaces – a low rise, highly flexible ‘walk-up’ workplace, full of healthy and sustainable initiatives.”
“It is an authentic offering that has been designed to meet future workplace needs; a place where people want to work in, rather than need to work in,” he said.
22 O’Riordan will sit in a changing and evolving landscape. Its rich history of industrial uses and regeneration contribute to a new vision for the site. Within this context sits a new workplace, connected to community, inspired by history and geology, and building on a new post COVID-19 strategy of health, wellbeing, and sustainability.
Markham Chief Executive, James Markham says 22 O’Riordan Street will be a unique workplace at half the cost of the CBD and only a three-minute walk to Green Square station.
“When we secured this property, we knew we were onto something special. We look forward to working with Hassell to deliver this project that sits on the fringe of the wider 278-hectare Green Square development that the City of Sydney has committed $540 million to over the next 10 years, all within three kilometres of the CBD,” James Markham said.
