Mirvac Headquarters

Mirvac’s headquarters at EY Centre, 200 George Street, demonstrates industry leadership through innovation and sustainability, creating an environment that actively stimulates performance and better supports the way Mirvac’s people live and work.

Completed in June 2016 by Mirvac Construction, the building and workplace employs cutting edge, world-leading technology to provide a warm, ‘human’ alternative to the traditional high-rise office tower.

As the owner, developer and tenant of EY Centre Mirvac was in a unique position to deliver a bespoke, innovative and sustainable workplace that set industry benchmarks in Australia and around the world. The new headquarters support the diverse and specific needs of the Mirvac workforce while actively promoting collaboration and flexible working, all underpinned by a diversity and inclusion program.

Technology and Innovation

EY Centre is one of the first of a new breed of ‘Smart Buildings’ in Australia. Its market leading technology monitors air quality, sunlight, power and water usage and adjusts the internal environment according to the needs of the building and its occupants.

The building also showcases pioneering technology enabling it to respond to its external environment. For example, the building has a high performance closed cavity façade (CCF) system, used in conjunction with a timber blind system, to enhance comfort by improving the transparency of the glass and increasing the connection with the outside, while controlling light and heat and reducing glare and energy use. This is the first time a CCF system has been used in Australia and the first time timber blinds have been incorporated into a CCF system anywhere in the world.

Interactive display screens and a ‘Smart tenancy’ app are available for visitors to Mirvac’s headquarters, which allows them to access information about the building in real-time. It provides visitors with credible, transparent and timely information on sustainability performance, guided tenancy tours and links to view live data on how the building is performing.

Along with the monitoring of building activity, Mirvac has taken a human-centered approach to data management in its headquarters. Using real time information captured through the triangulation of Wi-Fi, laptops and mobile connections, Mirvac has the ability to analyse and assess movements, collaboration and workspace utilisation throughout the workplace.

Activation and retail

To integrate Mirvac’s EY Centre 200 George Street into the surrounding fabric of the Sydney CBD, Mirvac introduced ground-floor retail to the building to create a well-connected precinct with welcoming spaces and places to work, dine and socialise.

Completed in July 2016, the space incorporates five retail offerings, including a Commonwealth Bank branch and four food and beverage retailers tailored to the specific needs of the surrounding workforce. Acknowledging the modern employee’s day that expands beyond the traditional 9am-5pm, the site houses a contemporary bistro style restaurant, a laneway rum and wine bar, a specialty coffee and artisan café and a standalone coffee kiosk, catering to a before-and-after work crowd of building tenants and the wider Sydney community.

As an extension to the ground floor activation, Mirvac introduced The Grounds, a ‘pocket park’ directly behind the building that doubles as an urban laneway, eat street and customisable retail area. Activations in this space have included Food Truck Fridays, Sydney Vivid Festival events and more.

EY Centre’s ground floor retail creates a cultural, recreational and retail hub that easily adapts to the needs of the workforce and wider Sydney community.

Art Partnerships

Great public art is an important contribution to our urban landscapes, and a key consideration for Mirvac at every development. Throughout the planning and construction phase for EY Centre, Mirvac worked closely with artists and art organisations to create a diverse display of public art, designed to celebrate the history and heritage of the site.

The most prominent public art piece at EY Centre is ngarunga nangama: calm water dream, a 300 square metre sandstone carving from well-known Indigenous artist, Judy Watson in consultation with Uncle Allen Madden, Gadigal Elder from Sydney.

The artwork is crafted from sandstone and some of the artefacts excavated from beneath the building during construction and celebrates the heritage of the area and the Indigenous history of the site.

History and heritage

As part of EY Centre, 200 George Street’s planning phase, a team of experts was assembled by Mirvac to record the rich history and archaeology of the site. Specialist firm, GML Heritage was appointed to undertake an archaeological investigation as part of the redevelopment, which began during the demolition of the preceding buildings, before the excavation of the carpark.

During the 12-week excavation, the archaeologists uncovered 23,715 artefacts that related to Sydney’s colonial and Victorian-era history. Excavation in the basement of the EY Centre site uncovered the original topography of the bedrock, stepping down to the Tank Stream.

Many features had been hand cut into the sandstone bedrock, including two wells, the larger being 2.5 metres deep and 1.6 metres wide, that was brimming with interesting artefacts. Among the artefacts were leather shoes and off-cuts, buttons, pins, candle-wick scissors, coins, clay pipes and jewellery. Unusual tobacco pipes found at EY Centre have commemorative images, such as the Crystal Palace and portraits of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Sustainability and WELL

EY Centre is one of the most sustainable and environmentally advanced buildings in Australia. Its innovative design and technology actively promotes the health and wellbeing of its occupants and contributes to the enrichment of the wider Sydney community.

For EY Centre, Mirvac has achieved:

• A 6 Star Green Star Office Design v3 certified rating
• A 6 Star Green Star Office As Built v3 certified rating
• A 5 star NABERS Energy rating
• A 4 star NABERS Water rating

The Song Kitchen

In early 2016, Mirvac entered into a unique partnership with YWCA to bring to life a profit-for-purpose café at EY Centre, The Song Kitchen. One of the first ventures of its kind in Australia, the café provides catering services to the Mirvac team, with 100 per cent of the profits used to fund YWCA’s domestic violence and homeless support programs and services.

The Song Kitchen is the first extension of YWCA’s profit for purpose hospitality services beyond the Y Hotels Sydney. Mirvac piloted the model and hopes it will be adopted by other Australian companies as a commercially viable way of incorporating social enterprises into their supply chains.

The Song Kitchen has experienced positive results following the first year of operation with over 19,200 coffees sold, 1,440 yoghurt pots sold and glowing feedback from staff and visitors.

Multi award-winning

EY Centre set new industry benchmarks for sustainability, innovation and heritage integration in Australia and around the world. As well as employing the world’s first timber closed cavity façade system, the Mirvac team underscored how building science and bioscience can work seamlessly together to deliver a higher level of health and wellbeing at their tenancy at EY Centre through a partnership with the International WELL Building Institute. As a result, Mirvac’s headquarters at the EY Centre is the first tenancy in Australia, and one of only six in the world, to achieve a GOLD WELL Certification, secured by achieving credits across seven categories including air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort and mind.

Following the completion of the project the EY Centre has been recognised for its innovation and design excellence with a number of industry awards including:

• Architecture and Design Sustainability Awards (Commercial Development)
• AIB Professional Excellence in Building Awards (Adam Sutherland)
• Facility Management Awards (Sustainability and Environmental Impact; Occupant Safety and Wellbeing; People and Productivity
• UDIA (Commercial Development) 
• Sydney Design Awards (Architecture, Commercial, Constructed – Silver Winner)
• Urban Taskforce Awards (Commercial Office City Development Best Office Tower of the Year) 
• Australian Institute of Architects National Architecture Awards (The Harry Seidler Award)
• International Property Awards 2018 (Commercial High-rise Development for Australia, Commercial High-rise Architecture for Australia and Office Interior for Australia)
• American Architecture prize 2017 Tall Buildings and Commercial Architecture

The product of partnerships

The building was 99 per cent leased prior to completion, and key to the delivery of the project was the close collaboration with anchor tenant, EY who were involved in all aspects; from the selection of architects, to the details of their fit-out.

“What we loved about the Mirvac offer was the chance to literally be in a partnership,” says Lyn Kraus, Leader and Office managing Partner, EY. “We’ve had the pleasure of being on the journey of an integrated fit-out, which means that we’ve been involved in decision-making from the very start. It truly feels like an opportunity that’s rare in a new building, to be the largest tenant and also to have a real seat at the table around the decisions that are impacting the building. We’re really proud of how we’ve worked together in what’s been a great partnership.”