Regent Place

The design for a mixed-use development on George Street in the heart of Sydney will transform this key area into a lively urban quarter where people can live, work and enjoy life in the city. The site, opposite St Andrew's Cathedral and close to the Town Hall, has been vacant since 1989.

The development consists of two towers floating above a 5-storey sandstone podium that contains retail, commercial and leisure spaces. Key design objectives have been to integrate the design of the developments base at street level and to simultaneously establish a successful relationship to the existing historic buildings located around the site. The two towers become increasingly transparent as they rise into the sky and provide a point of reference for the Central Sydney skyline.

The main 56-storey tower consists of a cluster of eight tall, slender smaller towers supported by a central core. This will provide high standard private residential apartments. The second 33 storey tower houses serviced apartments and recreational spaces.

Penetration of daylight right into the heart of the development has been a major influence on the configuration of the scheme. The base is divided into a series of building blocks that open up onto internal glazed routes that provide a network of through-site links that reinvent the traditional Sydney top-lit arcades. Daylight levels reaching adjoining public spaces have also been considered in order to minimise the impact of the tower upon its surroundings.

David Nelson, Deputy Chairman at Foster and Partners, said ''We are delighted to have won this competition to build our second tower project in Sydney. This is an opportunity to fill a long-vacant gap in the heart of Sydney, repairing the streetscape and extending the network of routes through this key site.''

Client: Greencliff (CPL) Developments Pty Ltd
Consultants: Taylor Thompson Whitting / Robert Bird, Rider Hunt, Connnell Mott MacDonald , Connnell Mott MacDonald , Warren Smith and Partners