Central Park is a 51-storey office tower in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Western Australia. The building measures from its base at

St Georges Terrace St Georges Terrace (colloquially known as "The Terrace") is the main street in the city of Perth, Western Australia. It runs parallel to the Swan River and forms the major arterial road through the central business district. Its western e ...

to the roof, and to the tip of its communications mast. Upon its completion in 1992, the tower became the tallest building in Perth. It is also currently the sixteenth tallest building in Australia (tied with the Infinity Tower) and the tallest building in the western half of Australia. The approval of the tower was controversial due to the

plot ratio Floor area ratio (FAR) is the ratio of a building's total floor area (gross floor area) to the size of the piece of land upon which it is built. It is often used as one of the regulations in city planning along with the building-to-land ratio. The ...

concessions made by the

Perth City Council Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

to the developers. These concessions enabled the developers to construct a tower more than twice the height which would otherwise be allowable on the site. There was also opposition to the Council's decision to ignore its own town planning experts in allowing a large car park to be constructed underneath the site. Central Park Tower Perth

The building is formed by a composite steel and concrete frame, with various setbacks in its profile, meaning the upper floors are much smaller in area than lower levels. Outrigger trusses at the top of the building and at the various setbacks help to stiffen the building's reinforced concrete core against the strong winds prevalent in the area. The base of the building features a small park, for which the tower is named. Central Park Tower 8

History

Department stores

From as early as the 1930s, the site was home to a

Foy & Gibson Foy & Gibson (also known as Foy's) was one of Australia's largest and earliest department store chains. A large range of goods were manufactured and sold by the company including clothing, manchester, leather goods, soft furnishings, furniture, ...

department store, which was known by the locals as Foy's.{{cite book , last=Gervas , first=Stan , title=Perth in the 1930s and "The Way We Were" , year=1994 , publisher=Stan Gervas Books , location= Maylands , pages=5–6 The store extended all the way through from St Georges Terrace to Hay Street, featured a popular cafeteria and "had great areas of window display with island windows beyond the street frontage". The store changed to a David Jones department store upon the purchase by that chain of Foy's Western Australian operations. By the late 1970s, David Jones had withdrawn from the Western Australian market, and the site stood vacant after decades as a landmark of St Georges Terrace.{{cite news , title=After eight years of standing idle: down, down she comes , work= Daily News , page=11 , date=3 October 1986 The site was later acquired by Central Park Developments, a joint venture of the Superannuation Board of Western Australia,

Bond Corporation Alan Bond (22 April 1938 – 5 June 2015) was an English-born Australian businessman noted for his high-profile and often corrupt business dealings. These included his central role in the WA Inc scandals of the 1980s, and what was at the time ...

and L. R. Connell and Partners, and in 1986 had a value of A$20 million.

Planning approval

A planned $150 million redevelopment of the {{convert, 1.5, ha, acre, adj=on site was announced in October 1985.{{cite news , first=Janet , last=Wainwright , title=$150m. tower for DJ site , work=

The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuousl ...

, page=1 , date=26 October 1985 The plans included a 45-storey office tower, underground car parking, a landscaped park and the extension of the Hay Street Mall westwards to alongside the development. Demolition of the site had started by October 1986, by which time the planned tower had been expanded slightly to 47 floors. The 1987 approval of the redevelopment by the Perth City Council was controversial. The Council's own Town Planning Scheme imposed a limit on the number of parking bays in the central business district to ensure that the city streets could handle increased traffic levels coming from extra parking.{{cite news , first=Robert , last=Wainwright , title=Tower bonuses worry councillor , work=

, page=2 , date=9 October 1987 Under the Scheme the site was only entitled to 300 car-parking bays.{{cite news , first=Philip , last=Bodeker , title=Tower Car Park Anger , work= Daily News , page=13 , date=29 September 1987 The developers sought approval for 1,175 car-parking bays, which Council planning experts had said would cause traffic to back up to King Street waiting for entry.{{cite news , first=Robert , last=Wainwright , title=PCC passes tower for old DJ's site , work=

, page=3 , date=20 October 1987 The Council wanted the developers to consider constructing a road tunnel from

Mounts Bay Road Mounts Bay Road is a major road in Perth, Western Australia, extending southwest from the central business district along the north bank of the Swan River, at the base of Kings Park. Route description Mounts Bay Road runs between William Str ...

to the underground parking to reduce traffic congestion around the tower, however the developers only agreed to consider building a pedestrian underpass beneath St Georges Terrace. The final planning approval for the redevelopment was ultimately passed by the Council in an 18–9 decision on 19 October 1987, after a discussion of over two hours. The Council made various planning concessions to allow the development to have 1,175 car-parking bays and exceed the allowable plot ratio. The Council allowed the developers to transfer 15 storeys worth of plot ratio from the landscaped park at the corner of William and Hay streets, and gave bonuses of 10 storeys for actually building the park and 4 storeys for the public space and the quality of the development. As a result, more than half of the tower's eventual 51 floors came from these planning concessions. Councillors Peter Gallagher, Les Johnston and Michael Hale argued that the approval of the redevelopment set a "dangerous precedent", and the State's Planning Minister

Bob Pearce Robert John Pearce (born 24 February 1946) is a former Australian politician, who was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1977 until 1993 representing the seats of Gosnells and Armadale. Biography Pearce was born i ...

said that the building was "too big" and that the Council should not have granted the extra parking bays to the developers. At the time of the planning approval, the site was owned by AMP, the Reserve Bank of Australia and Central Park Developments (the Bond-Connell corporation). The State Government approved the plans in November 1987 and the construction contract was awarded to

Multiplex Multiplex may refer to: * Multiplex (automobile), a former American car make * Multiplex (comics), a DC comic book supervillain * Multiplex (company), a global contracting and development company * Multiplex (assay), a biological assay which measu ...

Construction: 1988 to 1992

Construction on the tower started in 1988,{{cite book , author=Roger and Barbara Andrew (eds.) , title=Western Australia – leading in the new millennium , year=2000 , publisher=Andrew Publishing House , location= Roleystone , isbn=0-9577842-1-X , pages=201–202 , chapter=A city within a city with South Perth firm Bruechle Gilchrist & Evans as the project engineers.{{cite news , first=Neale , last=Prior , title=Multiplex Writs Fly Over Central Park , work=

, page=46 , date=1 January 2000 The building was constructed in a

modular Broadly speaking, modularity is the degree to which a system's components may be separated and recombined, often with the benefit of flexibility and variety in use. The concept of modularity is used primarily to reduce complexity by breaking a s ...

method, whereby floor slabs were pre-cast off-site and simply dropped into the steel frame of the tower as construction progressed. Over {{convert, 60000, m2, sqft, abbr=on of pre-cast floor units, both rectangular and triangular, were supplied for use in Central Park, the largest such contract ever awarded to an Australian company. Corporate Construction & Design, p 6 The modular construction principle even extended to the

restrooms A public toilet, restroom, public bathroom or washroom is a room or small building with toilets (or urinals) and sinks for use by the general public. The facilities are available to customers, travelers, employees of a business, school pupils ...

of the tower: they arrived on the building site as completely enclosed modules, ready to be fixed into position on each floor and have external services connected. Corporate Construction & Design, p 76 Major structural work on Central Park concluded with the installation in 1992 of its communications mast. The first tenants, accounting firm BDO Nelson Parkhill, moved into their offices in May 1992, followed by further tenants including Ernst & Young in December 1992. Following structural completion of the tower, the public park was landscaped in early 1993. Construction of Central Park cost $186.5 million, and upon completion the building overtook the R&I Tower (now the South32 Tower) as the tallest skyscraper in Perth. It was also the city's largest office tower by combined floor area, a title which was taken by QV.1 when that building opened in 1994.

Post-construction

Since its completion, Central Park has been regarded as one of Perth's leading premium office towers. However, in the years following its opening Central Park faced a sluggish office rental market and experienced high vacancy rates for several years. The tower now has a stated {{convert, 66500, m2, sqft, abbr=on of office and retail space across 51 occupied floors.{{cite web , url=http://www.central-park.com.au/Public/General/pub_execSummary.asp , title=Central Park: Building Specifications , access-date=10 November 2008 , publisher=Central Park , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090129214055/http://central-park.com.au/Public/General/pub_execSummary.asp , archive-date=29 January 2009 Major current tenants are

Rio Tinto Rio Tinto, meaning "red river", may refer to: Businesses * Rio Tinto (corporation), an Anglo-Australian multinational mining and resources corporation ** Rio Tinto Alcan, based in Canada ** Rio Tinto Borax in America *** Rio Tinto Borax Mine, ...

, and WeWork.

St George Bank St.George Bank is an Australian bank with its headquarters in Sydney. Since a 2008 merger, the bank has been part of Westpac, having previously been an independent legal entity. In 2010, St.George was deregistered as a company and ceased to be ...

also occupies some space in the building and in mid-2007 the St George logo was installed at the top of the tower and was removed in mid-2014. In mid-2015 the Rio Tinto logo was installed on the top four sides of the tower. In September 1999, high winds during a heavy storm resulted in the dislodgement of some domes in the canopy over the building's forecourt. This led to the closure of St Georges Terrace entrance as a safety precaution. The building's then-owner, the Government Employees Superannuation Board, subsequently initiated legal action against the tower's builder Multiplex. Since 2001, the tower has played host to an annual stair climb race up 53 flights of stairs to the roof. In 2008 the event raised $103,719 for MS Australia. Central Park has remained the tallest building in Perth since its completion.

Design

Central Park was the fourth and largest stage in the plan by architects Forbes & Fitzhardinge for the surrounding commercial precinct, which included the AMP Building, the Commonwealth Bank building and the Wesley Centre. Corporate Construction & Design, p 7 The design of the tower changed several times as the prospect of different planning concessions changed. The building as ultimately constructed measures {{convert, 226, m, ft, abbr=on from

to the roof of the

mechanical penthouse A mechanical floor, mechanical penthouse, mechanical layer or mechanical level is a story of a high-rise building that is dedicated to mechanical and electronics equipment. "Mechanical" is the most commonly used term, but words such as ''utility ...

, and {{convert, 249, m, ft, abbr=on to the tip of its communications antenna.{{cite news , title=Central Park tops city skyline! , work=Multiplex News , publisher=

, page=4 , date=December 1992 Central Park tower

The tower has a composite steel and concrete frame featuring a pre-stressed, reinforced slip-form concrete core, which is stiffened by an outrigger truss at the top of the tower and at the various side setbacks.{{cite news , first=Peter , last=Kermode , title=City Streets Go with the Wind , work=

, page=57 , date=7 August 1996 , quote=The big "Meccano set" out-riggers which bolt on to the sides of Central Park were an example of one method used to stiffen buildings. "It is still moving about a third of a metre but people don't tend to notice the vibrations," Dr Kavanagh said. At the time of its completion, Central Park was the tallest core-stiffened building in Australia. The core stiffening method minimises the sway of the building in winds, which even after the core stiffening is around {{convert, 30, cm, in, abbr=on at the tower's top. The use of a service core structure for the building minimised the number of internal columns that were needed, with only two on the largest floors, which maximised usable space. Corporate Construction & Design, p 71 The {{convert, 1200, mm, in, adj=on diameter columns for the tower are made of composite steel and concrete, encased within a permanent formwork of Spiroduct tubing. The pre-cast floor slabs are supported by fire-treated steel beams and provided with a composite action by in-situ topping. The profile of the building has multiple setbacks, to provide for variable floor areas to cater to the needs of different tenants. The plan of the tower is based upon a square, with triangular wings extending from opposite sides. The building was oriented to make best use of the relatively narrow frontage onto St Georges Terrace. Corporate Construction & Design, p 11 The tower is clad with aluminium and glass curtain walls. The building has 5,000 sheets of glass, which get cleaned twice per year. Because of high winds, it can take up to 3 months to complete one window-washing circuit of the building.{{cite news , first=Monica , last=Videnieks , title=Confessions of a Window Cleaner , work=

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

, Sunday supplement , pages=1–2 , date=23 February 1997 To clean the exterior faces of the building, the window cleaners have to move vertically over {{convert, 10, km, mi. Central Park was noted upon its opening for being technologically advanced, with "fully computerised air conditioning", which uses data from 1,400 sensors on each floor to regulate temperatures in an energy-efficient way. From its uppermost floors, there are views out to Kings Park and the Indian Ocean. However, members of the public are not permitted to observe from the building except on designated charity days. The podium of the building is clad with stone to complement the surrounding street frontages, and the foyer is decorated with murals by artist Brian McKay on {{convert, 223, m2, sqft, abbr=on of aluminium wall panels. In addition to the {{convert, 64000, m2, sqft, abbr=on of office space, {{convert, 3000, m2, sqft, abbr=on of retail space and 1,030 basement car-parking bays in the project at completion, the site also includes a {{convert, 5000, m2, sqft, abbr=on landscaped park, which leads towards the intended focal point of the precinct, the restored Wesley Church on the opposite side of Hay Street. The architects intended the park to act as a "breathing space in the hard linear nature of the Hay Street Mall". The park contains sunken seated areas and raised grassed areas, as well as a fountain as the centrepiece. There is also a fountain and a large plaza area which provides a pedestrian thoroughfare to

. It has been variously described as "magnificent", "one of the few green strips in the city outside the grassed area on the river foreshore", the "green lungs of the city",{{cite news , first=Di , last=Therese , title=Soar points: All this and an average temperature in the low 30s , work= Herald Sun , page=20 , date=28 June 1998 , quote=The park has been dubbed the green lungs of the city and the building described as "an office block, but a fancy one at that". Rising 224m, rare visitors to the top enjoy a spectacular view of the vast Swan River, as well as Kings Park on Mt Eliza. and "a backyard-sized patch of grass".{{cite news , first=Joan , last=Kerr , title=City as artform , work= The Sydney Morning Herald , page=42 , date=11 July 1992 , quote=Perth's Central Park, for instance, was marketed as a "New Heart for Perth", with trees, parks, birds and water interacting with decorative panels, sculptures and murals, but it finally became just a 51-storey tower (the highest in the city) with a solitary mural and a backyard-sized patch of grass.

Gallery

File:CentralParkWesleyPerth gobeirne.jpg, The building seen behind the spires of the Wesley Church File:Central Park Perth.jpg, The building seen at dusk File:Central Park, Perth awning.jpg, Central Park awnings File:Perth skyline from KS1, November 2017.jpg, Central Park as seen from KS1

Notes

{{Reflist, 30em

References

* {{citation , title=Corporate Construction & Design Yearbook , volume=4 , number=1 , year=1992–1993 , publisher=Corporate Media Group , location= South Perth , ref=CCD

External links

{{Commons category, Central Park, Perth
Official site

SkyscraperPage for the tower

Emporis page for the tower
{{Tallest buildings in Australia, taller=

Rialto Towers Rialto (often The Rialto, or Rialto Towers) is a skyscraper located at 525 Collins Street, Melbourne, Collins Street, in the western side of the Melbourne central business district, central business district of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), ...

, theight=251m, shorter= Melbourne Central, sheight=246m {{good article {{Perth skyscrapers, state=expanded Landmarks in Perth, Western Australia Skyscrapers in Perth, Western Australia Office buildings in Perth, Western Australia Office buildings completed in 1992 St Georges Terrace Skyscraper office buildings in Australia Retail buildings in Western Australia