Gold Fields House

Gold Fields House
Goldfields House (2016)
General information
Status Complete
Type Office tower
Location Circular Quay, Sydney, Australia
Coordinates 33°51′42″S 151°12′31″E / 33.861704°S 151.208711°E / -33.861704; 151.208711
Completed 1966
Technical details
Floor count 27
Design and construction
Architecture firm Peddle, Thorp and Walker

Gold Fields House was a high rise office block at 1 Alfred Street on the corner of Pitt Street, Sydney. Built in 1966, it was one of the earliest high rises in Sydney. The tower of 27 storeys was designed by Peddle, Thorp and Walker "as a balance to the A.M.P. Building" constructed four years earlier in 1962 at the other end of Circular Quay. Together they created a "gateway" to the city of Sydney.[1][2][3] Sale and re-sale for re-development of the property to Chinese investors took place in 2014 and 2018.[4] Gold Fields House is state-sensitive.[4]

Location

Gold Fields House is located at 1 Alfred Street, just behind the Tank Stream fountain, multi-part fountain and sculpture which presents a range of Australian flora and fauna, dedicated to the children who used to play in the Tank Stream. Situated close to Circular Quay, the building is described as "one of Sydney’s premier waterfront addresses".[5]

Construction

It was built for Consolidated Gold Fields (Australia) Pty Ltd by the Mainline-Dilingham-Haunstrup joint venture and cost $10 million, contained 4,000 tons of structural steel and took two years to complete. The steel frame had "cellular steel floors topped with concrete". Its precast concrete panels "are supported at floor level and span between the structural columns".[2] Glass mosaic tiles face the external columns. Marble was used in the columns and floor of the foyer.

Construction progress was recorded in a series of drawings by Sydney artist Unk White after making on site sketches at regular intervals.[2]

Re-development approval

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Gold Fields House was one of the oldest office blocks at Circular Quay with valuable views over Sydney Harbour.[6] Mirvac was originally appointed to redevelop the tower. In 2011 Valad (property developers, later re-branded as 151 Property)[7] announced said in its March quarter update on Thursday that the Sydney Local Environment Plan 2005 (Amendment No. 2), which was previously approved by the Sydney City Council, has been gazetted by the government. Valad targeted Asian investors for a much taller tower.[6]

Sale for re-development

Development proposal (2016)

In 2014, the US private equity group, Blackstone sold the property to Chinese investors Dalian Wanda Group (a Beijing-based Chinese Multinational conglomerate) for $425 million.[8][9] The purchasers also bought neighbouring the Fairfax House at 19-31 Pitt Street and The Rugby Club at 31A Pitt Street and consolidated the three blocks on which it is expected that two new towers – one a high rise hotel, and the other a luxury 57-storey apartment complex – will be built.[9] It is planned that the adjacent Alfred, Pitt, Dally and George Streets will be integrated into an overall design that relates to Circular Quay Tower, the Public Square, 200 George Street, and the connecting laneways. The name given to the new development is "Sydney One".[5] Demolition began in October 2017 amid reports that the Wanda Group would sell the property to reduce its debt load per the demands of Chinese regulators.[10][11] The sale by Wanda to Huang Jiquan, the son of Chinese political donor Huang Xiangmoa, was announced to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 29 January 2018.[12] The involvement of Huang Xiangmoa 's young son (recent graduate Huang Jiquan) and son-in-law (Evan (Xiaozhi) Luo) is reported to be part of a family succession plan.[4]

Destruction

Before any work had begun on redevelopment, a fire began on the scaffolding about 8.30 on the morning of 13 February 2018 and engulfed the site. Gas cylinders exploded and fire crews had to remove others to prevent more explosions. As gas cylinders are a potential fire hazard, one developer expressed surprise that gas cylinders had not been decommissioned.[13][14]

References

View of Tank Stream Fountain from the entrance of Gold Fields House
  1. ↑ Apperly, Richard (1971). 444 Sydney Buildings. Sydney: Angus and Robertson in Association with The Royal Australian Institute of Architects. p. 14. ISBN 0207120838.
  2. 1 2 3 "An Artist Recorded Progress". Architecture Today. James S. Hill Publishing. 9 (5): 11. March 1967.
  3. ↑ Photographic aerial view of Circular Quay taken by Ern McQuillan in 1967, showing the pairing of the AMP building and Goldfields House. (Image in the collections of the State Library of New South Wales)
  4. 1 2 3 Needham, Kirsty (30 January 2018). "Company linked to political donor Huang Xiangmo scoops Circular Quay apartment project". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
  5. 1 2 Johnson, Nathan (21 August 2015). "Circular Quay's new bookend revealed: golden towers replace Goldfields and Fairfax buildings". Architecture and Design. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
  6. 1 2 Cummins, Carolyn (16 May 2011). "Circular Quay soon to put on a new face". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  7. ↑ Harley, Robert (1 November 2015). "Blackstone rebrands Australian real estate manager from Valad to 151 Property". Australian Financial Review.
  8. ↑ Cummins, Carolyn (21 December 2014). "Gold Fields House sells for $425 million". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
  9. 1 2 Visentin, Lisa; Needham, Kirsty (14 February 2018). "Fiery start for young property developer as Circular Quay building goes up in flames". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  10. ↑ Needham, Kirsty; Johanson, Simon (20 November 2017). "Wanda set to sell off $1.3b Circular Quay property development". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
  11. ↑ Cummins, Carolyn (29 November 2017). "Circular Quay home to new $1.5b office/retail project". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  12. ↑ Kozaki, Danuta (30 January 2018). "Political donor Huang Xiangmo's son buys Circular Quay landmark Gold Fields House". ABC News. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  13. ↑ Visentin, Lisa; Needham (14 February 2018). "Fiery start for young property developer as Circular Quay building goes up in flames". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  14. ↑ "Fire breaks out at a Circular Quay construction site (photo gallery)". The Sydney Morning Herald. 13 February 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.