Demolition of 30,000 square metres of office space to begin in Canberra CBD

The demolition of 30,000 square metres of office space will begin in the city in coming weeks.

An entire office city block bordered by Northbourne Avenue and Mort, Cooyong and Bunda streets will be razed to make way for the new Civic Quarter development.

It will replace five separate commercial buildings.

Amalgamated Property Group general manager Phil O’Brien said the project would be “one of the largest demolition projects undertaken in Canberra”.

“We anticipate it will take around five months as we carefully deconstruct the five buildings on the site and recycle as much as we can,” he said.

“The process begins with stripping out the furniture and fittings, followed by the internal fitout and structural demolition.”

Mr O’Brien said the majority of the structural materials were concrete, brick, steel, cabling and glass and about 80 to 90 per cent of the materials would be recycled.

“The recycling of these materials has been an important part of our planning,” he said.

Traffic disruptions are not anticipated as there is sufficient access to the site.

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A development application was lodged in December for stage one of the development: a 12-storey, 18,000-square metre tower.

Mr O’Brien said the new development would be “Canberra’s premier office address and it will transform the office accommodation available to corporate tenants in the ACT market”.

May + Russell Architects designed the building to complement the adjacent Veteran’s Park, as well as Mort Street’s trees.

It will include a foyer, as well as retail and commercial space on the ground floor, 11 levels of commercial office space and three levels of basement car parking.

APG purchased the site for $34 million in March 2016.

The developer’s previous projects include Tuggeranong’s Louisa Lawson Building, which houses the Department of Human Services and was sold to Korean investors for $225 million in 2015.

Completion of the Civic Quarter project is slated for mid-2019 and the building is available for lease through Colliers International.