Everything old is new again

Everything old is new againISPT’s new $110 million office tower in Melbourne will uncover two of the city’s forgotten gems in a project which promises to redefine how new buildings can complement heritage-rich sites.ISPT is set to commence work on the new building at 271 Spring Street after health insurer Australian Unity pre-committed to 100 per cent of the project.Australian Unity has agreed to a 15-year term over the entire 15,600 sqm of the 16-level office building. Completion is expected mid-2019.Already joint owners of Waurn Ponds shopping centre, ISPT and Australian Unity are now teaming up for the 271 Spring Street development as landlord and occupier.ISPT chief executive officer Daryl Browning says the development will complete one of Melbourne’s “most historic precincts with the careful integration of a new boutique office tower”.Rohan Mead, Australian Unity’s group managing director and CEO, says the prime location and the quality of the new building’s design were both critical factors in Australian Unity’s commitment.”The Spring Street location will be more financially efficient for our company and at the same time allow us to convert our existing property holdings in South Melbourne into a modern retirement community,” he says.John Wardle Architects, collaborating with heritage architect Bruce Trethowan, has designed a building which celebrates the site’s complex history.”The project involves preserving buildings and not just retaining facades,” says Trethowan. He says the external fabric of the former Elms Hotel, located on the corner of Spring Street and Little Lonsdale Street, will be retained “allowing it to be understood as a former hotel”. Next door, the former Church of England Mission building dates back to the 1870s and was constructed as a convent and women’s refuge. The original nineteenth century hall was later incorporated into the 1913 building, and survives to this day.”The 1870s hall space provided a refuge for women and the upper floors of the building accommodated a chapel for the sisters and residential accommodation. These spaces will be retained as part of the development allowing future generations to understand the history of the building and this area of central Melbourne,” says Trethowan. A series of meeting and conference facilities will make best use of the space, and will provide an authentic experience for both occupants and visitors to the building.The exteriors of both buildings will be restored to their original appearance. This includes reinstating the original leadlight windows in the Elms Hotel and restoring the original roof and skylight at the Mission. “The geometry and appearance of the retained section of the Elms Hotel roof has inspired the design the new building’s distinctive lattice facade” and provides an “interesting interplay between old and new,” Trethowan adds.217 Spring Street will complement ISPT’s ownership of the precinct bounded by Spring, Little Lonsdale and Lonsdale Streets.ISPT’s investment and development portfolio is valued at more than $12 billion across the commercial, retail, industrial and residential sectors. Its customers include some of Australia’s largest industry superannuation funds and more than half of Australian workers have a proportion of their retirement savings invested with ISPT.