Investing in employee wellbeing delivers a better experience and “ultimately drives customer engagement and satisfaction,” says Lendlease’s Matthew Mears, after Brisbane’s 25 King achieves Queensland’s first WELL Platinum rating.
Australia’s tallest engineered timber office building, 25 King, has claimed Queensland’s first Platinum rating under the WELL Building Standard.
25 King was designed and manufactured by Lendlease and is owned by Impact Investment Group.
Mears, Lendlease’s managing director for development, says the WELL rating is a significant one.
“The performance of an office building can deliver direct economic benefits to investors, tenants and the community,” Mears says.
The nine-storey timber commercial tower features open and flexible office space complemented by exposed timber structures which enhance the health and wellbeing of occupants.
Research from Planet Ark has found that wooden interiors can improve occupants’ emotional state, reducing blood pressure, heart rate and stress levels.
The low-carbon timber structure was designed to slash embodied carbon by three quarters, when compared to a conventional building. It almost halves energy use and cuts potable water consumption by nearly a third.
The WELL Building Standard, delivered by the International WELL Building Institute, assesses the health and wellbeing of buildings, based on seven performance categories: air, water, light, nourishment, fitness, comfort and mind.
WELL now has more than 4,000 projects in 60 countries on its books, equivalent to more than 46 million sqm of space.
According to Rick Fedrizzi, chairman and CEO of IWBI, 25 King is an “extraordinary building” that “exemplifies how leadership and innovative design can unite to deliver an iconic workplace that puts people first”.
Anchor tenant Aurecon provided structural and acoustic engineering, building and sustainability services on the project.
Aurecon’s Australian CEO William Cox says 25 King’s technology, materials, sustainability, technical excellence and people-centred design “exemplifies a future ready mindset” and “has pushed the boundaries of what was previously thought possible regarding sustainable structures”.
Photos by Tom Roe.