Constructed in 1973, Melbourne’s 500 Collins Street continues to show why good bones and an owner committed to continual improvement are a winning combination – with the latest achievement a WELL Platinum rating.
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Mark Ross, managing director of Kamirice, which owns 500 Collins Street, says COVID-19 has led businesses to re-evaluate employee expectations. The building’s WELL Platinum rating demonstrates “a commitment to tenant wellbeing, creating better workplaces and encouraging workers to return to their offices”.
“It shows how an older existing building, in which investment has been consistent and focussed, and which has been upgraded over the years, was in a position to achieve WELL Platinum certification. By putting tenant health and wellbeing first, we were able to invest where it really mattered.”
500 Collins Street earned its WELL rating after being assessed across 10 categories of building performance: air, water, nourishment, light, movement, thermal comfort, sound, materials, mind and community.
Among the initiatives recognised in the rating were cleaning products, healthy vending machines and an online tenant portal that shares nutritious recipes and promotes mental health.
WELL also recognised the building’s recent multi-million-dollar upgrades including high-quality end-of-trip facilities and a new ground floor business lounge, both designed by Gray Puksand.
Kamirice acquired 500 Collins Street in 2002 and embarked on a full upgrade that culminated in the Green Star rating from the Green Building Council of Australia in 2007.
Reflecting on the significance of 500 Collins Street to Australia’s sustainable building movement, former chairman of the GBCA and World Green Building Council, Tony Arnel, calls the WELL accreditation the “bookend of 20 years of work”.
500 Collins Street was a “trailblazer” in the early 2000s, Arnel says, pointing to landmark indoor air quality and occupant productivity research that helped build a stronger business case for green design and construction.
The landmark pre- and post-occupancy study of 500 Collins Street found that sustainable design had delivered significant business benefits, notably a 39 per cent reduction in average sick leave days taken each month and a 44 per cent decrease in the cost of sick leave.
The hard numbers may have been impressive, but the people who worked in the building understood the value of its green features instinctively. ECS Property Group has managed the building since 2003 and director Egan Smith has called the transition “truly remarkable”.
“Tenant satisfaction levels increased dramatically and have played out in the retention rates of a large number of our tenant companies over successive lease terms,” he says.
Rachel Hodgdon, president and CEO of IWBI, says Kamirice’s newest milestone reinforces that unwavering commitment to “people first places no matter the age of the building”.
