6 & 8 Parramatta Square, a towering 55-storey office building in Parramatta, NSW won top honours at the prestigious Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) Awards for Excellence held in London. The final stage of Parramatta Square’s three-hectare city precinct, the commercial development received ‘Award for Excellence’ in two categories: the Best Tall Building by Region for Oceania, and Best Tall Building by Height (200-299m).
“Parramatta Square’s recognition on the world stage is the product of a bold, transformational vision from our late founder and executive chairman Lang Walker AO who always knew where Sydney was growing and why Western Sydney needed a modern CBD with the best infrastructure,” Walker Corporation managing director and CEO David Gallant said.
“6 & 8 Parramatta Square was designed to be the largest commercial building by floorspace in Australia so we could bring tens of thousands of new jobs to Western Sydney, Australia’s third largest economy. And as a result of those new jobs in our premium commercial towers, we have been able to activate Parramatta’s CBD into a thriving, vibrant civic heart.
“The Tall Building Awards 2024 theme asked the question ‘New or Renew?’, but Lang Walker was always of the opinion you can do both exceptionally well, ensuring we conserve and revitalise the rich culture and heritage of Parramatta, while delivering state-of-the-art architecture, new large public spaces and civic centres, integrated with public transport, restaurants and cafes whilst exceeding sustainability benchmarks,” Gallant added.
Standing 243 metres tall, 6 & 8 Parramatta Square came up against competition from Canada, USA, England, China, Taipei and India.
“6 & 8 Parramatta Square is the keystone of this once-in-a-generation CBD renewal where we have been able to impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of people through quality design and integration,” JPW Architects director Graeme Dix says.
“We had a strong focus to create sustainable, flexible, diverse and connected workplaces to ensure Parramatta was able to exceed the needs of modern businesses and their workforces.
“6 & 8 Parramatta Square towers high in the Western Sydney skyline, tying together an incredible vision of urban renewal and restoration below, integrating beautifully with Australia’s oldest church site at St John’s Cathedral,” Dix added.
Parramatta Square by Walker took out first place in the coveted NABERS Sustainable Portfolio Index national environmental honours earlier this year, making it the country’s most sustainable commercial precinct. 6 & 8 Parramatta Square is also the largest building in Australia to be awarded the highest achievable 6 Star Green Office Design and As-Built (v.1) rating from the Green Building Council of Australia.
Parramatta Square also transformed the city’s central civic space into a safe public domain, joining over 90 other global destinations to proudly fly Purple Flag Accreditation, which recognises the excellence of vibrancy, diversity and safety at night.
Images: Supplied
