One Central Park, the iconic building in Sydney that once made headlines for its green facade and sustainability features, is back in the news – this time for reasons that raise questions about safety for its residents as well as the public.
Designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, the two towers that comprise One Central Park stand out on Sydney’s skyline for their impressive vertical gardens that cover at least half of the buildings’ facade. Designed in collaboration with French botanist and artist Patrick Blanc, the green facade is a vertical extension of the adjacent public park, created using a combination of hydroponic walls, planter boxes, carefully chosen climbing Australian plants, and an elaborate stainless steel cable system to hold the greenery together.
However, less than a decade after its completion in 2014, loose planter boxes and detection of flammable cladding on the buildings’ walls have escalated concerns about safety, both for residents and visitors as well as pedestrians below. After a planter box fell on the footpath in 2022, inspections carried out by structural engineers found defective bolts securing the planters to the building in addition to inefficient draining of water in the planter boxes, leading to overloading and creating a potential risk of falling on passers-by below.
An emergency rectification order from Building Commission NSW in early 2023 led to the removal of some of the planter boxes as well as the installation of a temporary rope system to strap and secure the remaining planters. Temporary barricades were also set up along the footpath and car parking spaces around the building. However, following complaints from the public about the barricades blocking access to the footpaths, the City of Sydney Council and Building Commission NSW ordered the developer, Frasers Property to install overhead hoardings on three footpaths around the building to ensure safe passage of pedestrians without any threat from falling planters or debris.
Meanwhile, an urgent fire safety order issued by NSW Department of Planning to the building owners in January 2023 sought the removal of “identified external wall panels on the building consisting of Aluminium Composite Panels (ACP)”, and replacement of the identified ACP with a non-combustible product. The owners were also required to implement fire safety measures to reduce the fire safety risks associated with the cladding until the rectification work was completed. While the owners agreed to remove all Category A cladding, they have approached the Land and Environment Court over the order to remove the less flammable Category B cladding.
Between the falling planter boxes, unsafe cladding and legal battles, the owners of the prestigious One Central Park development, once named the ‘Best Tall Building Worldwide’ by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), and also listed in CTBUH’s ‘50 Most Influential Tall Buildings of the Last 50 Years’, are now saddled with the cost of remediation and rectification of the building’s problems.
Image source: Frasers Property
