The deep retrofit of 500 Bourke Street, a robust brutalist building in the heart of Melbourne's CBD, is now complete, with the $160-million adaptive reuse project infusing new life into the 36-storey office tower.

Built in 1977, the building was originally designed by Godfrey & Spowers and served as headquarters for National Australia Bank. In 1998, it was bought by property fund manager ISPT, who in 2019 engaged multidisciplinary design practice FK to carry out the transformation, with a brief to give the building a new lease of life while preserving and celebrating its original features.

The iconic building has been revitalised around the theme of an Australian design story to celebrate its architectural heritage while updating it for the needs of modern tenants. With a view to improving sustainability and facilities, 500 Bourke Street has been successfully updated to become a PCA A-Grade building with Premium-Grade tenant services zone, and a six-star rating for Green Star Design and As-Built and NABERS. Supporting ISPT’s commitment to a low carbon future, 500 Bourke will operate from 100% renewable energy and has been carbon neutral from day one of construction through to operation.

"This project exemplifies an incredibly sustainable solution for our cities," Nicky Drobis, FK partner and head of design says.

"I have always admired 500 Bourke Street as a great example of commercial architecture of its time. However, it needed to evolve into a more flexible and welcoming workspace that meets contemporary user needs,” reflected Drobis. "The transformative design draws inspiration from both the essence of the existing building design and from the Australian landscape. It incorporates natural materials with a strong focus on nurturing the tenant community and creating an inviting environment where people want to work.”

FK's design explores Australian colours inspired by the landscape and native flora. Warm timbers, travertine, and buttery leather upholstery capture our quintessential colours and textures. Australian timbers line the walls, complementing furniture in rich, natural tones that foster a welcoming residential ambiance.

The new Bourke Street entry canopy welcomes visitors into a vast lobby space showcasing an expansive timber waffle ceiling. At its heart is a softly lit, travertine-clad core, surrounded by a curated selection of inviting workspaces and seating areas.

The ground level of 500 Bourke Street has been reconfigured to include agile seating and working arrangements, complemented by a boutique restaurant, café, and the activation of the courtyard, which allow the building to connect visually and physically to Little William Street.

To the eastern side, the outdoor courtyard with a living green wall draws in light and air to illuminate the lobby. Meanwhile, in the formerly compressed northern corner, is an intimate restaurant and bar area that evokes an old-world club atmosphere, with timber-lined ceilings, a green large-veined marble bar, cosy booth seating, and jewel-toned soft furnishings. A bold sculptural staircase referred to as the ‘forum stairs’ offers another meeting place and connects to the popular retail plaza off Little Bourke Street.

“The way we work has evolved. Today’s commercial buildings need to accommodate a diverse range of activities and cater to a wide range of tenants with varying needs. At 500 Bourke, we set out to rethink the workplace experience. We carried out spatial analyses of the building as a precinct and identified opportunities across the ground floor lobby, basement, lower mezzanine and level one, to create world-class working environments and highly appealing tenant amenity,” FK principal Sarah Hurst explained.

“We also partnered with ISPT to further develop their Flex brand, by designing an innovative and adaptable workspace solution, accessible not only by 500 Bourke Street tenants, but also to the public,” Hurst added.

Located on the ground floor, Flex by ISPT offers a series of 200-person capacity conference facilities and coworking spaces managed by ISPT. The subterranean meeting rooms have been transformed through skylights, which channel natural light down onto landscaped garden atriums adjacent to the meeting rooms.

Level one of 500 Bourke Street features a dedicated floor with formal and informal workspaces, while a bar and terrace overlooking Melbourne's legal precinct provides users with a unique outdoor leisure space. FK also designed new premium end-of-trip facilities, keeping in mind the focus on employee wellbeing in today’s workplaces.

The retrofit was designed around sustainability with existing materials repurposed where possible – 85% of furniture and materials from the previous tenancy were diverted from landfill, recycled, resold or refurbished. Across the lobby and lift areas, the existing floors were honed and refinished; the floorplates in the tower have also been retained, and the newly refurbished bathrooms were updated with touchless water-efficient fixtures.

500 Bourke now houses a thriving tenant community from diverse sectors including law, IT, finance, and insurance.

“The revitalised 500 Bourke Street exemplifies FK's ability to sustainably repurpose existing buildings. Their thoughtful design approach honours the building’s heritage while breathing new life into the precinct. We’re proud to partner with FK on this project, which has become one of Melbourne’s most recognisable examples of adaptive reuse,” ISPT’s head of portfolio (office) Nicole Ward says.

Branko Miletic

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