Liberty secures new flagship location at Westralia Square 2

March 28, 2024

We are delighted to announce Liberty Flexible Workspaces has expanded our relationship with GDI Property signing a two-floor, 1733sqm, 10-year deal at Perth’s first high-rise timber-hybrid office building, Westralia Square 2 (WS2).

We will deliver a diverse range of flexible workspace options designed to accommodate businesses of all sizes and industries in a building which sets a new benchmark in environmental standards and carbon savings for building construction, with doors opening in July 2024.

“When complete we will provide world-class, purpose-built boardrooms, event space, an executive lounge, a range of break out zones, private offices, coworking, overflow space and project offices, all of which will be expertly managed by Liberty’s Client Experience Team,” Liberty’s Founder, Jamie Vine, said.

 


“We are excited to deliver something unique for Perth in an exceptional building and in an outstanding precinct. Combining the flexible, serviced offices we deliver for businesses of all sizes, within GDI’s remarkable timber-hybrid tower at WS2, creates a double-win for our clients who will get the best office spaces with the best sustainability and environmental credentials.

“We have found that people are expecting higher standards from their offices, like access to a range of spaces, and they expect a hospitality led experience which is redefining the office and has significant influence over their physical attendance at work.”

GDI’s Head of Development, David Ockenden, said the office spaces to be offered by Liberty will enable more businesses to experience the benefits of the WS2 building. “The WS2 timber-hybrid office tower is like nothing else in Perth. The building design delivers premium amenity and accessibility, while its environmental attributes are second to none, with huge savings in embodied and operational carbon,” Mr Ockenden said.

“This partnership with Liberty will ensure people using these offices will get all the benefits of quality space and hotel-like service while being conscious of their environmental impacts, which are becoming increasingly important to employers and their staff. This type of passive environmental action for office users is an important element in GDI’s decision making when looking at adaptive reuse and engineering design for our developments. Outcomes like at WS2 place us well ahead of the industry curve in this area.”

WS2’s design and construction delivers an effective embodied carbon reduction of circa 85 per cent compared to the construction of an equivalent contemporary reinforced concrete building. This has resulted in a global warming potential reduction of approximately 7 million tonnes of CO2 gas emissions. This is a step change in strategic CO2 management where the focus on carbon savings has been placed on embodied carbon, the far more difficult component of the carbon cycle to solve. WS2 also uses green power and be one of the most tenant cost efficient buildings in Australia with well below PCA market outgoings.

ASX listed GDI Property and Liberty Flexible Workspaces have a long and successful history. The pair have worked together since Liberty leased level 14 at 197 St Georges Terrace in December 2011 when office vacancy rates were just 2.8%, and just 6 months after Liberty entered the Perth market. After a period of consolidation following the end of the resources construction boom, it was in 2018 when Liberty’s growth journey gathered pace for the second time. Within a 12-month period, Liberty secured additional partnership agreements in Burswood, 1060 Hay Street, Citibank House, and negotiated an agreement to operate GDI’s Training & Conference Centre on the ground floor of 197 that had previously been occupied by Chevron.

Following this success and amid the global uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, the pair agreed terms for a new 10-year lease across levels 12 and 14 of 197 St Georges
Terrace, establishing Liberty’s current flagship location, resulting in an award-winning design, and fit out of level 12 and a full refurbishment of level 14.

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