Tall & Urban News

Zurich Tower, the new home of Zurich Financial Services Australia (Zurich), at 118 Mount Street, North Sydney, was officially opened on 15 December, 2020 at a COVID-19 friendly ribbon-cutting ceremony on the building’s top floor, overlooking Sydney Harbour and the CBD.

The event brought together project stakeholders CBRE Global Investors, the building’s end owner, represented by Chris Johnston, MD (Aus and NZ), Roberts Pizzarotti; the construction partner, represented by Alison Mirams, CEO; and Zurich, the anchor tenant, represented by Justin Delaney, CEO, Zurich Life & Investments, Tim Plant, CEO, Zurich General Insurance and Reto Buehler, Head Real Estate Australia, Investment Management, Zurich Financial Services Australia. The ribbon-cutting ceremony was officiated by local dignitaries, Trent Zimmerman MP, Federal Member for North Sydney and Jilly Gibson, Mayor of North Sydney.

The project’s major stakeholders and construction team witnessed the milestone event via an exclusive live stream into Zurich’s Swiss and Asia Pacific offices and to employees across Australia and New Zealand, as well as to Roberts Pizzarotti and CBRE Global Investors offices, both in Sydney and around the world. 

Designed by FJMT, Zurich’s 29-story headquarters, purpose-built for its Australian and New Zealand operations, has delivered 20,600 square meters of PCA A-Grade office space and includes a two-level podium, a future café space, a sky terrace, three basement car parking levels and end-of-trip facilities. 

The building was developed in conjunction with White & Partners and Generate Property Group and purchased during construction by CBRE Global Investors in late 2019. 

Construction was completed in mid-November, 2020 and Zurich employees began moving in on 30 November, 2020.

Zurich Tower represents CBRE Global Investors’ client’s first acquisition in Australia, with Chris Johnston noting the event marked an important milestone for their client.

“Today signifies the completion of a successful journey working closely with both Roberts Pizzarotti and Zurich in their delivery of this stunning purpose-built building,” said Mr Johnston.

“Zurich Tower has already made an important contribution to North Sydney, one of Australia’s fastest-growing CBDs, and it represented an outstanding opportunity to invest, with major infrastructure developments nearby and high demand for A-Grade office space outside of Sydney’s CBD. It’s an exciting project to be involved in and will no doubt help to revitalise North Sydney for many years to come.”

According to Alison Mirams, the event also signified an important milestone for Roberts Pizzarotti. 

“Although we have a number of major health-related projects underway, including the Concord Hospital redevelopment, early works on the Liverpool Hospital and the North Shore Health Hub, Zurich Tower is our first commercial office project,” she explained.

“The building has been completed five weeks ahead of time, despite all the challenges imposed by the bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic this year.

“This is testament to the outstanding support we received from the consultants, subcontractors and suppliers. Their support is greatly appreciated and resulted in the successful completion of a stunning commercial office tower.

“I’m sure everyone will be truly proud of this monumental achievement.”

Justin Delaney said the move into Zurich Tower will have significant impacts on Zurich’s team culture.

“Bringing our Sydney employees together, in a fully collaborative space, will further strengthen our culture and help us to build upon our purpose to create a brighter future together.

“Our commitment to creating a sustainable place to work supports Zurich’s global sustainability efforts to minimise our environmental footprint,” he said.

For more on this story, go to FJMT.