Herald & Weekly Times in the Market for Space
HWT is looking for an A-grade building in the CBD, Docklands or Southbank – with large floor plates of at least 1500 square metres, and parking for around 220 cars. It needs at least two “oversized” office floors of up to 3000 square metres, to accommodate its editorial staff.
Its preference is for a building with a minimum 4-star Australian Building Greenhouse Rating.
The requirement will give each HWT employee a working area of around10 square metres, far lower than the industry average of around 15 square metres per employee – but in line with other companies that have adopted an open-plan office layout.
HWT currently occupies around 13,000 square metres at 40 City Road in Southbank, and is committed to stay in the B-grade building until late 2010, sources say.
Jones Lang LaSalle director corporate solutions, Michael Greene, who is acting for HWT, says the company hasn’t made a comment about whether it will stay in its existing premises. However with The Age tipped to be moving to a state-of-the-art facility at site 7 in Docklands, local agents expect HWT will move, to “keep up with the Jones’s”
Other major tenant requirements publicly in the market include Commonwealth Bank ant the Victorian State Government. Both are looking for up to 25,000 square metres of space in the CBD or fringe.
