Charter Hall Group (Charter Hall or the Group) is pleased to announce a significant milestone for its plans to deliver a state-of-the-art workplace precinct, with the planning proposal for a second tower at 2 Chifley Square in Sydney’s CBD receiving official endorsement from City of Sydney overnight.

The new 37-storey Chifley South tower will be built adjacent to the existing Chifley North tower, offering more than 64,000m2 gross floor area of premium-grade office and retail space with the pre- eminent development including a reinvigorated podium amenity and a reactivated public domain at Chifley Square.

The approval from City of Sydney follows community consultation and Gateway Determination, granted by NSW Government in February. Last night’s decision means Charter Hall’s planning proposal will proceed to Gazettal and a design excellence competition.

Although construction of Chifley South tower is several years away, the tower is already attracting high-quality tenants, including pre-commitment leases with global investment bank UBS and Charter Hall.

Charter Hall’s Office CEO, Carmel Hourigan, said, “Achieving endorsement from City of Sydney is a significant milestone for Charter Hall, our investors and tenant customers, and reinforces Sydney’s reputation as an innovative and leading global city.”

“This decision reflects confidence in Charter Hall’s vision for the Chifley Precinct to encourage the return to workplaces where collaboration, mutual success and our wellbeing thrives. The flight-to- quality, as demonstrated in our pre-commitment leases, is how high-performance businesses are attracting and maintaining the highest-calibre professionals and ultimately, driving success.”

Charter Hall’s Head of Development-Office, Mark Stante, said, “Our Chifley development strongly aligns with NSW Government and City of Sydney employment and sustainability objectives, contributing to the City’s target for over 100,000 additional jobs and will be an important piece of economic stimulus for the post COVID-19 recovery, while enhancing the cityscape and public precincts for all of the community to enjoy.”

The Director of City Planning, Development and Transport, Graham Jahn, said “This is a positive project and a good response to the Central Sydney Planning Strategy, in terms of energy and employment as well as contributing to post COVID-19 stimulus”.

The Chifley development will provide best-in-class amenity and sustainability benchmarks, electrifying the entire Chifley precinct, enabling it to operate entirely from renewable energy. It’s also targeting Climate Active Carbon Neutral certification for the new Chifley South building, in line with the City of Sydney’s Net Zero Strategy. The redevelopment of Chifley will create an estimated 1,500 jobs in the construction phase before supporting thousands of professionals in the completed Chifley precinct.

The Charter Hall Prime Office Fund (CPOF) originally purchased the 2 Chifley Square precinct freehold for $98.5 million in 2018 and is also one of the leasehold owners. CPOF also owns the leasehold interest in the adjoining Gresham Building at 167 Macquarie Street.