Sirius Building

Significant refurbishment

Proceeds from the sale were injected directly into building new social housing for about 630 people.

The purchaser endeavoured to retain the existing iconic building and deliver modern and innovative residential, retail and commercial spaces servicing Cumberland Street and Gloucester Walk.

A publicly accessible thoroughfare now links Gloucester Walk and Atherden Street to improve connectivity within The Rocks.

Project objectives

Key objectives of the project included:

• contributing to new social housing dwellings in NSW through recycling surplus assets
• renewal and reactivation of The Rocks in line with the heritage character of The Rocks
• improving accessibility through The Rocks precinct
• improvements to the public domain.

Non-financial benefits

Refurbishment and restoration of the iconic Sirius Building. The design:

• protects the iconic modular design, maintains the integrity of the overall building form and preserves the key viewpoints noted in the State Environmental Planning Policy (State Significant Precincts) 2005
• delivers activation strategies that improves public access via a new site link
• improves visitor accessibility to The Rocks heritage precinct through the delivery of a public lift
• improves the quality of the public domain through upgrades to landscaping, brick paving, public artwork, a public forecourt and new streetlights along Cumberland Street.

Financial benefits

• Capital return to the Government to fund more than 300 social housing dwellings across NSW.
• Job creation throughout the construction phase and ongoing job opportunities through retail and commercial uses.

Working together

We worked with the Land and Housing Corporation to deliver this project.