Building solutions for a Sydney CBD COVID recovery.
Sustainable Temporary Adaptive Reuse (STAR) project
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Like to know about partnering with the project? Email us to start a conversation.
One of the most striking impacts of Covid has been the consequent underuse of commercial buildings in city centres in Australia and beyond.
If that's an issue you're interested in, then you'll be interested in STAR.
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thank you
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[Music]
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we don't know if workers are going to
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return to the city five days a week
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we don't know if the push for people to
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move to the regions is going to be
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sticky
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and we don't know if the CBD is going to
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be able to attract diverse uses to get
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that vibrancy back into the city again
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what's happening in Greater Sydney and
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what's happening globally nationally and
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globally will have a big impact on what
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happens next what we know about the
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knowledge economy is they want places
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where people are able to come together
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and connect people are having such
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animated conversations and they were
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here in different perspectives so you
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had economic planners social planners
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you had people from the Arts sector the
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regulation sector the property sector
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all having different views and sharing
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their understanding of the market and
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the situation and what potentially star
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could be
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one thing that was quite clear was that
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they could consider star a really early
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point to start to change some behaviors
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so we had some really fantastic insights
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into what are the pain points from the
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different perspectives that we need to
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start having those conversations today
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I'm going to talk to you about focusing
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down from the big picture that Alison
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presented to looking at the specifics of
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what star could be vacancy is a real
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um indicator of the risk of assets
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becoming stranded assets becoming
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obsolete so while research is saying
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let's all adaptive reuse it's more
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sustainable it's the best solution they
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didn't suit this distribution of vacancy
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across the city
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so that's where star comes in we need to
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do that from an environmental
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sustainability climate change
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perspective
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but we also need to do it from a covid
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impact perspective create resilience
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create a different mix in the city so
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that when acute stresses and shocks hit
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we have a different kind of building
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stock that what we lean on the other
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sectors to create vibrancy we've also
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seen people really come to the table and
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support each other we've been forced to
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change and do things differently and
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we've taken that opportunity to think
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about doing things differently there's
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an idea in politics called the Overton
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window where there's a window of
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opportunity for things that can open up
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and it can close again and I think we're
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in one of those rare moments where
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there's a real window of opportunity for
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for change it was a real alignment of
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the need to consider star in moving
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forward particularly where we don't know
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what markets are going to be
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where they're going to be in three four
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five twelve months time and it was
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around the excitement for Sydney that
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star could provide that we
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Stars part of that reimagining of what
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Sydney could be
What is STAR?
The Sustainable Temporary Adaptive Reuse (STAR) project focuses on co-designing a toolkit for addressing pockets of vacancy within commercial buildings in the Sydney CBD. The toolkit will support the planning and establishment of low-cost, interim uses for these buildings, countering the economic, social, and environmental stresses affecting urban vibrancy.
Sydney’s CBD has been practically empty during the Covid pandemic
Our partners
Who can get involved?
Are you or your organisation interested in being part of a knowledge exchange to explore STAR feasibility? Are you interested in STAR as a ‘meanwhile’ solution to:
- Reduced property values
- Interruptions to revenue (e.g. rental income)
- Building security challenges
- Avoiding building defects
If so, you may benefit from the supportive, evidence-based outcomes that the STAR project aims to achieve.
The STAR project will help provide insights and positive results for:
- Building owners
- End users interested in using repurposing space in Sydney CBD
- Regulators
- Policy makers
- Insurance and legal advisors
Workshop events
Workshops for Sydney are scheduled:
Workshop 01: April / May 2022
Workshop 02: WED, 22 FEB 2023
Registrations are now open for Workshop 2, focusing on ESG in sustainable temporary adaptive reuse in commercial property. This workshop will feature activities to develop a scorecard / tool to identify and evaluate the ESG attributes of a sustainable temporary adaptive reuse proposal. In this way we can understand and highlight all the positive ESG outcomes of the project.
Workshop 03: Autumn 2023
Workshop 04: Spring 2023
STAR newsletters
Stay up-to-date with our regular STAR newsletters.
- Newsletter 01: Autumn 2022 (PDF, 368KB)
- Newsletter 02: Spring 2022 (PDF, 489KB)
- Newsletter 03: Autumn 2023 (PDF, 375KB)
- Newsletter 04: Spring 2023 (PDF, 423KB)
To receive the regular STAR newsletter in your inbox, email the project researcher Gill Armstrong.
Where can you read more?
It's early days, but we've already published a number of pieces here:
- Wilkinson, S Armstrong G., & Cilliers, J. 2022 STAR – a new toolkit to underused space https://thefifthestate.com.au/innovation/rating-tools/stars-a-new-toolkit-to-underused-space/
- Wilkinson, S Armstrong G., & Cilliers, J. 2021. We’re gonna make you a STAR. Sustainable Temporary Adaptive Reuse in the CBD. AIQS December. https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/ToftCOMKZohGLy4qTEfUug?domain=issuu.com
- Wilkinson, S Armstrong G., & Cilliers, J. 2021. Repurposing Assets To Reduce Vacancy Rates. RICS Dec 2021. https://ww3.rics.org/uk/en/journals/property-journal/repurposing-assets-to-reduce-vacancy-rates.html
How to get in touch
If you’d like to know more, or are interested in partnership opportunities with this important and timely project, email the project researcher Gill Armstrong.