Perth Central Office Revitalisation

Perth-based practice Hames Sharley is repurposing two floors above Target on Hay Street Mall to create a new CBD studio, taking on upper levels of a retail property that had stood vacant for 35 years. The move arrives as Australia's design and corporate sectors confront higher CBD vacancy rates and an evolving hybrid work pattern, with the practice positioning the project as both a long-term commitment to Western Australia and a proof of concept for repurposing disused retail floors.

The new workplace spans two levels formerly occupied by department-store space, with a rooftop garden partially visible from the mall and the potential for a ground-floor coffee shop. The firm undertook its own briefing process, running a national series of workshops to shape an agile hybrid workplace tuned to the realities of contemporary practice. The studio uses the move to align itself with Perth City's incentives to attract new businesses, and to draw closer to its clients and consultants in the CBD.

The project sits alongside the practice's wider Perth portfolio, which includes the Subi East redevelopment, the Department of Planning Lands and Heritage fitout, Carillon City Redevelopment and NextDC. For close to half a century, Hames Sharley has delivered buildings across Australia, China and India.

Credits: Hames Sharley (architecture and interior design). Design architect: Jessica Hames. Photography: Hames Sharley.