Central Park (Greater Perth, WA)

 office building, skyscraper, retailer, parking

Central Park is an office skyscraper in Perth, Western Australia. The 51-storey office building measures 226 m (741 ft) to the roof, and 249 m (817 ft) to the tip of its mast. It has a floor area of 68,500 sq m (716,000 sq ft). Central Park has been Perth's tallest building since its completion in 1992. Its architects were Forbes & Fitzhardinge.

The 1.5 hectare (3.7 acre) site was formerly occupied by a Foy & Gibson department store which later became a David Jones department store. The development was first announced in October 1985 and was given final approval in October 1987. Construction started in 1988 and was finished in 1992. Central Park was constructed in a modular method whereby floor slabs were pre-cast off-site and simply dropped into the steel facade of the tower. The construction cost was A$186,500,000.

Since its completion, Central Park has been regarded as one of Perth's leading premium office towers. However, in the years following its opening, Central Park faced a sluggish office rental market and experienced high vacancy rates for several years. Currently, the building's major tenants include Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Minter Ellison, Mallesons Stephen Jacques, Westnet, and St.George Bank. In September 1999, high winds during a heavy storm resulted in the dislodgement of some domes in the canopy over the building's forecourt. This led to the closure of St Georges Terrace as a safety precaution. Since 2001, the tower has played host to an annual stair climb race up 53 flights of stairs to the roof.

Central Park has a composite steel and concrete frame featuring a pre-stressed, reinforced slip-form concrete core, which is stiffened by an outrigger truss at the top of the tower and at the various side setbacks. At the time of its completion, Central Park was the tallest core-stiffened building in Australia. The core stiffening method minimizes the sway of the building in winds, which even after the core stiffening is around 30 cm (12 in) at the tower's top. The use of a service core structure for the building minimized the number of internal columns, with only two on the largest floors, which maximized usable space. The 1,200-millimeter (47 in) diameter columns for the tower are made of composite steel and concrete, encased within a permanent formwork of Spiroduct tubing. The precast floor slabs are supported by fire-treated steel beams and provided with a composite action by in-situ topping. The profile of the building has multiple setbacks, to provide for variable floor areas to cater to the needs of different tenants. The plan of the tower is based upon a square, with two triangular wings extending from opposite sides. The building was oriented to make best use of the relatively narrow frontage onto St Georges Terrace. The tower is clad with aluminum and glass. The building has 5,000 sheets of glass, which get cleaned twice per year. Because of high winds, it can take up to 3 months to complete one window-washing circuit of the building. To clean the exterior faces of the building, the window cleaners have to move vertically over 10 kilometers (6.2 mi). Central Park was noted upon its opening for being technologically advanced, with fully computerized air conditioning, which uses data from 1,400 sensors on each floor to regulate temperatures in an energy-efficient way. From its uppermost floors, there are views out to Kings Park and the Indian Ocean. The podium of the building is clad with stone to complement the surrounding street frontages, and the foyer is decorated with murals by artist Brian McKay on 223 sq m (2,400 sq ft) of aluminum wall panels. In addition to the 64,000 sq m (690,000 sq ft) of office space, 3,000 sq m (32,000 sq ft) of retail space and 1,030 parking in the project at completion, the site also includes a 5,000 m2 (54,000 sq ft) landscaped park, which leads towards the intended focal point of the precinct, the restored Wesley Church on the opposite side of Hay Street. The park contains sunken seated areas and raised grassed areas, as well as a fountain as the centerpiece. There is also a fountain and a large plaza area which provides a pedestrian thoroughfare to St Georges Terrace.