Bank of China contributes to a $1.1 billion AUD syndicated loan for the Wynyard Place Development

Project narrative

In February 2018, a syndicate of six banks — including the Bank of China (BOC) — entered into a $1.1 billion AUD syndicated loan agreement with Brookfield Property Partners L.P. for the Wynyard Place mixed-commercial development in the Sydney central business district (CBD). In addition to BOC, the following banks contributed to this club loan: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), National Australia Bank Limited (NAB), Crédit Agricole, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). ANZ, CBA, and NAB served as mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners. This project sought to create a 75,000 square meter development in Sydney's CDB via the construction of a 27-story office tower, 10 Carrington Street with 59,000 square meters of office space, the restoration of two heritage buildings, Shell House and 285 George Street, for use as office buildings, an upgrade of Wynyard's George Street entrance, a public concourse, and a grand transit hall. Wynyard Place was expected to provide fresh food markets, retails, bars, restaurants, cafes, outdoor, and entertainment. The entire development had an cost of $2 billion AUD. In August 2016, Brookfield awarded Multiplex a contract to construct the Wynyard Place development. MAKE Architects and Architectus were responsible for the design of the development. Robert Bird Group served as the design structural engineer. Taylor Thomson Whitting served as the engineer of record. Arup served as the mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineer and the façade and fire engineer. Ethos Urban served as the environmental consultant. Woods Bagot served as an interior consultant alongside MAKE and Architectus. Rider Levett Bucknall served as the quantity surveyor. GTA Consultants served as the traffic consultant. Schindler served as the elevator materials supplier. Edge Environment Pty Ltd provided a Life Cycle Assessment for 10 Carrington Street. Multiplex awarded a $35 million AUD contract to Heyday Group for the design, supply, and installation of electrical, communications, security, fuel systems, Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS), EMI shielding, diesel generator, and the high voltage substation. De Martin & Gasparini was responsible for the provision of supply, pump, and place concrete package. RLB awarded a contract to RCP to provide specialist programming services for this project. Multiplex awarded a contract to Delta Group for the design and delivery of a single source project management solution, including site set-up and preparation, demolition, construction of temporary materials, removal of asbestos and other hazardous waste, and other works. Equilibrium Air Conditioning and Climatech NSW Pty Ltd worked on a joint venture together to work on a $60 million AUD contract for the development. Paragon Plumbing was contracted for the installation of hot water and chilled temperature water, with engineering of sing prefabrication modules on behalf of the Climatech-Equilibrium joint venture. Witt Consulting was contracted to document the condition and structural details of the historic Hunter Connection Tunnel, Shell House, Wynyard Station Interface, and 285 George Street including sampling, forensic investigations, and testing of the structures. Group DLA acted as the appointed Accredited Certifier and Principal Certifying Authority (PCA), responsible for issue of Part 4A Construction and Occupation Certificates. Premium Coatings Australia cleaned and sealed the granite pavers for the project. TSA Management won a $75 million AUD contract to provide project management services from the initial stages of the project, including the demolition of the existing 301 George Street and the Menzies Hotel on Carrington Street. Climate Ready Fabrics's Sea-Tex ES Metallised fabric, made from 50% recovered plastic from the oceans, was selected as the fabric for the high performance motorized roller shade systems. Wiltshire + Dimas Management was charged with providing a large-scale art installation for the Shell House. The project received development approval in September 2015. The New South Wales Cabinet provided formal approval for Brookfield's proposal for the site on June 1, 2016. Early works on the project had commenced before or in August 2016. Completion was expected to fall in 2020. The 27-story tower was topped off on August 24, 2020, and the development was renamed to the Brookfield Place Sydney. The development reached practical completion on April 21, 2021.