Australia's First Skyscraper
By the end of the 1950s AMP employed around 2,800 staff, but still needed to constantly recruit to replace around 400 employees who left each year, mostly women who were forced to resign once they married (Blainey, 1999). The head office on Sydney's Pitt Street was bursting at the seams and some staff had to be accommodated in neighbouring offices. There was a pressing need to establish a new head office, and with this in mind, AMP purchased the disused Mort & Co wool store at Circular Quay. Interestingly, Mort & Co was founded by Thomas Mort, one of AMP’s founders. The 1860s Italianate style building sat on prime real estate fronting Sydney Harbour. It was to be demolished to make way for what would be the tallest building in Australia at the time, a modern 25-storey skyscraper that would house AMP for decades to come.
Known as the Sydney Cove Building, AMP’s new head office was designed under the direction of Graham Thorp of Peddle Thorp & Walker. It was unique for its time, designed in a Post-War International style with the inclusion of many modern technologies. The building was so tall that construction couldn’t commence until the passing of the Heights of Buildings (Amendment) Act in 1957.
The building was designed in the shape of a letter H with sweeping curved faces to prevent it from having a ‘back door’ appearance from any direction. The office areas were designed to be free of the usual columns, allowing for the widest uninterrupted floor spans of any office building in Australia. The rooftop incorporated a garden and covered observation gallery offering sweeping views of Sydney. In March 1961, when the building had reached its full height, workmen celebrated by raising a 40-foot gum tree to the top of the building, with a sign erected that read… The workmen on this project who came from every nation have used an old-world custom for a new world celebration. On this building’s highest point, we therefore place a tree to show we’ve reached the top and wish good luck to AMP. 700 workers from 32 countries were part of the building’s construction, which ultimately cost £6 million. The building was officially opened on 23 February 1962 by Prime Minister Robert Menzies.
The Sydney Cove Building lasted beyond its planned lifespan, and it wasn’t until 2018 that AMP announced plans to undertake a significant new construction located just behind the Sydney Cove Building. Known as Quay Quarter Tower, this 50-storey landmark development took approximately 4 years to construct, with AMP transforming an existing 45-year-old 45,000 square metre building on Bridge Street into a new 89,000 square metre commercial tower. Undertaken by Multiplex, the project involved approximately 35,000 people over its 4-year timeframe.
Quay Quarter Tower was co-designed by Danish architects 3XN and Australian architectural firm BVN, with “the building’s striking “jenga-like” design comprising five shifting glass volumes stacked upon each other and punctuated by atrium space, delivering expansive views of Sydney Harbour while maximising natural light deep into the floorplates” (AMP, 2022). Quay Quarter Tower includes the largest amount of privately-owned urban green space in Sydney’s CBD, with an acre of urban green space including a podium terrace and public art and sky terraces on multiple levels.
