Major Firms Snub CBD for West
16 Sep 08
The Commonwealth Bank, Woolworths and Optus are among a raft of leading Australian and global firms taking thousands of employees from the CBD for the suburban dream in greater western Sydney. Business and urban research leaders cite traffic congestion, long-distance commuting and high office rents as the cause behind the exodus. And now defence land has been released for development, businesses have somewhere else to go.
University of Western Sydney Urban Research Centre director Professor Phillip O'Neill is leading a study into the growth. "(The city) is just such an alluring place that firms have been willing to pay top dollar for the status and Rising petrol prices, demands for work-life balance and the space to provide luxuries for staff are pushing big businesses out of the CBD and into Sydney's west.power of having HQ there, and there has been a lack of premium office space outside the CBD," he said. "What we are seeing now for the first time is a major shift in corporate attitude.
The Commonwealth Bank, Woolworths and Optus are each very large relocations, each with specialist office fit-outs and unapologetically suburban. They are signature developments." Greater Western Sydney Economic Development Board general manager Bob Germaine said most firms were setting up custom-built offices near the M7 because it was close to the seaport and had simplified distribution of goods along eastern Australia. "In the olden days the factory was out west and the head office was in eastern Sydney - but now they are together, it is more efficient that way," Mr Germaine said. "Many companies that have had a city presence are asking themselves, should we be where the action is? And they are opting that they should." Western Sydney's economy is worth $80 billion, accounting for 9 per cent of Australia's GDP and bigger than 125 countries including Vietnam.
A line-up of pharmaceutical, food, engineering and financial businesses have triggered a 40 per cent boom in developments in Liverpool alone over the past two years (to $757 million). Global exporter ResMed, Broens Industries, American Express, Cadbury Schweppes, Coles Myer Logistics, TNT, LG, Coca-Cola Amatil, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and IBM have all taken up cheap office space close to where their workers live. Government is shifting services to the west, including Parramatta's new justice precinct and a $500 million project that will make Liverpool Hospital the largest in NSW by 2016. Professor O'Neill said big firms were also recognising the advantages of suburban workforces. "They are loyal, travel shorter distance, the home-work balance is better, with the cultural diversity you have a multilingual workforce and you can run out of hours more easily," he said. Commonwealth Bank spokesman Bryan Fitzgerald said western Sydney could support the bank's focus on a family/work balance with childcare, nursing rooms and recreational areas. But new jobs may not be enough to keep a booming residential population employed close by. "This is one of the most profound challenges facing Australia of the next few decades - how do we create a city and regional economy to make a million jobs over the next 30 years?" Professor O'Neill said. "Unless we take that task seriously, then our aspiration for a socially sustainable city won't be realised."