Quintessential Equity gets $68 million from CEFC for green office tower in Geelong

Unlisted property fund manager Quintessential Equity will receive financing of $68 million from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) for its new $120 million green office tower in Victoria’s Geelong. 

The 1 Malop Street development is the largest commercial office project to receive finance by the CEFC, which invests in renewable energy, energy efficiency and low emissions technologies, said a media release.

The financing will help Quintessential Equity in its efforts to get the tower a 5.5 star National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) base building energy rating, a first for a Victorian multi-storey commercial office building outside of the Melbourne CBD. 

1 Malop Street will be home to WorkSafe Victoria’s headquarters from mid-2018. The 14-level building will merge the heritage Dalgety & Co building into a property consisting of nearly 15,500 square metres of CBD PCA A-Grade office accommodation. 

Quintessential Equity head of development Guy French-Wright said there was a growing demand for affordable high-quality green office space in Geelong. 

“Our 1 Malop Street development will set a new gold standard for near city office accommodation, designed around the ethos of Live, Work, Play,” French-Wright said. 

“Through the support of CEFC we are in a position to improve the building’s energy efficiency from 5 star to a 5.5 star NABERS base building energy rating. This will provide an opportunity to achieve an additional 25 per cent reduction in the building’s energy consumption and provide additional cost savings for all tenants.” 

CEFC chief origination and transactions officer Paul McCartney said the financing commitment reflected the CEFC’s role in driving increased investment and innovation in building sustainability. 

The new building will offer 14 levels of office space and include a ground-floor café and rooftop exercise areas.