Bates Smart ™

Justice Precinct Offices
Parramatta, Sydney

In Parramatta's new Legal Precinct, Bates Smart was responsible for the Masterplan and the new Justice Office Building for the NSW Attorney General's Department.

The design features a detached service core on the western side; this element reduces the solar heat gain and ensures that the office area is flexible and unencumbered. The arrangement results in a 10-storey top-lit atrium between the core and the office levels. The atrium is lined with timber panelling, and planted to create a warm and inviting environment.

Meeting room 'pods' dramatically cantilever into the atrium, while an artwork by Gary Carsley is an integral part of the entry lobby. Naturally ventilated breakout spaces are located at each end of the atrium for staff relaxation.

Bates Smart employed a range of environmental design measures including chilled beam cooling technology and solar shading, making this the first NSW State Government building to achieve a 5-star Green Star environmental rating.

In addition, the new Legal Precinct delivers a significant amount of public open space in a campus-like network of courtyards and pedestrian spaces that connect to the surrounding streetscape and foreshore of the Parramatta River. The public domain incorporates archaeological remains from the early hospitals that occupied the site continuously since the first tent hospital was established there in 1789.