Essay: Roger Poole

Bates Smart Sydney 95-05

Evolution

Bates Smart was established in Melbourne in 1852. The Sydney office of the practice was not established until 1995. The 143-year gap requires explanation. Bates Smart’s first Sydney building was the AMP Society Headquarters in Pitt Street, completed in 1867.

The idea of working from a single office is common to good architectural practices around the world. Commissions appeared through client satisfaction with Melbourne work, and also from competition wins, such as that for the MLC Headquarters on Martin Place, won by Bates Smart and McCutcheon in 1937. This was to be the beginning of a long and mutually beneficial association between Bates Smart and MLC.

Subsequently Bates Smart was commissioned to undertake the MLC Headquarters in Miller Street North Sydney in 1954. This building was the result of a bold decision – MLC was the first major Australian company to locate its Sydney headquarters outside the CBD and this structure effectively established North Sydney as a viable second CBD. Photographs at the time show the building in relation to its low-rise context.

During the early 1990s, Bates Smart was asked to undertake an increasing number of commissions in Sydney. Clayton Utz commissioned Bates Smart to create new offices for their Sydney practice. The design, which won the (NSW) Interior Architecture Award, was developed by staff from the Melbourne office temporarily relocated to Sydney and sharing rental accommodation. Bates Smart also collaborated on the Consolidated Press / PBL bid for Sydney Casino.

In 1995 Bates Smart established an office in Sydney in response to a commission for Foxtel’s Playout Headquarters in Pyrmont. James Pearce relocated from Melbourne to Sydney to undertake the project. The Foxtel project was awarded the RAIA (NSW) Interior Architecture Award in 1996 and the Sydney office was established.

James Milledge relocated from Melbourne to be the resident Director for Sydney in 1996. Jim created a stable team, with Associate Directors James Pearce, Stefanie Flaubert and Philip Vivian running projects. All of these people had previously worked in the Melbourne office. In addition to his project role, James was responsible for establishing much of the Sydney office culture and practice. James believed in creating a team of architects who were design focused and able to relate well socially to each other, each supported by a powerful computer. This led to the recruitment of a youthful team, most of whom were designers, or had come from respected design offices and understood the effort needed to achieve good design.

James ran the Sydney office from 1996 to early 2000, during which time the staff numbers grew from 5 to approximately 18. Major Projects during this period include the Toyota National Sales and Marketing Headquarters, UNSW Computer Science and Engineering Building and Pier 8/9 at Walsh Bay, winner of RAIA (NSW) Public Buildings Architecture Award.

In early 2000 James returned to the Melbourne office to lead major high-rise projects such as 11 Exhibition Street. Philip Vivian became the Director in charge of the Sydney practice. The following year was one of significant upheaval in the office. The twelve months following the Sydney Olympics were economically lean in NSW. James Pearce returned to the Melbourne office and Stefanie Flaubert left to establish her own design practice. However by 2001 major commissions were again underway. Bates Smart had won a design competition for Jones Bay Wharf and was also designing Proximity Apartments in Arncliffe. More success followed with Bates Smart’s role in the winning tender for Winten Property Group and ABN Amro for the NSW Police Headquarters in Parramatta. Both projects later received design Awards from the RAIA.

Success at winning competitions and design tenders has underpinned much of the work for the Sydney practice. Design competitions and tender wins include the Maroubra Bay Hotel Apartments, Rhodes Waterside Apartments, 420 George Street, Duxton Hotel Residential Conversion, Balfour Park Stage 1, Headquarters Training Command at Victoria Barracks, NSW Police Headquarters, Jones Bay Wharf and Parramatta Justice Precinct.

On the back of these successes the practice grew to a stable number of 40-45 employees. In 2004 it was decided that a second director was needed in the Sydney office and Simon Swaney was recruited to join Bates Smart after 17 years as the Director of the multi-award winning Melbourne practice of Swaney Draper Architects. Simon’s specialised interests and expertise include rational design with an environmental agenda, education projects and skills in construction delivery methodology following previous experience as a builder.

Simon and Philip now lead a talented team of professionals in Sydney undertaking major projects for public and private clients. Bates Smart remains a single practice with joint directors located in Sydney and Melbourne. The Sydney team is now firmly established as a major design presence in Sydney. One reason for this success is the outstanding team of professionals whose energy and dedication have taken us from a clean start to major urban projects in just ten years. The other reason is that the Sydney studio forms an indivisible part of the whole practice, now 140 strong with current projects in every state of Australia, in China, Malaysia and in a number of European countries. We will continue to develop our practice through organic growth, so that wherever they occur, Bates Smart’s projects benefit from the design philosophy and collective experience of our talented and energetic team. We seek to grow our Sydney practice to match, or exceed the size of our Melbourne team but we focus on quality and client service and on expanded capacity to meet our clients’ needs.