Sekisui House opens new Queensland headquarters at West Village

Sekisui House Australia is building the $800 million West Village community at West End and has chosen the heritage listed Peters Ice Cream Cone Factory on site for its new Queensland offices.

More than 40 staff from two locations will merge into the new headquarters, with responsibility for three signature projects in Queensland, valued at $3.7 billion in total - Ecco Ripley, including Ripley Town Centre (Ipswich Regional Council); Yaroomba (Sunshine Coast Regional Council) and West Village. Nationally, Sekisui House is managing projects valued at more than $14 billion.

To celebrate the new Queensland headquarters, Sekisui House lifted a 3 tonne fig tree in through the second storey roof of the Cone Factory. The 6 m high tree will take pride of place and be a permanent focal point inside the new offices - just one of about 10,000 plants to eventually be established across the West Village site.


West Village Project Director Andrew Thompson said the new office fitout represented the first part of the permanent restoration of two heritage listed buildings on the West Village site.

“Our new office is in the Cone Factory, which was built in July 1929 and was the site of one of the biggest innovations in ice cream when the chocolate plug was created for Peters’ Drumsticks,” Mr Thompson said.

“Our second heritage listed building, the 1928 Peters Ice Cream Factory, will soon start its conversion to an open plan fresh produce market on the ground floor and New York-style loft apartments on the first and second floors.

“Over the next few years, Sekisui House will create a new community on the site with a wide variety of residential accommodation styles, restaurants and cafes, a full-line Woolworths supermarket and associated specialty shops, child care, community and art spaces, gymnasium, health and wellbeing precinct and more.”

Mr Thompson said West Village would become an integrated residential community on 2.6 hectares, within easy walking distance of the CBD, Southbank, cultural precinct,  universities and schools.

“This project is truly a one-off;  its scale and integrated mixed use design cannot be repeated in inner Brisbane, and having a single developer responsible for the whole site means we can create something where all its components work in harmony and to their greatest potential,” Mr Thompson said.

West Village is the $1 billion urban renewal of the heritage listed, iconic 1920s Peters ice cream and ice cream cone factories in Brisbane by Sekisui House. Located in West End, 800m from the Brisbane CBD, the 2.6ha precinct will emerge as a unique character precinct reminiscent of its 1920s heritage.  Upon completion, 50% of the site will be parkland and open garden filled laneways.  West Village will also be home to 1,250 residences, 14,000sqm of retail including 3 restaurant precincts (more than 70 cafes and restaurants), a 7,500sqm convenience centre, 2 child care centres, medical centre, fresh produce centre and 1,500 basement level carparks .  Stage 1 will be completed in October 2018 and will include the 1,585m² ‘The Common’ central park and field of lights, the 134 apartment ‘Park’ residential building, the 189 apartment ‘Lexington’ residential building and more than 6 new restaurants.

Find out more about West Village at www.westvillage.com.au