Firm Champions fresh food in the CBD

A number of staff – The Eddies – at a prominent legal firm in Parramatta, Champion Legal, is working to help provide staff with a healthy and active workplace and to encourage healthier eating habits.

They are accomplishing this through the establishment of a vegetable garden on a balcony of their Phillip Street building.

The Eddies participated in an event at the Sydney Opera House, TEDxSydney 2013, which partnered with Grow it Local in a unique crowd-sourced food initiative called Crowd Farming to provide food for a lunchtime feast for the 2200 attendees.

In the lead up to the event, The Eddies harvested chilli, mini lemons, basil, parsley, sage, oregano and endive from the terrace garden overlooking the Parramatta River.

“Our recently installed garden is phase one of our plan to have fresh ingredients available for our staff and guests to consume on a daily basis,” the company said.

“Champion Legal recognises that sustainable produce is becoming increasingly important to the way we eat.” 

The company offer seasonal email updates about the garden including recipes and comments from its guest chefs.

A-grade office space tightens

A sign that the Parramatta A-grade office market is tightening is the decline in the vacancy rate from 4.1 per cent, in January 2013, to 2.4 per cent six months later, according to the Property Council of Australia’s latest Office Market Report, June 2013.

The overall vacancy rate was 7.5 per cent, down from 9.7 per cent at the start of the year – the lowest vacancy rate of any office market in Sydney

“Vacancy rates in B-grade fell from 6.1 per cent to 5.3 per cent, C-grade dropped from 19.4 per cent to 17.2 per cent and D-grade went from 13.7 per cent to 9 per cent,” said Property Council NSW, executive director, Glenn Byres.

Some 4800 square metres is scheduled to come online in the second half of 2013, 9785 square metres next year and 54,000 square metres due to be delivered in 2015 and beyond. In North Ryde, the A-grade vacancy rate rose from 4.7 per cent to 5.2 in the six months to June, with an overall rate rising from 7.3 per cent to 7.8 per cent. 

On the North Shore the A-grade rate rose 8.2 per cent to 9.7 per cent, with the overall rate rising from 9.0 per cent to 11.2 per cent 

Elsewhere in the Parramatta, expressions of interest (EOI) have been called for the head office of Sydney Water, on the corner of Smith and Darcy streets, in the CBD. Completed in 2009, it has approximately 23,331 square metres of commercial space. EOIs have been called, also, for an office building, at 91 Phillip Street, in the CBD, which has a net lettable area of 5635 square metres.