Prime Minister joins celebrations for CSL’s new HQ building  

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has dropped into town to mark a celebratory opening of biotech giant CSL’s new global headquarters and research and development centre.  

The 18-storey building by Melbourne developer PDG occupies 54,000 square metres at 655 Elizabeth St, which is located within the city’s biomedical and education precinct that includes the University of Melbourne, hospitals, and top research institutes. 

Nine floors of the new CSL building feature state-of-the-art laboratories and cutting-edge research and clinical phase production suites that are meaningfully integrated with seven floors of versatile workspace “designed to promote connectivity, amenity, and wellbeing”.

To celebrate the milestone, Mr Albanese visited the site of the new headquarters alongside Lord Mayor Sally Capp and Deputy Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece, as well as CSL’s chairperson Brian McNamee and CFO Joy Linton on August 21.

“This magnificent facility will help position CSL to compete in the global marketplace,” the Prime Minister said. 

“The work that CSL does right here will continue to be integral to Australian’s health and quality of life.”

The building replaces the former Toyota dealership at the site, with PDG aiming to create a $1 billion health and research development called the Elizabeth North Precinct. 

In 2022, PDG secured a 10-year lease with The Royal Melbourne Hospital as a major tenant customer as part of stage one of the Elizabeth North Precinct. The lease, which began in February 2022, covers about 10,000 square metres over six levels.

The wider Elizabeth North Precinct was a result of the state government and the City of Melbourne’s 10-year strategic plan for the Melbourne Biomedical Precinct.  

PDG’s founder and managing director Vince Giuliano said Elizabeth North represented their “enduring dedication and commitment to deliver world-class biomedical research facilities and exemplar contemporary workspaces that will contribute significantly to innovative progress in the City of Melbourne”.

Mr McNamee added the new building stood as a testament to CSL’s transformative journey from their century-old Royal Park site. 

“It is a realm of discovery and development, offering possibilities to Australia’s local researchers and becoming a source of ground-breaking medicines for patients across the globe,” he said.

CSL thanked key partners and stakeholders for successfully delivering this “remarkable outcome”. •