Why CBRE Turned Its Headquarters Into A Product Demonstration
What happens when a real estate adviser becomes its own showroom?
For CBRE, the answer is a new Sydney headquarters that functions as both a workplace and a full-scale demonstration of the ideas the company sells to clients every day. As a global leader in real estate services, CBRE advises occupiers on workplace strategy, leasing, sustainability and office design. Rather than simply creating a new office, the company has built a physical manifestation of those services - a test case for whether premium, hospitality-driven and experience-led workplaces represent the future of the office.
The timing is significant. According to CBRE's Sydney CBD Office Figures Q1 2026 report, leasing enquiries increased 22 per cent year-on-year, while demand continues to favour premium, strong amenity rich workplaces. In this context, the firm's new headquarters can be read as more than a corporate fitout - it is a physical demonstration of the qualities occupiers are increasingly seeking in a flight-to-quality market.
Designed by Bates Smart across three levels at 363 George Street, the workplace prioritises client engagement as much as employee experience. A dedicated client floor incorporates a flexible presentation suite, meeting spaces and event areas, while the remaining levels accommodate workspaces, collaboration zones and a business lounge. The result is a workplace that feels less like a traditional corporate office and more like a hospitality-driven environment designed to be experienced.
This approach is evident from the moment visitors arrive. Upon exiting the lift, guests are greeted by a luminescent corridor created through the unconventional use of backlit Danpalon polycarbonate. More commonly employed as an architectural façade material, it has been repurposed here to wrap the building's central core, transforming a typically utilitarian element into a striking architectural feature. The translucent material diffuses light to create a warm, lantern-like glow, establishing an arrival experience that feels more akin to a boutique hotel than a conventional office. In a project defined by workplace experimentation, the intervention demonstrates how everyday construction materials can be elevated through thoughtful detailing and light.
Materiality becomes a recurring theme throughout the project. Conventional workplace finishes are replaced with a carefully curated palette of raw, refined and unexpected materials that reflect CBRE's deep connection to the built environment. Warm timbers, frosted glass and marble sit alongside timber-clad neighbourhood boxes, OSB board ceilings in meeting rooms, perforated lacquered MDF in breakout spaces and exposed base-building elements. The resulting tension between raw construction materials and refined finishes gives the workplace a tactile richness rarely found in contemporary corporate interiors.
The office's relationship to brand identity feels integrated. Sweeping 360-degree views across Sydney's CBD maintain a constant visual dialogue with the city and the real estate market CBRE actively shapes. Meanwhile, the company's signature deep green is subtly woven throughout the interior, appearing in dedicated colour-saturated spaces, furniture selections, softer sage accents and within the planting palette. Rather than relying on overt branding, colour operates as an atmospheric device that establishes the company's identity.
The project ultimately succeeds because it goes beyond providing a workplace for employees. It functions as a living case study for clients, demonstrating how workplace strategy, sustainability, material experimentation and employee experience can converge within a single environment. In doing so, CBRE has transformed its Sydney headquarters into something more than an office - it has become a tangible expression of the future workplace the company is actively advocating for across the market.
Credits
Architecture & Interior Design
Bates Smart
Builder / Fitout Contractor
SHAPE
Photography
Nicole England