Overview
Corporate Sydney has no shortage of co-working spaces, but did you know about the troll under Sydney Harbour Bridge? It's where over 600 ambitious businesses work, and it's got enough room to accommodate just about any project.
Just last month, a plane cockpit for the Western Sydney Airport was built on the grounds. Less hands-on tenants include bitcoin bros, non-profits and Andrew May, a performance coach who has trained the likes of the Wallabies and World Championship boxer Tim Tszyu.
"When I first stumbled upon the abandoned Bay 10 warehouse, it was leaky and forgotten, but I saw incredible potential," says Work Inc founder Mark Davidson.
Built in the '20s to fabricate steel for Sydney's world-famous bridge, Bay 10 was part of a cluster of Lavender Bay warehouses. It became the first bay to be turned into a functioning office space in 2015, and Davision gradually took over six neighbouring bays by 2020.
Work Inc now houses 107 private offices in what Davidson describes as a "16-story building tipped on its side." Its original ten-meter-high concrete walls and exposed steelwork are left intact, framing a series of suspended loft offices – called glass pods – that appear to float within the cavernous interior.
The project is part of a broader wave of adaptive reuse breathing new life into Sydney's industrial architecture, joining cultural venues such as White Bay Power Station and Carriageworks, and more recently, the emerging Wentworth Avenue precinct.
Fitted out with vintage furniture and murals by Kiwi artist Gina Kiel, Work Inc's communal areas fill the space with collaborative energy. From lounges and a library to an upper-floor sundeck, there are plenty of spots for a group brainstorm.
Plus, a podcast studio (it produces What No One Tells You, an in-house podcast where founders share their unglamorous entrepreneurial stories), an on-site optometrist beside the bright green container elevator, and snips by Amy Sheridan.
Bay 10 Espresso, the complex's cafe, used to be a shipping container seized with 600 kilograms of pseudoephedrine. "We needed a coffee fix for our team, but there was nowhere decent nearby," says Davidson. "Now, it's serving up a much-needed, perfectly legal kind of fix, and it's become the heart of our community."
The upcycled vessel hooks workers up with specialty coffee from White Horse Roasters and breakfast classics like spiced porridge and shakshuka, before switching to sangas and salad bowls for lunch.
Work Inc is located on 6 Middlemiss Street, Milsons Point. Visit the website to find out more.
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Images supplied.