Executive PA Australasia October November 2016 | Page 38

DOING BUSINESS
IN BRIZZY
Queensland’s capital Brisbane has rapidly grown as a destination
of choice for corporate travellers. Chris Pritchard explains why
DESTINATION
COMMENTATORS trace Brisbane’s business transformation to
preparations for 1988s World Expo. The city bid successfully to host
the fair and it prompted a long-overdue makeover. Dowdiness was
replaced by a modern change, which respected history while encour-
aging a combination of functionality and adventurous architecture.
But it’s not just about architecture. The city has become a leader
in business, science and the arts, and there’s even a beach – Streets
Beach is Australia’s only inner-city man-made beach within a CBD.
A short walk leads from the city centre’s Queen Street Mall - with
landmarks including 92-year-old Brisbane Arcade, in Edwardian
baroque style - and across the Brisbane River to the city’s cultural
precinct, dominated by the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art.
Swaying palm trees attract workers from nearby offices who
sprawl on the sand with packed lunches at the edge of a 2000 square
metre artificial lagoon and watch families splash in the shark-free
safety of the beach, an icon on South Bank, providing much reprieve
from the year round warm weather Brisbane is so well known for.
Brisbane, wedged between two of Australia’s most visited holiday
zones - the Gold Coast to the south and the Sunshine Coast to the
north - belatedly decided to woo visitors, grabbing itself a slice of
the state’s rich tourism cake.
Grand old buildings were reborn with new roles. Apartments
sprout at the Brisbane River’s edge. New office towers accentuate
a soaring skyline. The still-growing South Bank cultural precinct
took shape, backing onto a trendy zone where downmarket housing
was refurbished into fashionable inner-city living, a phenomenon
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