A twisted tower spiralling above Melbourne’s skyline will become Australia’s tallest building.
The Victorian government last week green-lit the $2bn project in the city’s Southbank precinct.
Titled STH BNK by Beulah, the project will feature a pair of towers, of which one will overtake the Gold Coast’s 322.5-metre-tall Q1 building as the nation’s tallest skyscraper.
The two proposed towers – 366 metres and 288 metres – will house apartments, offices, a 302-room luxury hotel, a conference and entertainment centre and a health precinct in addition to 6,000 sq metres of green space. The private development will also include a rooftop garden on the 102nd storey.
Once built, Melbourne will have Australia’s tallest skyscraper for the first time since Q1 eclipsed the height of the city’s 120 Collins Street building in 2005. The nearby 101 Collins Street building had previously held the title, albeit briefly, in 1991.
Melbourne’s lord mayor, Sally Capp, described the latest project as “awe-inspiring” and “jaw-dropping”.
“It will have a ripple effect in spreading confidence throughout the city and abroad. It signals that Melbourne does not rest on its laurels and always strives to be bold and ambitious,” she said.
“It will challenge all future developments to not only consider, but to conquer the incredible.”
Capp said the project had generated more than $1bn in investment and would support more than 4,700 jobs during the construction process. The council’s Future Melbourne committee backed the project in 2020 hoping it would revitalise Southbank.
Capp said it would also complement the council’s Northbank precinct, which includes a $300m Greenline project – a 4km promenade on the north side of the Yarra river.
The project is backed by developer Beulah and will be more than 65 metres higher than the nearby Eureka Tower which looms above the city at 297 metres. Melbourne’s highest building is the Australia 108 apartment tower, which stands at 319 metres.
The Southbank towers will surpass the Gold Coast’s Q1 by 43 metres.
The Surfers Paradise skyscraper opened in 2005 and until 2011 was the world’s tallest residential building – a title that now belongs to New York’s Central Park Tower.
Dubai’s Burj Khalifa remains the world’s tallest building, at 828 metres.
Construction at Southbank is expected to begin next year and take five years to complete.
It comes as the state’s building sector reels amid rising construction costs.
The nation’s 12th-largest homebuilder, Porter Davis, collapsed last month, leaving 1,700 unfinished homes across Victoria and Queensland. Liquidators for the company on Monday confirmed another homebuilder had signed on to complete up to 375 unfinished Porter Davis properties.
• This article was amended on 19 April 2023. A previous version incorrectly said Q1 was taller than the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building.
