#Completed: T1 Apartments - 18s/59m (Townsville)

[Oriolus]

Latest design for the Sturt St tower
http://www.twhedley.com.au/t1-1a.jpg

Original design
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid121/p1d2556caca82319f38966e0f201964d3/f84f5331.jpg

Consists of an 18 storey tower on Sturt St and a 20 storey tower on Walker St on the site of former Santa's Foodland. There will be 142 apartments - the biggest project in Townsville to date. Will get more details soon.

Aerial of site
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/Oriolus/HedleySite.jpg

[Oriolus]

I went to have a look at the DA this afternoon and its even bigger than I thought, plus the buildings are other way around (taller one on Walker St)

Details:

Walker Street Tower
Roof Height: 60.6m (73.2m RL)
Blade Height: 64.6m (77.2m RL)
Storeys: 20

Sturt Street Tower
Roof Height: 54.9m (64.5m RL)
Blade Height: 58.9m (68.5m)
Storeys: 18

That means these 2 will be the 2nd and 3rd tallest in Townsville, higher than Suncorp Plaza at 55m but lower than Holiday Inn at 76m. Seeing as Walker St is higher than Sturt St the WAlker St tower will look even bigger. It will actually have a higher RL roof height than sugar shaker!

[Gertzy]

Wow, I'd thought it'll be just under 60m or abit above. 73m Wow, my Dad will be a bit cheesed that his Ground floor view will be overtaken by the Towers.

[Oriolus]

In the DA was a list of buildings in Townsville and their heights - they were in AHD (Australian Height Datum) which should be the same as RL? For sugar shaker it said 72m AHD roof, 91m AHD tip - its height is 76m therefore its at 15m RL. This cannot be right because it also gave these AHDs for ground level: Walker St 12.6m, Sturt St 9.6m. There is no way Ogden St is higher than Walker St.

So I'm a bit sceptical about some measurements involved.

[Blend]

lol Gertzy.
My dad works in the second story of the building on walker st. (im guessing its the same building ur dads in)

Nice towers. When will they develop that carpark bordered by walker, sturt, and strokes st

[Oriolus]

When will they develop that carpark bordered by walker, sturt, and strokes st

Right now! It's currently a big hole - a new 2 storey Woolworths supermarket and shopping centre is going up. They decided not to add the 32 storey office tower I was fantacising about :)

[Blend]

hhmm. bit of a waste isnt it?
although im sure the shopping will do the CBD good.
the mall is a failure (sorry lol but i felt lonely in there :P)
good luck to this!

[Wezza]

I sure hope these ones get approved, will be a very welcome addition to the skyline. Townsville is very overdue for something with a bit of decent height!! (By Townsville standards) :) Tony Mooney was all for these towers wasn't he?

[Gertzy]

Mooney did certainly back the project alright. Yeah, talk about decent Height. It'll be Hedley's biggest as well (Piermonde, Cairns is his biggest yet on 17 stories and 72 units). Thankfully developers are now coming in with Buildings 12+ but the only examples now are Gateway and Sturt Street Twrs.

[Oriolus]

I'm a bit worried the width of this one could work against it - I didn't think it was that wide but the woman at TCC who got the DA for me said "Woh, this thing is huge" I made a comment on its height relative to sugar shaker and she said "But its so wide".

Should get through though because it more than satisfies the site coverage requirements.

[Gertzy]

Hopefully it's going to be approved.

[Gertzy]

So it's only going to be 64.6m up to the blade. I thought that it was going to be 73m. But that was roof RL.

[Gertzy]

This is what the site will look like when the project is approved

http://www.twhedley.com.au/piermonde270904-1.jpg

I think when its approved, They will wait for Piermonde to finish

[Wezza]

Any progress on this one?

[Gertzy]

Not Sure, all I know is that it hasn't been approved and if it is then construction according to the original article on the TB said hoping around Feb/Mar 2005.

[Wezza]

They would probably try to get Sanctuary finished first?

[Oriolus]

Put the towers into a skyline - not the best photo edit but gives an idea of their impact

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/Oriolus/MTQViewwithHedleyTowers.jpg

[Gertzy]

Thats cool. A bit dodgy but as you said not the best photo edit but still quite good and interesting.

[Wezza]

Nice! Please, please, build this one!! :D

[Gertzy]

I Think its fate will be decided at the next council meeting.
Hopefully......
Please Hopefully......
Hopefully Soon......

It should be approved, But yet again, Mooney is backing it. But that doesn't mean just because he is backing the project doesn't mean that everyone else is. The Project hasn't had any problems or anything so this project should go ahead.

[Wezza]

Can't see why anyone should be against it. Just look whats on the site now...... Ewww.

[Malt]

It really has no downsides.

It will bring people to Tvilles dead CBD and will help the revitalisation that theyre doing (I think they are?)

It will add to the skyline in a big way, and make it seem like a bigger city. Plus the design is good.

[Gertzy]

When this gets off the ground, I'd like to see some office development, but due to no demand, That won't happen until a while now. But with all this apartment development happening, The CBD should become CRD (for Central Residential District)

[mrlaxative]

Well the Hedley towers are coming closer and closer to certainty. The upgraded (or should it be up-heighted?) tower is featured on today's (2nd Feb) front page of the local Tsv Bulletin.

This may well be the CBD's saving grace when (it'll definitely be when, not if) it gets approved.

Townsville Bulletin 2nd Feb Story link (http://townsvillebulletin.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,7034,12123018%255E14787,00.html)

http://townsvillebulletin.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,3600,414806,00.jpg

http://townsvillebulletin.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,3600,414797,00.jpg

[Danubis]

very noice. well done townsville. i suspect 2005/06 will be a great period for qld regional cities development. in terms of medium height scrapers.

[Malt]

lol @ that article shunning Q1.

Nice , 66m only 10 lower than Holiday Inn

[Wezza]

^ This is exciting for Townsville!! :)

[Gertzy]

Quite true Malt, I think its more aimed at Cairns Though.

[Wezza]

^ He might have meant in the article about where it says Q1 & Eureka are fighting for the tallest title and it says something about the spire on Q1.

[Oriolus]

Here's the full text of the article - lot of good stuff in there so worth having for future reference.

Towering ambition
By TONY RAGGATT
02feb05
TOWNSVILLE's CBD is set to boast the tallest residential building in North Queensland.

Cairns-based developer the Hedley Group confirmed yesterday it had added three levels to one of its planned towers in the proposal, called T1, to take advantage of the site and the ``magnificent'' views.

The tower fronting Walker St was now planned to have 19 levels, taking it to a height of 66m, while an adjoining building would have 18 levels.

Hedley development manager David Row said the structure would possibly be the highest building in North Queensland.

``For the moment it will be the tallest residential development in North Queensland,'' he said.

``We can't build above 17 (levels) in Cairns (because) the (aircraft) flight path is over the CBD.''

Mayor Tony Mooney announced the $50 million 142-apartment proposal last year for the site previously used for a Coles and Santa's Foodtown supermarket. It has more recently operated as a car park, market and carpet outlet.

Mr Row said the proposal was initially for a 16-level tower fronting Walker St but they had decided to add three levels to take advantage its position and views.

``We did not set out to try and be the tallest,'' he said.

``We wanted to take advantage of the views from the upper levels, which are quite magnificent.''

But height does matter for some.

On January 1, Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian officially opened the world's tallest building, the Taipei 101, which at 508m took the title from Kuala Lum pur's 451.9m Petronas Twin Towers.

Taipei 101 was originally to be 66 storeys, but was later raised to 88, and then to 101 storeys.

Melbourne and Gold Coast developers are vying for the title of Australia's tallest building at present.

The Sunland Group is building what it claims will be Australia's tallest residential tower, Q1, on the Gold Coast which will be 78 storeys and 275m high at the roofline but 322.5m with a rooftop ``needle''.

The Grollo group is building the 91-storey Eureka tower in Melbourne which it says will be ``world's tallest residential building'' and reach a height of 297m.

Meanwhile, the owners of Melbourne's Rialto tower have announced plans to erect a communications mast that would raise its height to 303m _ or 6m more than Eureka's.

Mr Row said the Hedley Group was ``not aspiring to any spires'' but was seeking quality.

Upper-level penthouses in T1 would sell for more than $1 million and comprise two levels with large balconies and outdoor recreational areas.

The proposal, comprising 151 apartments, is before the Townsville City Council awaiting approval of a development application.

Mr Row said the group hoped to be able to start work on the site in May.

Agent Bruce Pearce of North Ward Realty said there was already strong interest in the development, with buyers lining up to take apartments.

Some were chasing entire levels, he said.

``It's going to be a landmark and another great development for Townsville,'' Mr Pearce said.

[Oriolus]

Now to pull the article apart and point out all the minute errors that only skyscraper fans would care about.

- The DA was submitted in October so its hardly the breaking news its suggested to be

- According to Hedleys own DA Walker tower is 20s (up 4 storeys from 16) & Sturt tower is same at 18s

- Walker St tower ("T1") is 64.6m to spire not 66m (again from DA)

- "Hedley development manager David Row said the structure would possibly be the highest building in North Queensland."
RL shown on DA is 77.2m which has got to be less than Holiday Inn, however the Walker St building will have the highest roof is Townsville at 73.2m RL

-Apparentely they havn't heard about Eureka's extention

[Oriolus]

It seems as if "T1" may be the actual name of this project, like Q1 - its been refered to as such in TB articles. Q1 is number one in Qld but T1 wont be number 1 in Townsville - long way short of Holiday Inn.

[Gertzy]

That was the inferance to the Walker street Tower itself, so like Tower 1 etc, thats how I was reading it.

[Oriolus]

I don't think so - consider this sentence:

"The proposals, both about 70m, would be 4m higher than the highest of the Hedley T1 twin towers." TB 5/2/05

And also the towers are labelled Block W for Walker and Block S for Sturt on the plans.

[Wezza]

Reading a snippet in the Bulletin today, and it was saying this project is pretty much a definate starter.

[Gertzy]

Yeah, that was butts on Monday, more on that in TSV Projects. So it must be called T1 then, but why the hell call it T1.

[Oriolus]

Does that mean it's actually approved? Last council meeting would have been the 8th Feb but minutes aren't on web yet (next one tonight). Maybe it's going to be officially announced tonight.

Minutes of the council meetings, which include development approvals/rejections, appear here for those interested.
http://www.townsville.qld.gov.au/yourcouncil/meetings.asp

[Gertzy]

actually the last council meeting was 16th of Febuary, I know because I had a Youth Council meeting supposed to be at TCC Chambers but we moved to another venue because they had kicked us out for their meeting, I had the right mind to go in there as say "approve the hedley towers please"

[Oriolus]

I thought it was every second Tues?

[Gertzy]

But yes. you're correct on saying every second Tuesday but they had it on that Wednesday for some reason.

[Oriolus]

It might have been a commitee meeting, like not the full council??

[Gertzy]

Nope, the full council was there, every councillor and my TYC Supervisor/TCC Youth Project manager said that the Councillors had booked it out for a Council Meeting.

[mrlaxative]

Here's something extra for you all to drool over.

http://www.real-estate-australia.com.au/agts/534/main_1108447260.jpg

And judging by this webpage, it must be approved.

T1 Apartments (http://www.nwrealty.com.au/properties.php?id=50559&vtour)

[Oriolus]

Thanks mrlaxative - always with the scoops!

The blurb says it will be the highest buildings in North Queensland - I would have thought they would have a lower RL than Holiday Inn

[Gertzy]

New Design, bloody cool, better than the old one.

[Oriolus]

Must be the Sturt St tower (18 storeys). It's basically the same but I like the look of the original render better - what the hell are those things on the second & third top floors?

[ASIS]

They're stairs, they must be Penthouses.

[Gertzy]

And saying this as Gertzy, yes, its stairs for the Penthouse Units.

[Oriolus]

Well no official confirmation yet but I think it's safe to break out the "Approved" prefix in the thread title. The way they've kick started sales already I reckon this might start construction on schedule by August.

[Wezza]

So they are only going to build one tower and then build the other? Or has the other tower been scrapped?

[Oriolus]

The pic is of a 18 storey building (Sturt St) and the info on the website talks about 19 storeys (Walker St) so I assume both are going ahead. However the constant references to 19 storeys in the media and now from the real estate agents (and they would know) suggests that the Walker St tower has been lowered from 20 to 19 storeys, which is a shame, and means I don't have the correct height anymore.

[Gertzy]

It still maybe 20 stories, don't forget, its about 1 level sturt up to Walker, especially looking at the site from Walker as its about 1 level down to the flat carpark.

[Wezza]

How many floors is the podium? I'm only counting 13, maybe 14 levels of resi. (Counting the first level after the podium where i dare say the pool etc will be) Does anyone know whether carparking is UG or is that why the podium is as high as it is?

[Oriolus]

Sturt St tower(pictured):
podium 3 storeys(ground retail,2 & 3 parking)
tower 4-18 - 15 storeys of apartments (except maybe the first floor of the tower)

Walker St tower :
basement parking (level with ground floor of Sturt St)
ground floor parking
tower 2-20 - 19 levels of apartments(except maybe the first floor of the tower)
this might be what the website means when it says "19 levels of luxury apartments"

Walker St tower actually rises 3 storeys above Sturt St tower in terms of RL (21 levels-18 levels)

[Wezza]

Ok cool. I'm not sure whether i like the new design better or not. But i'll take it anyway! :D

[Malt]

The render of the old ones doo look great, but in realoity they may have looked a little tacky.

Youll prob be grateful for the new one :)

[Gertzy]

So That Design may be Just what Sturt Street Tower looks like, Walker Street may be the Original design.

[Wezza]

I doubt they would make the towers look different. If you look at the older renders, they show the tower on Sturt St as well.

[Gertzy]

Some developers like to make things look different etc so They could, make the Towers Different Designs.

[Gertzy]

Design Scheme Looks.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid121/p1d2556caca82319f38966e0f201964d3/f84f5331.jpg
Old Design, (Walker Street Fronting)

http://www.real-estate-australia.com.au/agts/534/main_1108447260.jpg
New Design (Sturt Street Fronting).

So both Towers have new design schemes not the one.

[Oriolus]

Pic of the site (Sturt St side) taken recently
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/Oriolus/100_1929S.jpg

[Gertzy]

They need to start now on this project, It will be an Eyesore as it stays there.

[Wezza]

Just thought i'd add that i saw on the news today that this project has been officially approved. It must have only had a preliminary approval or something before.

Also, apparently this project will be complete in 2 & 1/2 years. This is coming from one of the real estate agents who will be selling apartments in this complex. Work is to begin on the site within the next few weeks in 2 stages, first the Sturt St tower then followed by the second stage of the Walker st tower.

[Oriolus]

Awesome, thanks Wezza - I wasn't expecting work to start so soon, great news. Although in real estate speak "next few weeks" might not be anything to get excited about.

[Wezza]

The actual planned start date is sometime in May. The start date didn't actually come from the real estate agent, it came from the news. The time it will take before it's complete came from the real estate agents. :)

[Oriolus]

TB article on T1 yesterday had an interesting footnote - Hedley's development manager says that the Walker tower is 20 storeys not 19 storeys as has been reported repeatedly - he admits he thought it was 19 storeys & he of all people should know!!

Also Hedley will take possesion of the site at end of month and begin demolition soon after. Sturt tower, with 53 apartments will be Stage 1 and Walker tower, with 97 apartments, will begin when Sturt is nearing completion.

[Gertzy]

He must of been Drunk, Stoned or taking Pills :D, just kidding, but yeah, he of all people should know this.

[Wezza]

I'll give this one a little bump too.

Hopefully work should be comencing on this site soon as well. Exciting times ahead for Townsville!! :)

[Gertzy]

Yeah, the Clearing of Santa commences next Month and The Crane or cranes and Construction jobs dont hit the site till Augusto.

[Oriolus]

The logo lol.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/Oriolus/T1Logo.jpg
From North Ward Realty http://www.nwrealty4you.com/properties.php?id=50559&vtour
Nothing on the Hedley website yet

[Wezza]

They were advertising it in the real estate guide on the weekend.

[Gertzy]

They have got Barricading around the Santa's Foodland there at the moment so clearing will probably start soon I guess.

[Gertzy]

The Clearing has begun..........
Looks like its going to be abit more earlier UC than Originally thought to be.

[Oriolus]

Yeh, demolition has begun in earnest, which is good to see, but if they want to have Sturt St tower UC by August, Hedley should be building a sales centre pretty soon shouldn't they? I wonder where it will go - on site, in Post Office Plaza??

[Wezza]

Thats probably the best place, there are a few empty stores in there.

[Gertzy]

Yeah, Post office Plaza would be a good place to put A display centre, mainly because alot of workers use it to go to the mall and its kind off starting to get off the ground abit in terms of tenacy and so on. But then Some of the remaining space in the Bendigo Bank building will be alright too, maybe not as big as Post Office though.

[Wezza]

Apparently, some business man from Perth has already purchased a whole floor of apartments in one of the towers!

[Gertzy]

Well, Its Buy up or not see it go ahead at all, I'd like to buy an Apartment in one but I guess, not till another 3 years.

[Oriolus]

As you can see the "demoling" is progressing well. lol. Taken from Walker St (back of site)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/Oriolus/100_2739S.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/Oriolus/100_2737S.jpg

[Wezza]

It's great to finally see that old eyesore go!! :D

[Gertzy]

I was quite surprise to see it on Saturday/Sunday Night (It was 1am going home from relay for life) and was very surprised how quick it has taken them, they don't muck around do they :D

[Wezza]

Excellent news reported in the Townsville Bulletin for this project today!!

Most of the first stage (Sturt St Tower) has been sold. The commercial space has all been sold as well. Looks like this one will be definitely going ahead!! Exciting news for Townsville. :)

[Oriolus]

Yeh, good stuff. Hedley may not even bother with a sales centre. But remember they've still gotta find someone to build the thing - or maybe they've secured all the constractors already. In any case I think this will definately be a goer.
:banana:

[Muse]

May I join?! :pepper:

Yeah, that Esla's thing can go!

Surely they've been in negotiations, as far as they can be, with the contractors already.

[Oriolus]

Cause you can Muse, good to know that some southerners do read the Townsville threads occasionally. The old supermarket should be just a pile of rubble now.

[Wezza]

^ Yeah, it's pretty well all gone. There is part of the rear entry still standing, though i think it will be gone soon. Today the excavators had the jackhammer style attachments on them removing all of the old concrete slabs.

Maybe alot of the contractors who are currently working on Sanctuary On Flinders will transfer over to T1 once they've finished there? They will need more workers obviously, but that would be a large slice of what they need?

P.S. Muse, you're more than welcome here.

[Gertzy]

Yeah, I went to the CBD for TCC meeting, had a look and Its pretty much gone, except for the old loading bay, where if you look at it from Walker street, Its got the Supermarket sign on the top there, They've still got a bit of that to do but it'll be done by the end of this week.

[Oriolus]

Looks like that part of the rear wall is staying until they build the Walker St tower. The Sturt St site has been levelled and is all ready for construction to begin - as far as I know it should still begin in August.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/Oriolus/100_3209S.jpg

[Gertzy]

By the way things are going on, you would think that it will definitly be due for Construction in August, Especially if the First stage is Sold Out.

[Wezza]

I guess the only possible hold up could be the shortage of skilled labour. Hopefully that won't be a problem though.

[Gertzy]

No, Hedley Construction group have the Labour they need, mostly doing other projects atm, but there are a few to be finished by Next Month, i.e Sanctuary and Piermonde.

[Wezza]

Yeah i gathered that they would transfer the workforce from other sites. Just giving an example of the only reasonable excuse for delay of construction!! :D

[Gertzy]

According to today Bully, There was one section there in the weekender section that talked about jobs that send people above ground (i.e crane driver, High-rise window cleaner, sky diver instructer etc) and they interviewed the Sanctuary on Flinders Crane Driver and he said that he'll be driving the crane on T1. He said that Hedley have ordered a bigger crane to do the job.

[Oriolus]

That's good news. If the crane driver already knows he's going over to T1 when Santuary is done then most likely Hedley have already secured all other personnel and equipment and are good to go in August.

The article said "bigger model" which sounds to me like it'll be another hammerhead. On the other hand what's wrong which the Sanctuary crane if they want a hammerhead - any crane can always be raised up can't it.

[Gertzy]

With Hedley, which I have noticed with here and Cairns is that The smaller projects get smaller, Thinner Hammerheads, which is what is Hedley has on the Sanctuary project now, and for projects like J&N and Piermonde, they use Bigger, Taller Hammerheads, but the thing is is that apparantly is that with the smaller models, they only have the amount of parts they need for a 30m job per crane and the bigger hammerhead i.e like the one on Piermonde, have the parts etc for jobs up to 100m and the smaller ones can only take certain loads while the larger ones can take bigger loads and are suitable for High-Rise jobs.

[Gertzy]

I noticed yesterday, that Hedley has put out Tenders and Applications for a site Foresperson, don't know whether its for T1 or another project, but I think its Townsville Based as, It was in the Bullie/Bully.

[Gertzy]

GOOD NEWS, OR POSSIBLY MABYE NOT GOOD: as I could've seen things wrongly and thought they were but they were possibly not, but it possibly is them as there were Rectangular and Triangular Prism Metal Structures, but it possibly might not be them as they could be another type of Construction Instrument, I dont know, but If you want me to stop going Possibly or Possibly not, I'll stop now.

What I am talking about are Crane Parts for T1, It possibly might not be them thought but I definitely think that they are as there were Rectangular and Triangular, but Its not the Piermonde Crane, Its a different one, Its actually Black and Yellow, not Red and White, but by the looks of things, It only looked to be about Half the Parts there.

[Wezza]

^Cool, i'll have a look when i go past there again next.

[Wezza]

Some possibly exciting news from today:

I noticed when i walked past there today, 2 post hole borers, similar to the one that was at the Ibis site, they looked bigger though. Looks like this one could possibly be underway?

[Gertzy]

Yeah, but maybe not yet, but possibly soon though. They probably might just be getting all the equiptment in first.

[Wezza]

^ They looked like they were just starting to drill when i saw it.

[Gertzy]

Okay, Maybe they have started, be pretty good when they get that Crane up though.

[Wezza]

Yeah for sure!! Hopefully won't be long. If they stick to their plans, we should hopefully see one in August all going well. :)

[Gertzy]

Maybe even next week or 2, probably, hopefully soon though, instead of delaying and waiting for like weeks.

[Oriolus]

Thanks Wezza & Gertzy. So drilling hasn't actually begun yet? Anyway looks like a project actually beginning AHEAD of schedule - I'm staggered. Although Hedley still hasn't put it on it's website.

[Wezza]

Not sure if it has started yet, but i was coming over the overpass bridge near Ross Island this afternoon and i noticed that the 2 masts of the rigs were in different positions to what they were last time i saw them, so maybe they are drilling?

[mrlaxative]

Woohoo! Check out the Hedley website now: www.twhedley.com.au

T1 is a goer alright.

http://www.twhedley.com.au/t1-1a.jpg

[Oriolus]

Thanks mrlaxitive. Green!! When I saw the new render on North Ward Realty I didn't really like it but this looks fantastic. I said yesterday there should be more green in skyscrapers.

Can't wait for work to begin. Like Wezza & Gertzy said there is a pile driver, a post hole digger and tower crane parts on site. When I had a look today there was plenty of action, including some guys welding some stuff! Wow :)

[Wezza]

Woohoo!! Finally, it looks like Townsville's is 1st skyscraper in a very long time is getting underway. :D

[mrlaxative]

Yes very good news indeed!

Hey I didn't notice the hue change from blue to green. It actually does look better. I did notice that they did clean up the render a fair bit though.

The skyline of the city from Townsville State High School/Boundary St area is going to look freakin' awesome once these babies are completed.

[Wezza]

Yeah especially if we get all the other scrapers that are planned, Wintergarden, Blenz & Altitude!! :D As well as the smaller projects.

[Gertzy]

Even with the Crane up there in the Air, It'll still be awesome to look at the Skyline from the Railway Ave/Saunders Street rail overpass, the crane is going to be possibly soon higher than Stanley place and Suncorp (but maybe towards end of T1 Construction, dont know about the start though, depends on what type of crane they'll use too).

[Gertzy]

I went by the site today and the crane parts aren't there anymore, probably moved them to do the drilling and pile driving etc, but they have gone, wasn't on site.

[Oriolus]

Was in the city today and things are happening. I'm going to change the status to UC - Townsville's first highrise in 13 years & our new second tallest is underway!!

:banana: :banana: :banana:

http://img307.imageshack.us/img307/7518/1004127s0pn.jpg (http://www.imageshack.us)

The post hole digger is at work digging holes. And Gertzy - the crane parts are in the same place they were 2 days ago??? There's square tower parts and triangular boom parts

[Malt]

gw. Looks cool still, although the old initial render was the best design. Oh well, second tallest here we come.

[Wezza]

^ I agree Malt, i actually liked the old design better, but hey, i'm not complaining!! :)

[Gertzy]

Okay, cause when they first appeared on site, they were where the cement truck is in the pic there, but that crane is going to get really hot in Summer, even spring.

[Gertzy]

Is this the 18s one or the 20s one, I'm confused now, because it first said that walker tower was the tallest, then when the floors got increased, they then said it was Sturt street that was taller.

[Oriolus]

The Sturt St tower which is now UC is the 18 storey one, as shown in the render. It has a 3 storey podium & 15 storey tower. The Walker St tower is 20 storeys, with 1 basment level & a 1 storey podium with 19 storey tower. But the Walker basement is level with Sturt St and therefore at the same level as the ground floor of the Sturt St tower. So the Walker St tower is actually 21 storeys above Sturt St.

[Gertzy]

I can't wait till that Crane gets up in the air though, the skyline will look awesome with that Crane in the skyline.

[CULWULLA]

great news! should really change the skyline.
ill update emporis. so is both uc?

[Oriolus]

Thanks Cul. Only the Sturt St tower is UC, the Walker St tower wont begin until Sturt is almost finished.

I think the timetable will be something like this:
T1 Sturt: UC July 2005, Completed November 2006
T1 Walker: UC September 2006, Completed January 2008

A long wait indeed. Sales are going so well (Sturt is sold out isn't it?) that they probably could build them simultaneously if it wasn't for skills shortages.

By the way Gertzy - nice avatar :)

[CULWULLA]

thanks

[Gertzy]

Yeah, I just got it off the hedley site and resized it with Photoeditor, but yes it was a pretty good Idea.

[Oriolus]

Sales are going so well (Sturt is sold out isn't it?) that they probably could build them simultaneously if it wasn't for skills shortages.
I should correct this statement. Townsville Bulletin on Saturday reported that Hedley have only had expressions of interest on "the majority" of apartments. But it also said they may begin Walker St tower before Sturt is completed. It's always been the plan to begin Walker as Sturt is finishing so not sure if this is actually being brought forward - hopefully it is.

One other thing - the article refered to the "T1 twin towers" - I havn't seen anything to indicate that the Walker St tower will be called T2.

[Gertzy]

I see that they've taken down the post hole borer/digger thingymajigythinghy, and it kinda looked like they have also taken away the Pile driver as well.

[Wezza]

^ Yeah, went past the site the other day, they're both gone. The crane parts are still sitting up the back awaiting........

[Gertzy]

But it looks like they've done nothing with the post-hole borer or pile driver, so I wonder if somethings happened there or so on.

[Wezza]

Yeah they have done some work, i noticed bits of steel sticking out of the ground in various locations.

[Malt]

so where are the pictures


the nerve of you townsvillians

[Wezza]

Lol.
It's not worth it yet, there is nothing to look at.

[Oriolus]

so where are the pictures


the nerve of you townsvillians

lol, because we (certainly I am) under the inpression that nobody else reads Townsville stuff. But never fear Malt, I'm heading into the city today. You can look forward to updates on all your favourite Townsville projects tomorrow :)

By the way Wezza, good to see you back - was beginning to wonder where you were.

[jellyman]

I read Townsville stuff, although not every time I browse the forums.

[Wezza]

lol, because we (certainly I am) under the inpression that nobody else reads Townsville stuff. But never fear Malt, I'm heading into the city today. You can look forward to updates on all your favourite Townsville projects tomorrow :)

By the way Wezza, good to see you back - was beginning to wonder where you were.
Lol
I didn't have access to a pc last week. But, good 2 be back anyway!! :)

[Gertzy]

Its just some soil and some steel sticking out from the ground and metal rods lining up the ground at one quarter of the site and some crane parts, so ther's nothing to really worry about malt.

[Oriolus]

Here's a construction pic from Tuesday. There isn't a lot of evidence of much work being carried out, just a few clusters of rods. I'm thinking the mound of dirt being loaded into dump trucks might be the earth removed to make way for pilings and foundations but there's a hell of a lot of it. Behind that dirt is a whole heap of stacks of what look like scaffolding.

http://img345.imageshack.us/img345/2174/1004253s5ol.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Malt]

ty :)

[Wezza]

Yeah Oriolus, it's scaffolding, i walked past the site a few days ago. I wonder why they have left the old rear entrance to Santas Foodtown standing for now? It's got me beat!!

[Gertzy]

I want that damn Crane up now or soon anyway, but I think that The Remaining part of Santas is on the area where Stage 2 is or it could have something to do with the Buildings next door.

[Wezza]

^ It just looks wierd. I'm guessing maybe something to do with the buildings next door. Can't think of why else they would leave it there when the rest of the place is gone.

[Gertzy]

But otherwise that, Stage 1 can still go ahead though, but just probably minor starting works though as they'd have to get rid of The rest of Santas if they want to start the major work without Structual Damage to the Construction due to the rubble and even to get it down as well.

[Gertzy]

It looks like they've knocked down the old rear entrance, but It was Night Time when I saw it so, Its probably still there I guess, Don't Know.

[Oriolus]

^^Not yet. There was an explanation of why in the Townsville Bulletin today. The article also mentions that there will be TWO towers cranes on site because they are bringing forward the Walker tower. Construction is now on hold for the time being and will recommence in about a month I guess, since thats when the first crane, the hammerhead, is supposed to go up. Is there room for two hammerheads though, that could get messy?

http://townsvillebulletin.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,7034,16440196%255E14790,00.html
THERE has been some scratching of heads and many theories ventured as to why the demolition crew left behind a small portion of the old Coles building in Sturt St.

The Coles building is the site for the Hedley Group's T1 twin-tower residential and commercial project and much of the area has been cleared in readiness for a start to construction - except a small part in the corner.

Hedley development manager David Row said the reason that section of the building had been kept was because it contained an electricity sub-station on the first floor above what had once been the supermarket's loading dock. In their wisdom, electricity authorities used the sub-station to supply power to city areas.

"If we knocked it down, we'd have a few disgruntled people in the business community," Mr Row said.
"I can assure you it is to everyone's benefit that it stays there." That is, at least, until Hedleys builds a new sub-station and Ergon Energy installs a transformer.

MEANWHILE, the development site is set to be quite a sight when two tower cranes are erected. The first is expected to go up in about a month for work on the 18-level, 53-unit tower facing Sturt St.

Mr Row said Hedleys had decided to bring forward construction of the second stage 20-level, 97-unit tower and so would need a second tower crane.

Much of stage one, effectively, has been sold. Mr Row said any marketing launch would be 'low-key'. "We have expressions of interest on just about everything in (stage one) at this stage, so we don't need to go out there with anything more intensive," he said.

[Wezza]

^ Interesting, at least that has shed a bit of light on the matter! :) And at least now we have an idea when construction is to be in full swing. Thanks Oriolus.

[Gertzy]

Yeah, good news about the two cranes and the second tower being moved forward, I don't even think that they'll even be able to put one favco and a hammerhead together, maybe they'll have to reconfigure it, or just figure out whether they'll be needing two Favs in or what, or they could be able to put one on each side, like one on sturt and on on walker and one of them could be higher, and the lower one could probably just fit between the second one and so on, but they'd probably figure it out.

[Wezza]

They had 2 Favcos on Aurora in Brisbane at one stage!!

[Gertzy]

They had two Favcos at Aurora in late 2003, when the project started, but I don't know why they didn't keep two in the first place, well one reason being the boom of the favco there already but so on.

[Oriolus]

Two Favco's isn't a problem, heaps of towers have multiple Favco's, but we know one of them is a hammerhead, because the pieces are already on site.

Here's the site from Castle Hill on Saturday - a bobcat & a backhoe are doing something.

http://img369.imageshack.us/img369/164/1004456s9ii.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Oriolus]

Looks like erection of the crane is imminent!! Passing the site yesterday morning I noticed what looked like a little cement platform underconstruction near the front of the site - probably the base for the hammerhead.

[Gertzy]

Cool, I might be going to the city soon, so i'll see for myself and reply back back whether if I think its for something else, and i'll reply if it is or not.

[Oriolus]

I got around to redrawing the T1 diagrams today (until now they were from the old design). Anyway I think the new design may be a bit taller. When I drew all the floors as per the plans there just wasn't enough space to fit the roof features so I had to extend the height a bit. I think the new roof feature is about 3m taller than the old roof feature, meaning T1 Walker is now estimated 68m and T1 Sturt is 62m. Have a look (compared to Holiday Inn):

http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/2224/t1holinn7jf.png (http://imageshack.us)

[Gertzy]

I think, that Walker Tower may look taller than Holiday Inn anyway as being elevated a bit more higher on ground than holiday inn and so on.

[Wezza]

Nice drawings Oriolus.

[Oriolus]

Piccy of the crane base:
http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/3617/1004623s5oj.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Wezza]

Oooh exciting times just around the corner by the looks!! :) Thanks for the pic Oriolus.

[Gertzy]

Have they knocked down the last bit yet, been in the Atherton Tablelands for a few days.

[Wezza]

Not sure, don't think so though.

Hey Oriolus, are you going to update the heights on the thread title?

[Oriolus]

Ah, yeh will do Wezza.

I had a dream last night that the T1 crane started going up. There were a couple of tower sections in place up to about 15m or so, all yellow, lol.

[Gertzy]

Ohhh, I thought that the crane was being put up, but it was your dream, I was gonna say.

Last night, I had a dream where I was the CEO of Qantas and I made Townsville a Mini-Hub, with 9 flights a day to Brisbane, 4 flights to Sydney, and 2 to Melbourne, and Jetstar had around 4 to BNE, 2 to Sydney and 1 to Melbourne, and Qantas paid for an Upgrade to to Townsville Airport where there would be 8 aerobridges in the Domestic Part and 2 in the International, with space for 10, and I ordered 30 787's and told Australian that I'd give em 10 767's if they flew Townsville - Singapore, Direct and flew to H.K as well.
That is a dream of mine, but not to do all that stuff.

[Gertzy]

They have really started going there on site, there was a mobile crane there and it was putting in those workbooth thingys at the back of the site, and there seems to be a bit of Bricklaying work going on there.

[Wezza]

**BIG NEWS**

The crane was going up today. The base is a mix of black and yellow.

You'd be excited huh Gertzy?? :)

[Gertzy]

Bloody Hell, you know it Wez, I'll be in the CBD Tommorrow, so i'll try and sneak my Camera through School and Take snaps of the Crane, Mint and so on.

[Wezza]

Sounds good.

[Oriolus]

Awesome, I'll be in the city on Friday probably, can't wait to see it.

Hopefully construction of the Sturt St tower itself will now begin - the tallest building to begin construction in Townsville since 1974!!!

Bring on the bananas :)

:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

[Gertzy]

I say atm its around 30m high and I think thats as high as it'll go for now and it'll assemble the other crane in another few months or and it'll progressively rise I guess, namely because the base parts have been used up already, and the only parts there are boom parts
Its the same type of model used on Piermonde and Currently Axis, you can tell when you stand on Sturt street next to it.
And I think where this ones located, It'll be able to fit another Hammerhead on site.

[Oriolus]

Taken this morning:
http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/918/t19ww.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

The crane looks kind of funny with no boom.

[Wezza]

LOL

I must have logged on not long after you Oriolus. I saw your earlier posts on Ibis etc, so i hung around to see your pics of this! :D

[Gertzy]

And it may even have a short boom to accomodate another hammerhead, that could go taller, the base is probably just taller than Mint's crane base I'd say, hard to tell.

[Oriolus]

Cranes popping up everywhere (http://townsvillebulletin.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,7034,16851860%255E14787,00.html) - Townsville Bulletin 8/10/05

Cranes popping up everywhere
By TONY RAGGATT
08oct05
IF cranes on the skyline are the beacons of economic progress, Townsville's are burning brightest of all.

That's because the tower crane going up on the site of the Hedley Group's T1 twin tower project in Sturt St will be among the highest free-standing tower cranes in the country.

And when construction on the second tower begins there will be two of them, both 50m high with booms 48.3m long and capable of lifting 3.4 tonnes at the end of the arm.

"They are big cranes ... some of the largest free-standing cranes in the country," site supervisor Jason Teunis said yesterday.

They'd need to be. T1, rising to 70m, will be the tallest residential building in North Queensland.

Construction crews began assembling the first tower this week.

It has an 80-tonne concrete base attached to heavily reinforced concrete pylons embedded 6m into the ground.

Hedley development manager David Row said the boom was expected to be in place in a few weeks.

Workers have completed more than 200 piles for the first tower and are now working on footings and foundations.

Mr Row said the company was looking to pour the building's ground floor slab in about a month.

"At that time you'll start to see the building come out of the ground," he said.

The first tower will have shops and parking on the ground floor, parking on the second and third levels and 15 levels of 53 apartments.

"We have expressions of interest on virtually every apartment . . . but there are still a couple available," Mr Row said.

"At this stage we are proceeding with the design for the second tower (to face Walker St) and expect to lodge plans with the council within the next two months."

The second tower in T1 will comprise 20 levels of 97 units.

Construction of the first tower is expected to take 18 months and, depending on the timing for the second, the project could take about 2 1/2 years.

The construction workforce will peak at about 200.

Mr Row said demand for units remained strong.

Its five and six-level 55-apartment project Sanctuary on Flinders had sold out.

That project would be completed in the next couple of weeks and its first residents would start moving in at the end of the month.

So another few weeks until the crane gets a boom and about a month until the tower starts rising.

[Malt]

w00t.

I missed something.. I thought both towers were designed and approved..

[Oriolus]

Well correct me if I'm wrong but I think there are two types of approval aren't there?? - first development approval than building approval. I think maybe they have development approval they just need to get building approval. That's all I can think of because TCC has definately approved both towers at their current height.

And I'm pretty sure both towers are going to have the same design, although the Walker St tower isn't shown in the new render like it was in the old render.

[Gertzy]

How tall would anyone say that crane base is, I reckon 40m or so, but possibly not that big either, maybe 35m, with a boom of 48.3m, that'll easily accomodate two hammerheads (with 48.3m booms) definetly.

[Oriolus]

I'm not sure how high it is now but....
And when construction on the second tower begins there will be two of them, both 50m highumm, that isn't high enough!!!! The buildings are 62 & 68m. Be interesting to see if the crane has a climbing frame when it's completed.

[Gertzy]

I say that'll be how it is going to be, just keep doing a bunch of Crane rises till its done I guess.

[Oriolus]

Taken today:

Look at all that stuff!! :)
http://img486.imageshack.us/img486/9186/1004937s1ol.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Wezza]

Thats a nice clear pic!! They certainly have got a bit of equipment on site now.

[Gertzy]

Geez, that is a nice heap of Equiptment, when are they gonna start assembling the boom.

[Oriolus]

Funky Fact For Today: T1 Sturt is the 50th tallest building under construction in Australia right now. :)

[Gertzy]

Thats an alright Figure for our City, Wonder what the Dalgety would come if that were UC at the moment. Now, Whens the boom coming on.

[Oriolus]

Staggering blunder from Citylife magazine, posted by Wezza in the Altitude thread.
They say that the tallest residential towers in Queensland are going to soon be in Townsville. LOL. The tallest residential building in Queensland would by default be the tallest residential building in the world. But sadly T1 (and definately Altitude) will be just a little shorter than Q1.

http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/416/q1t11za.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

They must mean North Queensland

[Gertzy]

They must mean that, because, I don't even think it'll be in the top 50 tallest resi buildings in Queensland. And you can see a BIG difference between the heights of Q1 and T1.

[Wezza]

Lol @ Oriolus. Q1, T1 all the same.......... :lol:

[Oriolus]

As of yesterday the crane still doesn't have a boom. Work is still progressing on the foundations. The biggest change is that hoardings are going up along Sturt St.

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/726/t1hoardings4an.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Gertzy]

Thats started to make it look like a bit of what construction looks like down south.

[Oriolus]

I thought I'd do regularly updated diagrams for T1. It hasn't actually started rising yet but here's the first one showing the crane tower and the hoarding. I estimated the crane tower was about 30m.

http://img491.imageshack.us/img491/4231/t1sturtuc7xf.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Wezza]

^^
The crane base is roughly the same height as the T&G clock tower atm.

[Gertzy]

When is the boom coming on, wanna see the boom up, or at least the crane rise up to 50m.

[Wezza]

The crane is compete now. The rest of it went up today.

[Gertzy]

Hopefully you aren't trying to piss me off Wezza, Are you serious, even the boom.

[Wezza]

^^
Yes the crane is 100% complete!! I saw them hoisting the boom up this morning. Then this afternoon i saw the crane in action!! :)

[Gertzy]

Okay, sorry about that, have they put the height up or is the height still the same.

[Oriolus]

Behold Gertzy, it's true:

http://img472.imageshack.us/img472/7225/t1crane19ms.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/306/1005152s6wr.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

They didn't add any more tower pieces. Looks very impressive. As for the building it self, work is continuing on the foundations.

:banana:

[Oriolus]

Here's a new version of the diagram.

http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/596/t1sturtuc2kl.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Gertzy]

So I take it from that Diagram, its around 40m tall.

[Oriolus]

The measurments of the crane were in the TB article of a couple of weeks ago but I couldn't find it when I was doing the drawing. I'll have to update it. But I'm not sure wether 50m is the height of the boom or the tip.
And when construction on the second tower begins there will be two of them, both 50m high with booms 48.3m long and capable of lifting 3.4 tonnes at the end of the arm.

Article from Townsville Bulletin yesterday - located here (http://townsvillebulletin.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,7034,17216084%255E14790,00.html)

20-storey tower for city skyline
By TONY RAGGATT
12nov05
http://img325.imageshack.us/img325/1929/t1cranebully8ew.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
ANOTHER tower crane went up on Townsville's CBD skyline this week with the assembly of the boom for the crane at the Hedley Group's T1 project in Sturt St.

T1, rising to 70m, will comprise two towers - one to 18 storeys and the other to 20 storeys. It will be the tallest residential building in North Queensland - at least until another proposed 20-level CBD residential tower, The Dalgety, gets off the ground. A 16-level residential tower, Altitude, is proposed for Walker St.

T1's first tower will have shops and parking on the ground floor, parking on the second and third levels and 15 levels of 53 apartments. The second tower will comprise 20 levels of 97 units.

Hedley development manager David Row said the company had gone to contract with a number of unit buyers in T1. "We are signing contracts and the development is selling extremely well," Mr Row said. Prices for standard units ranged from $400,000 to about $700,000. Penthouse prices ranged from $1.8 million up to lofty $3 million

[Gertzy]

I was going to say about that article in my last post but didn't bother, its abit unusual to see you on here on a sunday.

[Gertzy]

I would never operate a Black Hammerhead or Favco with out Air-Con in the Cab, which is the case in all which is a good thing.

[Gertzy]

Saw it this Evening when my family went out for tea, driving over the Tom Aitken Overpass, this Crane is already making an Impact on the Skyline Already. Quite Tall for Townsville.

[Oriolus]

^^It does look impressive from Tom Aitken overpass. I wonder how many ordinary folk are noticing it's presence. Some people I talk to don't even know what's going up there because there's no renders of T1 on the site. They're impressed to find out it's twin towers up to 20 storeys. And those that do know about it are suprised that it's actually going ahead.

So I updated the diagram to make the crane 50m to tip and with a boom of total length 48.3m (I'm not sure wether that's meant to include both ends of the boom but I did)

http://img320.imageshack.us/img320/5636/t1sturtuc3xt.png (http://imageshack.us)

[Wezza]

I heard someone talking about the new crane in the city today actually. My ears pricked up!! lol

[GoTroppo]

Is the height right for the Crane? I had a good look at it today and it's certainly not higher than the Suncorp Building (so what's that, 10-12 floors) so if T1 is 18 floors, we're still a long way from the top?

Perhaps the measurements given are meant to be for the final height, although I'm not sure how this one would lift up on itself? Perhaps it's just the starter crane ahead of the construction one to be built later on?

I know these things can lift themselves higher, but those that I've seen have had completely different rigs beneath them - anyone have any ideas?

[Oriolus]

Suncorp Plaza is 55 metres so it's possible the crane could be 50 metres.

But yeah your right. If both cranes are going to be 50m, it doesn't matter what part of the crane the 50m refers to, they aren't tall enough to complete either tower. It seems as though one or both is going to need a climbing frame at some stage. Be very interesting to see what happens as time progresses.

[Gertzy]

In the city this arve, looking at the t1 one crane and Suncorp Plaza, you could tell, that the t1 crane is about somewhere between 40 to 50m.

[Gertzy]

When i was in the city, Sunday Arve, driving over Tom Aitken Overpass there and it was awesome, both the T1 and Mint cranes where pointing in the same direction like it was a sign of something.

[GoTroppo]

This is probably more appropriate for the Sticky on Townsville Building Diagrams (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=124992) but as the inspiration was T1...

As I was driving into town this morning, it dawned on me how T1 et al are likely to change the urban landscape of the city. For example, coming up Sturt Street from Ingham Road, you can see the top of the Sugar Shaker over the top of the cutting. Then it dawned on me, with the height of T1 and its elevated based, it's really going to stand out from any direction.

So, I was wondering (assuming we've all got lots of spare time) what it would be like to take various shots from around different angles coming into the city and superimpose the diagrams that Oriolus has done onto the landscape.

I'll see what I can muster up in coming days.

[Oriolus]

^^Good luck GoTroppo. I'm no good at that stuff. Here's little pano I knocked up just now (just with T1 Sturt).

http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/1747/t1pano2qo.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

But T1 sure is going to have a massive impact on the skyline. There'll be so many places you'll be able to see it from, even out in the suburbs. You can see Holiday Inn driving along Hugh St at Gill Park so T1 might be visible from there as well. And coming into the city from Charters Towers Rd/ Sturt st for sure.

[Gertzy]

Shouldn't it be a little bit more to the right side of the Sugar Shaker. Good Pano though.

[Oriolus]

^^Yeh, I think you're right Gertzy. And the render has a wrong perspective for that photo. Maybe I should have used my diagram. I think that's actually what you were suggesting isn't it GoTroppo?

Anyway I used my diagrams to make this - a diagram of the RL's of T1 & Holiday Inn. Because it's RL that matters when you're looking at the skyline. I had to estimate HI's RL but T1 Walker's spire must be almost as high as it.

http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/3444/t1rlcomparison8gc.png (http://imageshack.us)

[Gertzy]

I thought T1 Walker was going to look taller than Holiday Inn anyway, being located on walker street anyway.

[Oriolus]

Construction pic taken yesterday from the steps of Commonwealth Centre. There's a little wall and some columns taking shape on the right.

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/7404/1005312s2ye.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Oriolus]

To mark the start of construction on T1, I've started a thread in the main forum - T1 - Townsville's boom begins! (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=287683). Although that might be a bit optimistic, more like Townsville's boom ends :)

I posted this in the crane thread, I'll chuck it in here as well.
http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/944/1005257s3hu.jpg

[surfers]

This place is so nice!!! - What's the population for Townsville? I got to check this place out next time i'm up there!!! i think the building would fit great!!!

[Gertzy]

That last pic should go in the Townsville Photos Thread. Have you taken a pic of the CBD yet from Tom Aitken Overpass. But that last pic is very good, where exactly did you take it from.

Surfers, the Population of Townsville last time I checked was around 155,000 people.

[Oriolus]

Have you taken a pic of the CBD yet from Tom Aitken Overpass. But that last pic is very good, where exactly did you take it from.That close up of the crane was taken from Victoria Bridge. I did get over to Tom Atkins overpass - see the Mint thread. Here's a little pic comparing the T1 crane to Suncorp Plaza
http://img345.imageshack.us/img345/8507/t1skyline6ls.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

This place is so nice!!! - What's the population for Townsville? I got to check this place out next time i'm up there!!! i think the building would fit great!!!It sure will surfers. And what Gertzy said for population. I usually say 156 000.

[Gertzy]

You can see that it is yes, just below Suncorp pretty much. I'd rather see a hammerhead and a favco working on T1, not two Liebherr Hammerheads, but that'll still make a great site, like Harbour lights did for Cairns.

[GoTroppo]

^^I think that's actually what you were suggesting isn't it GoTroppo?Actually, the way you've shown it looked perfect - an overlay of the proposed structure on a picture of city skyline (as it looks today). :)

Mind you, it's by no means an easy task as we're adding perspective to what are normally 2D representations...

I had hoped to work on a mock over the week-end but time didn't allow - so it was great to see Oriolus' image today...

[Oriolus]

I had another go at putting T1 in the skyline, with average results (and of course the tower doesn't even face that way). Here it is anyway:

http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/4346/t1pano26vt.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Gertzy]

That is good but maybw that might've been the one for the 3D render you put in the last mock up, but still good anyway.

[GoTroppo]

I had another go at putting T1 in the skyline, with average resultsI love it - now, how many more can we fit in here?

[Gertzy]

You should do one with all the Projects and place it in the Townsville Projects Thread. Be cool to see something like that, or a Model of the CBD with all the Proposed buildings in the Skyline.

[Oriolus]

This really is a massive project for Townsville - you get that impression if you stacked them on top of each other to make one 38 storey building.

http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/2600/t1stacked1lh.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Wow. I'd much rather them as twins though, that's just too much.

[Gertzy]

Actually I never thought of it that way, stacking the two together that is. Be bloody Huge Though.

[Gertzy]

Here's some pics of the T1 crane I took yesterday Arvo, really Crap but I'd thought I'd share :).

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d42/Doongie90/100_1288.jpg
I took this one from Wollies, The best out of the two I took

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d42/Doongie90/100_1289.jpg
This one is Alright but its kinda Crap, didn't get the whole Crane in and the Light Poll is in the way.

Enjoy.

[Oriolus]

Nice work Gertzy. What's that on the left of your first pic?

I wonder if Hedley is going to post construction photos on it's website for T1 (http://www.twhedley.com.au/t1.html). It never did with Sanctuary. Seems to be only the Cairns projects...

[Gertzy]

The Awning of Citypoint Centre, I took it from the Ramp there, so yeah.

I reckon that if this is Hedley's biggest project ever, then I think they will at least take the liberty of at least putting a few Construction pics.

[Gertzy]

This really is a massive project for Townsville - you get that impression if you stacked them on top of each other to make one 38 storey building.

Actually, I wouldn't mind a 130m tall building in our CBD, If its Residential, I rather another Building design than that though, but any Commercial building Design would do nicely

[Oriolus]

It's still not rising!! What the hell are they doing? :)

taken 6/1/06 from Bendigo Bank carpark
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/3281/t1jan6nj.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Wezza]

We're getting impatient aren't we?? Lol Can't wait to see it rising above the surrounding buildings, then it will be getting exciting. :)

[Gertzy]

I Think that they are just doing some prep work and they still gotta demo the old bit of Santas Foodland's Delivery Ramp.

[Oriolus]

There's a couple more columns rising up but otherwise still no signifcant (visible)progress.

Taken yesterday (30/1/06)

http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/599/1006131s0ve.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Wezza]

Seems to be painfully slow progress huh? Hopefully when the podium is constructed, the tower will go up alot quicker.

[Gertzy]

Thats what happened with Piermonde, It was slow putting the podium up, but after it was done, it pretty much went as fast as a floor a Month or so.

[Gertzy]

I went to Reef HQ today on a Biology Excursion and when the school bus went by T1, I was very surprised to hear someone say "look at that bloody thing" noticing the Crane as we drove by, and even funnier it wasn't a kid that you think wouldn't even care about cranes, construction or Architechture, a member of Iggy's prestigius "Rugby League Players" (Meats) group, to be exact.

Though overall, even though the crane moved a fair bit after driving by to and from reef HQ, Construction is going slack.

[Oriolus]

Getting there...

Construction update from yesterday:
http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/8504/t1feb9he.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[TomA4]

I went to Reef HQ today on a Biology Excursion and when the school bus went by T1, I was very surprised to hear someone say "look at that bloody thing" noticing the Crane as we drove by, and even funnier it wasn't a kid that you think wouldn't even care about cranes, construction or Architechture, a member of Iggy's prestigius "Rugby League Players" (Meats) group, to be exact.

Though overall, even though the crane moved a fair bit after driving by to and from reef HQ, Construction is going slack.

Ah yes the iggy meats.... thats something they would say. Fortuantely we dont have many meats at grammar

[Gertzy]

Welcome to the forums TomA4, I take it with that last post, you go to Grammer Right.

[TomA4]

yep and i take it your at iggy?

[Gertzy]

Yeah, Not wrong about that :).

[Oriolus]

Aerial of the site from the Townsville Bulletin (from this (http://townsvillebulletin.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,7034,18383983%255E14790,00.html) article about rising construction costs) - taken from the cranes basket I presume. You can see that some of the floor slab as finally been poured.

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/7915/t1aerial9qj.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Jeffro]

It's great to see the project moving ahead. When you look at it, you can now see the footprint of the building with the cement block wall that has been constructed. You can now see the space where T2 will be as well.

I'm still not sure why they didn't knock that little bit of old building down. Maybe to house a generator or something?

[Wezza]

^^
It was mentioned in this thread earlier. Apparently there is a sub station in there. It will moved into the new complex later on & then the old section of Santas Foodtown can finally be knocked down. :)

[Oriolus]

Jeffro, I could be wrong but I've always assumed that the whole complex will be known as T1, rather than the Sturt tower being T1 and the Walker tower being T2. Certainly the media has often refered to the "T1 twin towers" although now that I think about it seems likely that the Walker tower might be T2 - the Hedley website certainly only talks about T1 as a singular building.

Incidentally there was a job ad in the Bulletin yesterday from Hedley for tradesmen to fit out the apartments in T1, although, and I'd never seen this before, it refered to it as "Townsville One"

[Gertzy]

^^ My Inference was that it was called T1 to actually go in the trend of like Q1 and so on, meaning Townsville One.

[Jeffro]

I just assumed the first tower was T1 and the second T2, meaning Tower 1 & 2. I didn't think of Townsville 1. :doh:

[Oriolus]

I'd always assumed it was Townsville One, but it was just never said. Like you never hear anyone call Q1 Queensland One but that's obviously what it stands for.

Have a look at this:T1 Paris (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=184608) :)

http://ladefense.free.fr/t1/t1-04.jpg

[Jeffro]

That's a good looking tower. Although when I think of Paris I don't think of huge towers. Unless you are talking about the Effile Tower.

[Gertzy]

Wow, a nice and glassy tower that one.

[Oriolus]

From the reservoir above Walker St:

http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/1788/1006936s2wu.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Gertzy]

Thats a great Photo :), its showing that T1 is "Sizing up to Suncorp" and soon, to most of the others around town.

[Oriolus]

T1 still hasn't started rising but its already clear that Hedley is going to be using the "country bumpkin" method of construction rather than the "big city" method :) T1 isn't going to have a core like most buildings down south or use slip form construction like Aurora or Circle on Cavill. And it's certainly not going to be a steel frame. It looks like most of T1 will be built using individual cinder blocks. I've never seen any buildings down south like that. I just want to know why??????

On another note, there is now some advertising on the hoardings:
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/3474/1007047s9ng.jpg (http://imageshack.us)