MELBOURNE | Projects & Construction

[tiggy014]

0.

[Jack Daniel]

Construction update

Northbank Place


From left to right...
Crown hotel u/c, vue grande (recently completed), 109 Clarendon u/c
image hosted on flickr


Atlantis u/c

image hosted on flickr


left to right
Myer HQ u/c, ANZ HQ u/c

[Jack Daniel]

Melbourne

Future Swanston Academic Building (RMIT Uni)

image hosted on flickr

viewed next to Oxford Scholar Hotel

image hosted on flickr

Viewed from CUB site

image hosted on flickr

Stewart Street - Swanston Academic Building rear view


image hosted on flickr

Entrance Swanston

image hosted on flickr

Entrance

image hosted on flickr

Interior

image hosted on flickr

Future Swanston Academic Building Level 9

Design Hub

image hosted on flickr


Design Hub facade in wind tunnel

image hosted on flickr


Design Hub cells

image hosted on flickr


Source rmit_uni, flickr

[dajumper]

looks exciting!

[silvermb]

time for an update

convesso concavo - docklands - 90 + 100m


vantage 360 - southbank - 122m


65 kings way - southbank - 140m


350 william - cbd - 177m


tiara - southbank - 107m


windsor hotel - cbd - 90m


capotol - south yarra - 132m


82 collins st - cbd - 196m + 90m




399 bourke st - cbd - 204m




502 elizabeth st - cbd -202m


70 southbank boulevard - southbank - 208m

[Cariad]

The RMIT proposal looks terrible (to me)! The view from the CUB makes it look like the a future "ugliest building" for Melbourne. My opinion is that RMIT and Melbourne could do much better! Love the rest though.

[Manoj Gewali]

hi.............i must say its a fabulous compilation of the construction projects. Would it be possible to have some more information such as which projects are already approved for Cogeneration/trigeneration (in house power generation using gas turbines/gas engines etc.) or are planning to go ahead with cogeneration/trigeneration for power and HVAC requirements of these buildings?

[mvictory]

I havent heard anything about 399 bourke or 70 southbank blvd for a while. are they still going ahead?

[Jack Daniel]

9-11 Exploration lane (residential)

30 storeys



720 Bourke Street



originally posted by Archi, skyscrapercity

Construction updates

A’Beckett Tower > 103m / 32L / Resi

image hosted on flickr

taken by me

taken by silvermb, skyscrapercity

Southbank One> 122m / 37L / Resi

image hosted on flickr

staffh, flickr

melbournee12, skyscrapercity

717
image hosted on flickr

londoner, skyscrapercity

melbournee12, skyscrapercity

[Solopop]

LOOKING GOOD!

Melbourne has some of the greatest designs in the world.

[vic2010]

WERRIBEE Open Range Zoo opened to the public 25 years ago. Back then it was a much simpler operation: a guided tour of bison, deer, ostriches, kangaroos and rhinoceroses. Twelve years ago, it relaunched itself with themed attractions and a much broader range of interests for the visitor, such as an African Walking Trail and a Savannah Discovery Centre. Over the next decade it kept improving and expanding with, for example, a Volcanic Plains Walk, more rhinos (incorporating a successful breeding program), Slumber Safaris, the Lions on the Edge program and the Kubu River Hippos program.

The zoo says more than 2.5 million people have visited it. This would seem an impressive number, until a third party suggests that more than 1 million people could visit each year if a certain course of action were taken.

That course of action is to expand the open range zoo into a theme park. Entertainment goliath Village Roadshow proposes a $220 million makeover within the zoo's grounds. The amusement park, over 40 hectares, would be known as the African Safari Park and would have the biggest roller-coaster in Australia, among other rides, and attractions such as an animal tour to be called the Serengeti Safari, a theatre, and a wildlife education and conservation centre.

Village believes the African Safari Park, which it says would rival Disney's Animal Kingdom in Florida, could attract 1.3 million visitors a year, making it the state's biggest tourist drawcard. The company, which started life in Melbourne as the operator of a drive-in theatre in Croydon in 1954, has experience in operating theme parks. It operates several on the Gold Coast, including Sea World, Wet 'n' Wild and Movie World. The parks are magnets for tourists. The Victorian Government, in welcoming Village Roadshow's proposal for Werribee, hopes that that attraction may reverse polarity and lead to an influx of people to this state and Melbourne.

Certainly on figures from Tourism Victoria, something is needed to build visitor numbers. From 1999 to 2007, "interstate visitor nights" spent in Melbourne grew only 1.4% annually. The statewide figure was 1.5%. For the year ending December 2007, domestic visitor numbers to and within this state fell 0.1%. Melbourne had 6.5 million domestic overnight visitors in the year to December, which was a fall of 1.7% on the previous year. Parts of regional Victoria registered increased tourist numbers, but the figures point to little growth verging on stagnation. That being so, it is easy to understand the enthusiasm of the Tourism Minister, Tim Holding, for the Werribee plan — "a fantastic proposal". Mr Holding spoke of concerns that "without a theme park here in Victoria, we are losing visitors".



The other side of the coin to the theme park is the actual reason for its mooting: the animals. Village's zoologist, Trevor Long, says the entertainment aspect of the park will be sited away from the animals. Indeed, Village's managing director, Graham Burke, says the company has no plans to buy the zoo's animals. This is a welcome notice of intention. Zoos Victoria's chairman, Andrew Fairley, on Sunday was forthright in defending Werribee Zoo's stewardship of the animals. As to a takeover of the zoo, "we would not be prepared to acknowledge that that had any merit whatsoever". By yesterday, Mr Fairley was "comfortable in working with Village in putting a theme park in", but he indicated the welfare of the animals was the zoo's responsibility. This is right and sensible. There is a world of difference in operating a theme park and running a zoo. The two concepts do not need to be mutually exclusive, but there does need to be clear delineation between what constitutes the entertainment of people and the conservation of animals.

This issue was visited earlier this year in a series of articles The Age published into allegations af animal abuse and neglect at Melbourne's zoos. A former curator at Melbourne Zoo, Peter Stroud, said at the time: "In reality, all the resources go into the human experience at the expense of the animals." It was the "Disney" effect, he said. As The Age commented in an editorial, it was a question of balance. If the Werribee theme park is established, the animals must be looked after to a standard as high as anywhere in the world. Their needs must not be overshadowed by the need to build the fastest, most thrilling roller-coaster ride in the country.

If the park is built and operated with regard to the needs of both animal welfare and entertainment, Victoria has the chance to draw huge numbers of tourists. Werribee could become a big game attraction.
-----------------------

Does anyone know about what's happening with the Theme Park there going to build in the west of Melbourne in the suburb of Werribee, ????????

[Solopop]

That sounds cool.

I realy want Melbourne Zoo redone.

[kichigai]

Re: Open Range Zoo. It's not happening.

[johnny_machine]

God, I <3 Melbourne. The city really is growing at an impressive rate!

Any recent updates on 567 Collins and 560 Flinders? I don't remember them particularly well.

[Jack Daniel]

Construction update

A'beckett



by me

Triptych

[Will737]

There some new renders for some of Melbourne's 200m+ proposals:

Originally Posted by Grollo

Originally Posted by kichigai

http://www.theage.com.au/business/so...905-14vzq.html



Southbank high-rise gets OK from VCAT

THE way has been cleared for a 226-metre, $400 million Southbank tower by noted architects Fender Katsalidis after the City of Melbourne lost a legal battle with the state government.

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) has rejected an appeal by the city council against the government's decision in April to grant the tower a permit. The 72-storey building will be built on the corner of City Road and Southbank Boulevard.

The council had argued that the tower dramatically broke what it regarded as the 100-metre height limit in the current planning scheme - and in the council's proposed Southbank structure plan - for that part of Southbank.

However, VCAT found that the design overlay did not specify a maximum height or preferred maximum height. The approval of earlier planning amendment C122 had ''effectively made 100 metres the threshold for the consideration of height in this location''. The proposal achieved the design objectives of the policy, it said, and was an example of exemplary architecture.

The chairman of the council's Future Melbourne (Planning) Committee, Cr Peter Clarke, said the proposed development failed to meet the objectives and requirements of the Melbourne planning scheme.

"The appeal to VCAT was lodged because we believe the development is excessive in both height and bulk," Cr Clarke said. ''It has excessive building bulk, inadequate separation from other towers nearby and relative to future developments, and potential for adverse wind effects.''

Cr Clarke said the council generally supported the architectural quality of the proposal, but the height was more than double the discretionary height limit.

The building will include 532 apartments, six levels of office space, a fresh food market, cafe/restaurant, car and bicycle parking as well as several ground floor retail shops. At 226.4 metres, 70 Southbank Boulevard is a little shorter than its neighbour Eureka Tower, which has 92 floors and is 300 metres high.

Two of the development partners are Benni Aroni, director of Stralliance Developments, and Nonda Katsalidis of Fender Katsalidis Architects, both of whom worked on the award-winning Eureka Tower. The third partner is Adrian Valmorbida Group.

Mr Aroni said Southbank needed a quality fresh food market. One innovative design feature was a vertical garden of living foliage, designed by Steve Calhoun of Tract, that would be installed over the car-parking levels, he said. VCAT said the design element provided a welcome green space in Southbank.

VCAT's decision casts a shadow over Melbourne City Council's structure plan for Southbank - developed because the council fears growth patterns threaten to turn the precinct into a skyscraper jungle like Hong Kong.

The structure plan divides the precinct into seven sections with different height maximums, ranging from 160 metres directly on the south bank of the Yarra, to 100, 60, 40 and 24 metres. However, the state government can overrule the plan through its power to approve buildings of more than 25,000 square metres.

The council envisages a range of zoning changes to give planning flexibility to enable the establishment of shops, services and entertainment, and more ''street life''. It will meet later this month to finalise the structure plan.

[QUOTE=Grollo;61967113]

Prima tower has been re-named Pearl tower:

Originally Posted by silvermb

it goes well, although the podium needs some help. im intrigued the architect faced the precast section toward the city though - as some kind of feature?

Originally Posted by fredstolle

A new tower has been proposed since this was last updated: 518 Collins st:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...130541&page=15

Originally Posted by Grollo

Plenty more renders in its specific thread.

[linum]

The development in Melbs is putting Sydney to shame!

[nameless dude]

Don't worry, Sydney's boom time is just ahead of us, just like Melbourne's. Check out the Sydney thread. Only problem is doesn't seem to be getting the height of some of the Melbourne proposals (Carlton Brewery site I'm pointing at)

[linum]

Originally Posted by nameless dude

Don't worry, Sydney's boom time is just ahead of us, just like Melbourne's. Check out the Sydney thread. Only problem is doesn't seem to be getting the height of some of the Melbourne proposals (Carlton Brewery site I'm pointing at)

They are predicting in the next 20 years Melbourne's population will grow larger than Sydney!

Melbourne currently has 4 million and Sydney has about 4.7 million ... I blame the NSW government for the lack of development and progession in NSW/Sydney.

[nameless dude]

It's more like a cycle. The two cities have been leapfrogging each other in terms of population for over a century, so who knows? Growth rates change all the time, so projections are largely inaccurate as they only show the trend with a few sets of numbers at a specific period of time. Recently, figures have shown that Sydney is on the rise again. NSW recorded the highest population growth as a state in the last quarter but again, you can't take them for granted since they change all the time.