Timber towers reach for the first and tallest – here’s the tally so far

Another competitor has joined the array of proposed timber towers in Australia, racing to lay claim to “the world’s tallest hybrid timber tower”. This one’s in Perth with developer Erben, previously known as Stirling Capital, planning to construct a 35-storey structure on a site on the fringe of Perth’s CBD that could claim one of the tallest, greenest, timber-ist buildings in the world.

It prompted us to take a look around at what else is happening with timber building ambitions.

The announcement of Erben’s property came not long after James Dibble and his Grange Developments put the 51-storey site at 4-8 Charles Street in South Perth on the market.

That site was slated for a $350 million carbon negative, “world’s tallest” timber tower approved in September 2023, but the project had not advanced since.

Dibble’s ambitious plans were first detailed in a presentation he made at The Fifth Estate’s Tomorrowland 2022 summit, where he revealed the immense effort he went to with highly qualified people to ensure a hugely sustainable building.

In a subsequent interview, the viability of the tower was met with much scepticism from the industry, which Dibble addressed in an interview with The Fifth Estate. He addressed the scepticism he had been forced to deal with on his plans.

In the end, the speculation is that it’s the rising development prices that forced his hand. Real estate agency JLL has been appointed to the sale, led by senior director of capital markets for WA, Nigel Freshwater and senior director Sean Flynn.

Expression of interest for the project to close this week, Friday, 27 June.

Dibble has publicly stated that the sale would include the full gamut of sustainability plans and ambitions, but JLL’s Freshwater said the development could be taken in a different direction if the buyer wanted to, but “a residential mixed-use outcome would still be ultimately delivered on the site.”

He added it was an “exceptional” opportunity as the land had “achieved the maximum plot-ratio outcome stipulated under local planning policy and is valid for several years yet.”

According to Cotality (formerly CoreLogic), the block was previously two sites, which were sold together in March 2021 for $3.85 million for both.

This leaves room for Erben’s new timber tower to lay the big claims in timber.

Its project has been recently approved by the City of Perth, and its design is for 351 build-to-rent apartments, including studios, 1 and 2 bedroom apartments, as well as 64 short stay accommodation units. The development, slated for 108 Stirling Street, is designed by architects Rothelowman, with planning and urban landscapes by Urbis.

The build will be a hybrid cross-laminated timber (CLT) construction, reinforced by a concrete core and mass timber columns and will maximise sustainable outcomes by accounting for its impact in construction, material production and transportation.

The architects said the highlight was the project’s generous urban bushland. The plan is to add 35 new native trees to the site, while protecting existing mature trees along Stirling and Aberdeen Streets to produce an urban canopy to enhance cooling.

Kylee Schoonens, principal at Rothelowman, said accessible green space was fundamental to the development.

“It’s our way of stitching this precinct into the fabric of the city, creating a natural pause point that invites people in, encourages movement, and supports a more connected, walkable Perth.”

“We’re proud to be partnering with Erben on this landmark project. It’s a meaningful contribution to Perth’s Urban Greening Strategy — expanding inner-city bushland and using low-impact materials to ensure the project treads lightly while giving back to the city.”

The building will target a 5-star Green Star with sustainability factors including rooftop PV solar panels, landscaping design to combat urban heat island effect, and be designed to encourage access to public transport, walkways and bike paths.

The development has earmarked 3000 square metres for communal amenities as well as 900 sq m of resident storage. It is expected to be completed in 2028.

Sydney is also competing for no 1

Also, in the race to become the world’s tallest – this time a hybrid timber building that will become Atlassian’s new Sydney headquarters at Central Station.

Once completed, Atlassian Central will be 42 storeys high and designed with 50 per cent less upfront embodied carbon, 50 per cent less carbon emissions over the next 10 years and operate on 100 per cent renewables with solar panels built into the facade. The development will also carefully dismantle, refurbish and reuse the original heritage building, the Parcel Shed, as its base. While more recently occupied by YHA, it was originally built to receive and dispatch parcels from Central Station between 1912 to the early 1980s.

The developers have a commitment agreement for a 5.5-star NABERS Energy rating, as well as targeting a 6-star Green Star rating.

On completion, YHA will continue to occupy the lower floors, with the capacity to house more than 450 hotel guests, while Atlassian headquarters will house more than 4000 employees.

The NSW government’s hope is for the new tech precinct to attract 25,000 workers, thanks to Atlassian being the first anchor tenant, and create 2500 additional jobs. It estimates the precinct will generate an extra one billion dollars a year for the economy.

Co-owners Dexus and Atlassian have appointed the US based SHoP Architects, as well as BVN, to lead the project’s architecture. Built in a joint venture with Obayashi JV, has also been appointed to construct the timber tower.

Halo in Sydney

While with less media attention, another Sydney project has also been quietly in the works, also trying to win the title “world’s tallest hybrid timber tower”. The $1.8 billion 55-storey timber towers, named “Halo”, are on a site amalgamated by Milligan Group, through the acquisition of more than 70 individual titles. Lendlease was expected to buy the site for $685 million last year, but the deal did not proceed. According to The AFR, a week ago, the project looked like it would now be taken over by Cbus Property.

And more around the country

In late 2023, Hines completed T3 Collingwood, a mass timber office building in Melbourne, which uses Victorian Oak sourced from sustainable Australian forests, leading to a reduction of 2850 tonnes of CO2 emissions compared to standard concrete builds.

Apart from this 18,200 sq m, 15 storey timber office building, Hines said at the time that it had a global portfolio of 25 timber assets in various development stages across North America and Europe.

Greenlister Rory Hunter, founder of Model, is amongst those in Melbourne with eyes on creating the next mass timber building, with one of these two sites revealed to be a 17 storey mass timber tower that will “re-imagine” the existing Schweppes Cordial factory.

Brisbane

Timber has also become popular in Brisbane, with the NIOA Brisbane Timber Tower, one of its earliest timber towers, completed back in April 2021.

Architect and designer Kirk Studio said it was the “first tall building to utilise CLT as the primary vertical structure”, as well as the first commercial building with a full mass engineered timber (MET) structure. The “experimental project” consisted of five floors of new office space, boardroom space, and a glazed staff courtyard to enhance the industrial precinct.

Another timber building, 25 King Street in Brisbane, was developed by Lendlease and Impact Investment Group in 2018 with Bates Smart as architects, Woods Bagot as interior architects and Aurecon as its engineers. At the time, at nine storeys, it could lay claim to being the mass engineered timber commercial building in Australia.

And with the Brisbane 2032 Games on the horizon, architects Barber Studio revealed last year that it has been appointed as the architects by the developers, Godfrey Esmonde’s Holm Developments, to build a new “expressive” five storey timber structure. The office building at 18 Racecourse Road will neighbour Hamilton Hotel, a small distance away from the proposed 2032 Athletes’ Village – which will also be constructed from mass timber.

Tasmania

Tasmania also boasts of having its own timber tower at Launceston, with the construction of St Luke’s Health’s new headquarters completed in early 2024. Architects Terroir said the ground floor was built to prioritise openness, health and wellbeing while most of the original heritage warehouse was also retained.