Located at the “Paris end” of the Melbourne CBD (due to its historic association with heritage buildings and glamorous boutiques), the 80 Collins project occupies a prime location and has transformed a site that was home to a 1970s-era, 51-storey Grade-A tower with an associated (and somewhat dilapidated) retail plaza. According to the developer, it is the largest commercial development in the Melbourne CBD in two decades.  

While the predecessor building was a classic of post-war modernist design, it featured an inefficient and unfriendly setback that is somewhat dated by modern norms. The newly-developed site therefore renovated the original building, added a new 43-storey office tower (for a total of 93,000 square metres of workspace), and created an integrated luxury retail podium built out onto the street plane, eliminating the original plaza and providing more commercial vibrancy and human scale along the street side. A boutique hotel has also been added on adjoining land.

The original tower has been extensively renovated and now features a contemporary entrance and lobby. Work was complicated by the fact that the building was already fully let and redevelopment therefore had to be completed with tenants in place.

From an engineering perspective, the new office tower was a complex build, involving 14 years of work from design to completion. Multiple global design teams were involved in creation of a faceted glass structure that cantilevers 12.5 metres over low-rise heritage buildings below. From an aesthetic point of view, the project was equally challenging, as designers grappled with the need eliminate concerns of bulking and overpowering, while retaining the distinct identity of historic street-level shops.

Large, flexible floor plates combine with multi-level connected floors to offer the ultimate in connectivity. The project also scores well in terms of sustainability, with the new tower featuring a number of Green Star and NABERS certifications. In particular, it boasts an innovative HVAC system, highly-transparent façade glazing for maximum daylight penetration, and excellent end-of-trip facilities.

The new tower also features the first use of a modern double-decker lift system in Australia, allowing use of 18 lift cars and a space-saving rationalisation of the building core.

The new site features improved pedestrian connectivity by creating a series of indoor/outdoor passageways that help to navigate both the site itself and also nearby streets. These light-filled lanes not only help address longstanding problems of permeability throughout the Melbourne city centre, but have also acted as a catalyst for more retail activation in the neighbourhood.

In fact, it is the successful relationship with its immediate environment that is one of the project’s standout features, bringing more life and energy into this area of the city. The creation of a new streetscape as a result of the elimination of the plaza is part of this. In addition, the lobby of the new building has been successfully activated. According to one juror, “every nook and cranny on the ground floor has been used for public activity” – helping to draw people to a new destination.

Beyond that, new space for retail has “allowed some of the more sophisticated retail groups residing in the city to have a better and more forthright presence with a building of quality that matches the dignity of the heritage buildings they used to be in.”

Finally, the creation of a boutique hotel fills a gap that has long existed in the area, providing still more support for the business community and local residents. Collectively, therefore, the buildings themselves may be less important than their role as an anchor for a part of the city now seeing increasing life and energy. As one juror put it, the project is “not about creating a diversity of architectural form as it is the making of a city block”.

View all thirteen winners for the 2022 ULI Asia Pacific Awards for Excellence.