A proposal to build the world's tallest $350 million hybrid timber tower in South Perth has been approved.
A plan to build a $350 million hybrid timber tower in South Perth, dubbed the tallest of its kind in the world, has been approved.
Victorian developer Grange Development Consulting submitted a proposal to build a 51-storey tower containing 237 apartments last year.
The project was considered at today’s Metro Inner-South Joint Development Assessment Meeting, where a discussion over the development’s alignment with design excellence dominated.
The proposal, for 4 to 8 Charles Street, sought approval under the City of South Perth’s Tier 2 planning guidelines, which have no set height limits.
In its report recommending against approval of the project, the City of South Perth stated that in its view the development did not meet design excellence and therefore could not be supported.
The City argued that the 237-apartment project did not achieve compliance with relevant state and local planning policies.
Grange’s proposal underwent several design iterations and was discussed in at least two design review panel meetings behind closed doors ahead of today’s meeting.
Grange Development Consulting founder James Dibble said the building, which would be made up of 42 per cent timber, would set the benchmark for carbon negative design.
He said just 600 seeds would be used to produce 7,400 cubic metres of mass timber, which would regrow after being used for the development.
“You can’t grow concrete,” he told the meeting.
“We are providing an open source blueprint that utilises hybrid construction methodology to offset he carbon within our built environment, which is now the single biggest contributor to climate change in the world at 39 per cent.”
He added that the development would help address critical housing shortages in Western Australia.
Mr Dibble dismissed claims the building would not meet the standards of wind mitigation and that it would sway excessively, citing structural engineering reports commissioned for the development.
“The Australian standards require that a one in 25-year wind event at the top of the building can have no greater sway than 370 millimetres; this building’s sway with a one in 25 year event is 331 milllimetres,” he said.
“We would welcome a condition from council or from the state design review panel for them to appoint a structural engineer to review our structural engineering, because we are very comfortable it satisfies those conditions.”
Project architect Elenberg Fraser noted the groundbreaking characteristics of the proposal.
“[It is] establishing an approach to mass timber at a scale that’s never been contemplated, and provides a pathway for climate positive architecture,” Elenberg Fraser Reade Dixon said.
Mr Dixon, who has been working with architects in Perth’s Cameron Chisholm Nicol on the development, said slender towers provided reduced impacts of overshadowing and deeper penetration of sunlight into the public realm.
DAP member Hassell Principal Peter Lee said in his view the development met design excellence and met global standards of sustainability.
The project was approved unanimously, but the two DAP representatives from the local council were not in attendance.
