Cbus Property has announced that SHoP Architects (New York) and Woods Bagot (Melbourne) have won the competition to design a mixed-use development at 447 Collins Street, at the intersection of Collins and William Streets in Melbourne CBD. Cbus Property is the property investment subsidiary of Cbus, a superannuation fund based in Melbourne.
The winning design, which followed a comprehensive competition process over a six-week period, will serve as a critical link in reconnecting Melbourne Central Business District to the Yarra river and South Bank.
The design competition for the site resulted in four outstanding proposals from the shortlisted architectural teams of Hassell, Bates Smart and Fender Katsalidis, each having teamed-up with an international partner.
Bounded by Collins, Market and William Streets and Flinders Lane, the unique 6,000sqm ‘island site’ is considered by many as Melbourne’s best CBD development opportunity and was acquired by Cbus Property in December 2013.
Chief Executive Officer of Cbus Property, Mr Adrian Pozzo said the company was extremely excited to be working in collaboration with the Woods Bagot + SHoP Architects team to design and ultimately develop the 'best' single site left in the Melbourne CBD into one of the most iconic developments in Australia.
The development is expected to create about 8,000 jobs within the building and construction industry and associated supply chains that employ many Cbus members.
Vishaan Chakrabarti, partner at SHoP Architects commented that the site has the potential to become a key focus of public life in Melbourne's Central Business District, as well as a new point of entry into the cross-river cultural loop.
According to Nik Karalis, Director at Woods Bagot, the 447 Collins Street development is one of the last mid-city opportunities of scale to turn on the momentum of creativity in what will be Australia’s largest mixed usage urban precinct. He adds that the 447 Collins street precinct will be an urban catalyst as it breaks through traditional concepts of the nature of Australian cities and sets new benchmarks for mixed usage development criteria.
