Hickory Group adopted a collaborative approach to overcome the challenges of a compact site during the construction of one of the tallest buildings in Melbourne CBD.
Located on a 30m by 40m site, the 69-level 224-metre tall tower at 568 Collins St presented serious challenges. Hickory worked closely on design buildability with the client, design engineers and architects, arriving at a solution that was not only viable from a cost and design perspective but also delivered a ‘transfer-free’ structure.
Comprising of 568 apartments, 12 office spaces and podium car parking, the building also offers first class amenities on level 33, including a pool, spa, sauna, gym, an entertainment room and business centre.
Several engineering innovations were implemented to ensure the stability of the tower, while six-storey perimeter safety screens were erected to allow formwork and facade installation to be safely and concurrently carried out.
For Hickory, this was the first project that utilised Sync bathroom pods. All 794 project bathrooms were manufactured offsite, complete with tiling, joinery, finishes and fittings, enabling a parallel track construction programme wherein the completed bathrooms were craned into site and simply positioned on the level entry slab and connected to services. The use of Sync bathroom pods reduced fitout cycles by up to 20% and also minimised the amount of waste generated and handled on site.
Approximately 2,500 tonnes of steel and 22,000 square metres of concrete were used in the construction, in addition to over 29,000 square metres of facade installed by Hickory’s own facade team. The project was completed in July 2015.
The building was designed by Bruce Henderson Architects for Stamoulis Property Group.
