300 George Street Site Introduction
Hello all no technical content in this blog just a quick project overview and introduction to my site, future posts will outline specific issues etc. that come up. I won’t dwell on the admin and challenges of actually getting out here suffice to say the “Beast from the East” couldn’t have chosen a less opportune time to hit the UK. My thanks to all who helped pick up the pieces of my carefully laid plans.
Location:
300 George Street is located in the heart of the Central Business District (CBD) in Brisbane Australia. It is a whole city centre block redevelopment tightly boarded by four busy lanes of traffic with the Brisbane River running just to its South West.
Figure 1 – Site Location
The project:
I am attached to Multiplex on the 300 George Street Project site in the heart of the Central Business District, Brisbane, Australia. The site is large vertically but takes up only a single city block approximately 100x80m. The project consists of a 3 floor retail/hotel podium above ground that links three separate towers; hotel; commercial; residential as shown by Figure 2&3 below.
Figure 2 – Artists impression plan view of project showing the different sectors on the final construction.
Figure 3 – Artists impression of completed structure from the corner of George & Adelaide Street. Residential tower to the left, Commercial tower to the right and Hotel tower to the rear.
Tower 1 – Hotel:
Tower one is the 34 floor luxury W Hotel complete with conference, spa and gym facilities. It is structurally complete with its final stage of E&M fit out well underway, the first levels are due to be handed over by the end of the month with the hotel set to open its doors around 1 June 2018. The internal finish is very impressive and it is clear the hotel is set to be a very high quality 5 star establishment.
Figure 4 – The inside of one of the completed “basic” rooms, curtains, lights and sound system all electronically controlled from pads set into the walls.
Figure 5 – Standard bathroom, shower and toilet to the right out of shot.
Tower 2 – Commercial:
Tower two will be a 40 floor commercial tower which will house a number of office spaces. Its superstructure is still being formed with a traditional slip formed core up to level 18 and decks to a few levels below this.
Tower 3 – Residential:
Tower three will be an 82 floor luxury residential tower however for now it is just a small concrete core barely sticking up out of the top of the podium. Work has yet to start on this tower due to the way the client has chosen to stage and let the contracts for the site. Multiplex are currently tendering for the contract to build this tower with the announcement due to be made shortly. There is clearly no guaranty they will win it and this possibility is causing some angsts due to the possibility of having to fit another primary contractor onto an already heavily congested site. Should Multiplex win the contract they are proposing a non-traditional method of construction that will supposedly see the core and decks being formed simultaneously. Figure 6 shows the current state of construction for the various areas.
Figure 6 – Construction progress as at 21/03/2018 viewed from above the corner of Adelaide Street (perpendicular to river) and George Street (parallel to river). Hotel tower complete bar cladding in the rear, Commercial tower being slip formed and decked to the right, Residential tower not yet started but the start of the core visible to the left.
Basements:
Figure 7 shows that below ground 7 levels of basement have already been completed and partially handed over. This area is comprised of car parks, hotel back of house facilities and services/plant rooms.
Figure 7 – Construction drawings showing two sections through the Podium and Basement.
Conclution:
Hopefully this has been of some interest in terms of base lining my site. I think the site is an interesting one and should provide plenty of opportunity to gain experience. I already have some ideas for future posts/AER/TMRs as time allows:
– Australian approach to H&S
– Digital document management
Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog 
Hi Ben,
I hope your settling in well in Australia.
I believe the building is attempting to achieve a 5 star Green Star Rating for sustainability. A number of new buildings around Sydney are striving to achieve a similar rating, if not 6 star which is posing many design and construction challenges. I know it maybe a bit early but have you come across any significant challenges or requirements yet? If not I’d be interested to hear about them in the future.
Hi James,
Settling in well thanks just got our shipping so boxes are everywhere but its starting to look like home.
You’re completely correct the building is going for the 5 star rating. Unfortunately the only reason I know this at the moment is because it was mentioned on the site safety brief. Unfortunately was glossed over in about 10 seconds and I have not heard mention of it since but it’s on my list of things to look into and understand. If I get some good information I’ll look at trying to blog it in the future.
Hi Ben, good intro looks like it has everything you need for a site placement.
Some more detail on tower 2 would be interesting – spans, core layout, how the climbing screens work etc
Do you have any idea why the hotel is finished first yet the resi hasn’t even started? I would have though that getting the resi completed, sold and handed over would have been a key part of the financial strategy for the project. Generally that’s the aim in the UK, in most London projects the residential covers most of the project cost leaving the hotel and commercial to give a return on the project.
Why is the core only being slipped to level 18? Changing rigs doesn’t seem logical? Multiplex own their own jump form rig company, MTech do you know if they are using it here?
For Tower 3, I’ve been to a MPX site in London where they jump the columns and core at the same time. Very efficient way to build, provided there aren’t to many changes in floor GA.
Good stuff though.
Hi Brad sorry for the delay getting back to you. I’m going to look to try and get on that tower once my current area has been handed over next month so I hope to get a post up about that in the coming months.
I haven’t been clear the core is currently up to level 18 and will continue to the top with no change. As you say this would make little sense.
I hadn’t thought of the project financials like that and it’s a good point. All I can say is that the client determined the stages of construction with the podium and hotel being the first to be completed. These are due for handover in May with year with the residential tower not before Aug 21. The client is Shayher Group who are owned by a Chinese Billionaire and I get the impression cash flow isn’t an issue for them but maybe getting a luxury 5 star hotel open in the city is. Interestingly the residential tower was originally meant to be completed second but the client changed the priorities hence the office tower is now going up.