Billbergia, Metrics $1.3b Chatswood Skyscraper Aims for 60 Storeys

Metrics managing partner and group chief executive Andrew Lockhart said the plan extended a “long-standing partnership” with Billbergia.

Billbergia development director Saul Moran said the site was an opportunity to deliver homes in a “highly connected location” with “world-class transport, retail, employment and essential services”.

Designed by PBD Architects, the scheme comprises 60 and 56-storey towers above a three-level podium, with 480 market apartments, 72 affordable rentals, childcare, retail, food and beverage, commercial uses, public domain works and 2563sq m of non-residential floor space.

Plans also include 511 car spaces, 615 bicycle spaces and 29 motorcycle spaces.

Concurrent changes to Willoughby controls would lift height from 90m to 209.5m, raise floor-space ratio from 6:1 to 17.8:1, and cut minimum non-residential floor space from 17 per cent to 3.3 per cent.

▲ A rendering of Chatswood Grand Residences, where Billbergia and Metrics Credit Partners plan towers of 60 and 56 storeys near the Chatswood station.

For Billbergia, it is the third and largest built-form planning run over the same land.

Site-specific controls gazetted in 2023 rezoned most of the land for mixed use and allowed a 90m height control.

A 28-storey local scheme followed, winning Land and Environment Court approval in July last year after a deemed-refusal appeal against the Willoughby Council.

Billbergia also pursued a 36-storey state-significant infill affordable housing scheme using NSW affordable-housing bonuses.

State planners approved it in December, with environmental impact statement material listing 332 apartments including 24 live-work studios and 59 affordable apartments.

▲ Chatswood Grand Residences would include a podium with retail, childcare and public domain space.

A separate Housing Delivery Authority path began in April last year with two 46-storey towers, 450 apartments and 60 affordable homes.

Current plans add 102 apartments, 12 affordable homes and up to 14 storeys to the first authority-backed version.

Affordable housing would sit across levels three to six, with Evolve Housing lined up under an in-principle agreement to manage it for at least 15 years.

The mix comprises 40 studios, 16 one-bedroom, 12 two-bedroom and four three-bedroom apartments.

Market stock comprises 38 one-bedroom, 202 two-bedroom, 214 three-bedroom and 26 four-bedroom apartments, putting half the private homes in three and four-bedroom layouts.

▲ The 60 and 56-storey Chatswood Grand Residences would rise between Pacific Highway and the rail corridor.

Resident facilities are planned across level two and mid-rise communal areas on levels 34 and 38.

Separate early works plans for excavation and basement works were filed in December, exhibited earlier this year and remain under assessment.

Former low-rise residential and industrial buildings have been demolished under an earlier Willoughby approval.

Planning documents list nearby state-significant approvals at 44-52 Anderson Street, 3-5 Help Street, 691-699 Pacific Highway, 38-42 Anderson Street and 410-416 Victoria Avenue.

Other Housing Delivery Authority-declared proposals are moving at 72 Archer Street and 701-705 and 745 Pacific Highway.

▲ A through-site link would cut the podium between retail and dining tenancies.

Moran said Chatswood Grand Residences followed “extensive planning refinement and a rigorous design excellence process”, while PBD Architects managing director Paul Buljevic said its “slender towers, podium and public realm” would add to Chatswood’s evolving skyline.

Community feedback flagged height, density, traffic and parking, alongside support for transport access, affordable housing and childcare.

Billbergia said the project would include up to $80 million in infrastructure and public benefit contributions.

Construction could begin late this year, subject to approval, with completion expected in 2031.