Self-Powered Melbourne Office Tower Plan Goes Public

Plans for a Melbourne office building that would turn food waste from neighbouring businesses into its power supply have gone on public exhibition.

Designed by Hassell Studio in collaboration with Finding Infinity, the project at 28-30 Stephenson Street, Cremorne, dubbed Matter House is part of a “building-as-producer” pilot program, according to application documents. 

The 13-storey tower—an upgrade from a previous 10-storey plan for the site—extended “well beyond benchmarked sustainability requirements” to become a net producer of energy and net importer of organic waste, it said. 

The project is part of the A New Normal initiative, launched at Melbourne Design Week in 2021, which includes a pilot study of 15 projects aimed at turning Melbourne into a producer, rather than a consumer, of energy.

As part of the program, the building includes a high-performance facade and HVAC systems for efficient heating and cooling, a solar greenhouse for energy collection, and an anaerobic digester. 

The current application upgrades the permitted capacity of the onsite anaerobic digester, which converts organic waste into energy “at a scale that exceeds the energy demands of the building”.

Excess energy would be fed back to the grid, the ministerial permit application said. 

▲ A rendering of the Cremorne office tower designed by Hassell Studio.

The anaerobic digester would take organic food waste from food businesses in a 3km radius of the building, collected by sustainability specialist EcoCaddy with electric-assist rickshaws and delivered to the waste storage room chute at ground level. 

A 10-storey project on the 842sq m site 4km east of the Melbourne CBD was approved by the Yarra City Council in 2022.

But the developer went back to the drawing board, lodging plans in 2024 to align with the Cremorne Urban Design Framework, the application said.

The new proposed building would provide 11,790sq m of gross floor area (GFA), including 6735sq m of net leasable office area. 

As well, 383sq m of food and drink tenancies at the ground floor and rooftop, and a 245sq m wellness and recreation tenancy are planned.

▲ The office is part of the A New Normal program of pilot projects.

A communal rooftop garden is also proposed as part of an internal plan split into three zones, with the ground floor accessible by the public, the ‘working heart’ of flexible office spaces through the building and the so-called Pleasure Gardens on the rooftop. 

The developer is Matter House Group Pty Ltd, a collaboration between Cremorne businesses Cobuild, Taboo and Rock Media.

In ASIC documents, its directors are listed as Yacob and Rotem Rotenberg—the chief executive of Cobuild—Taboo Group chief executive Andrew Mackinnon and Andrew Lee. 

Matter House “responds to emerging demand for commercial floorspace that aligns with strong ESG commitments made by local businesses, of which there is a distinct shortfall in the City of Yarra”, the developer’s application said. 

It said that the tower would be an “authentic manifestation of local culture, heritage, commerce and innovation, with a well-designed silhouette and façade that will be visible from the elevated rail line”.