Dexus, Lendlease Plan Sydney Supertall Towers

Supertall office towers have been mooted by two of the property industry’s heaviest hitters for the centre of Sydney.

Both are to be discussed at the City of Sydney planning committee’s next meeting, due to be held on Monday, July 22.

Dexus is in the planning stage of a 70-storey premium office for the Pitt and Bridge Street Precinct. The skyscraper would top out at 310m and offer 90,000sq m of office space and ground floor retail.

Meanwhile, Lendlease’s plans are even taller—a 319m office tower as part of a precinct with 155,000sq m of office space including the existing 94,000sq m One O’Connell Street office.

The neighbouring supertall towers would be separted by Spring Street, the Department of Land building and its Renaissance Revival-style clocktower.

The projects have been on the cards for some time and reference each another in plans, along with the approved Hunter Street Station tower that will reach 51 storeys.

Dexus had expected to start construction on its tower this year ahead of completion in 2029, according to its 2022 investor report.

Lendlease purchased the 1924-built NSW Trustee and Guardian building on its site from the the state government in April, 2022 and met with the council design advisory panel to discuss the project in May.

Both skyscrapers were recommended to be approved to move to the next stage of the process—winning Gateway Determination from the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure.

Dexus owns the 3288sq m near-island site that adjoins an eight-storey heritage-listed office building to the south of the 56-60 Pitt Street and 3 Spring Street parcel.

The FJC-Studio-designed Dexus supertall tower at Bridge and Pitt streets would replace the 26-level office building, which has the 1889 Lady of Commerce statue out the front, on the site.

Lendlease wants to replace six offices on its 6737sq m site at 1-25 O’Connell Street and 8-16 Spring Street, with frontage to Bent Street.

It adjoins heritage-listed flatiron-shaped Radisson Blu Hotel of 12-storeys The similarly shaped Wintergarden bookends the Lendlease site.

Matthew Pullinger Architect and Stewart Architecture have created the Lendlease’s O’Connell precinct design due to be presented at the City of Sydney meeting.

However, there may be a further heritage constraints to the site, including the Chatsworth House and Orient Building facades, as well as the state-heritage item Rofe Chambers.

To balance this, heritage items would be adaptively reused. The tower would also include more than a dozen landscaped terraces and rooftop gardens.

▲ Future developments in Sydney CBD. An early envelope of the Pitt Street tower is shown in this illustration.

The towers appear to complement one another and would be taller than the city’s current tallest building, the 271m One Barangaroo.

Comparatively,  the 317m Australia 108 is Melbourne’s tallest while Brisbane’s Sth Bnk at 354m and expected to complete in 2029, is the River City’s tallest.

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