A tall order: Australia's new wave of skyscrapers may not be where you think

Cameron McEvoyDecember 7, 2020

As politicians debate the pros and cons of building upwards versus outwards, Australia continues to follow the international trend of building taller buildings.

In modern architecture, taller inner-city towers are able to drive greater cost and space efficiency whilst also including better environmental and green benefits. Though there are a number of down sides – shadow casting, vehicle and human traffic congestion, and flight path and noise challenges – taller towers can solve more problems than they create.

Despite this, Sydney city council imposes a building height limit of just 230 metres throughout the CBD for all residential and commercial towers. Not only are other capital cities around the country taking advantage of this; but suburbs and employment hubs through Sydney’s suburbs are too.

Developers understand that height restrictions imposed in the CBD will increase office and residential costs over time, as demand will outstrip supply, so they have been shopping their proposals elsewhere. And, it is working.

Just 20 kilometres from Sydney CBD lies Parramatta, Sydney’s ‘second CBD’; soon to be home to not only Australia’s, but the southern hemisphere’s largest residential tower. At 336 metres tall, The Aspire Tower will not only be the tallest residential building in the southern hemisphere; but the tallest building of any kind in the hemisphere. Aspire forms part of a multi-tower, massive scale redevelopment of the Parramatta CBD area; driving more businesses, residents, and wealth creation into the surrounding area.

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Melbourne and Brisbane are also eclipsing Sydney in tower heights. Melbourne has several stumbles, with both the Australia 108 Tower (388 metres), and 555 Collins Street Tower (404 metres), cancelled indefinitely. The most likely project for approval though is the 250 Spencer Street site, with current plans at 300 metres in height.

Brisbane is also building two towers; 222 Margaret Street, and 300 George Street, each standing 274 metres in height. The Infinity Tower, which completes construction in 2014, will be 249 metres tall, slightly shorter than its original 294 metres plan.

Sydney Mayor Clover Moore has commenced a building height restriction review for the CBD/City of Sydney area; approaching the issue of building size from an economic output perspective, to ensure Sydney remains competitive.

For Australian home buyers and investors, the issue of building heights is one that must be considered carefully during your due diligence phase. Nobody has a crystal ball and though it is impossible to know what the rules will be in five, 10, or 20 years’ time an awareness of emerging projects in the short term will help you buy better.

One of the best things to keep an eye on is council land re-zoning. This can occur anywhere in Australia, but when it occurs metropolitan city inner, middle, and outer ring suburbs, it almost always will be a rezoning to enable greater building density, not less.

Australian urban development is trending more towards ‘higher density vertical living’ a la New York, Singapore, and Sao Paulo; and away from ‘low-rise high density’ growth, such as cities like Paris,  Washington DC, and Prague.

Regardless of your view on this trend, property buying decisions in our major cities needs to occur with a solid understanding of this shift in mind.


Cameron McEvoy is a NSW-based property investor and maintains a blog, Property Correspondent.

 


Cameron McEvoy

Cameron McEvoy is a NSW-based property investor and maintains a blog, Property Correspondent.

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