Tall & Urban News

What will be Australia’s tallest building, towering more than 354 meters above Melbourne’s central business district (CBD), Southbank by Beulah has been approved by the Victorian state government.

The government says the building, on the BMW site on City Road, and three other major construction jobs also approved on 23 April 2020, will pump a desperately needed stimulus of more than AUS$1.5 billion (US$1.3 billion) in building costs alone into Victoria’s economy as it faces the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 crisis.

Planning Minister Richard Wynne says a newly formed taskforce will bring the state government and the building industry together to look at other private building projects which can be fast-tracked in an effort to keep the vital sector afloat in the looming recession.

Three other major construction projects were granted major approval the same day, including a 35-floor office tower at 555 Collins Street, and a 26-story building, also for upmarket offices at 52-60 Collins Street.

A 300-unit apartment project at Epsom Road in Flemington was also given the green light on 23 April 2020 by Wynne, who says the building industry will be vital to pulling Victoria out of the expected deep economic slump caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The development, which will be so tall it will need approval from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, will take about seven years to build with somewhere in the region of 4,700 jobs generated in the construction period.

Malaysian-backed developers Beulah say the project will see two skyscrapers of 59 and 102 stories with the larger of the two towering over Australia’s current tallest building, Gold Coast’s 323-meter Q1 Tower, by more than 40 meters

The state government is now predicting a "catastrophic" impact on the states' economic output of up to 14 percent and says up to 270,000 jobs could be lost in the fallout from the crisis.

The government also said the building sector, responsible for more than 8 percent of the economy and nearly 320,000 jobs, cannot be allowed to fail.

Wynne said on 23 April 2020 that he and Treasurer Tim Pallas would oversee the Building Victoria’s Recovery Taskforce, which will look at projects the ministers say would “boost Victoria’s building and development industry over the short-, medium- and long-term.”

Wynne also said the group would advise him on how to remove barriers caused by the coronavirus pandemic and its knock-on effects to the “fast-tracking” of planning approvals using ministerial powers.

The government says there will be a role for unions in the taskforce’s steering committee to ensure worker safety did not come second to the desire to get projects in the ground quickly.

There may also be financial sweeteners to help keep the building sector moving with land tax, developer contributions or rates concessions potentially on the table, subject to the advice of the taskforce.

The new group will be led by former Property Council chief, Roger Teale, Victorian Planning Authority Jude Munro, and Solar Victoria boss Stan Krpan.

The government also wants the advice of the taskforce, which is slated to initially run for three months, on the establishment of a reliable "pipeline" of building works, including social housing projects, for the longer term.

“This taskforce will help ensure the building and development industry is a driving force for Victoria’s economy through this pandemic and beyond. It will help deliver existing projects more efficiently and assist new projects to get off the ground faster,” Wynne commented.

For more on this story, go to The Age.