Tall & Urban News

Construction on Brisbane's AU$3.6 billion (US$2.5 billion) Queen's Wharf development is well underway, with five levels of basement closing nearing ground level.

The giant hole in the ground, which drops down 26 meters, is fast being transformed into Queensland’s largest basement and underground car park, set to provide up to 2,000 spaces.

More than three Olympic pools’ worth of concrete has already been pumped into the basement build, with six satellite concrete pumps across site pouring more than 8,300 cubic meters of concrete into the foundations.

The number of on-site construction workers also is beginning to rise with the ranks of its current 250-strong workforce, expected to increase to 500 by the end of 2019, and at peak be up to 2,000 workers on site.

Privately-owned Destination Brisbane Consortium, which includes the Star Group, developers Far East Consortium and Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook, is responsible for the integrated resort after being selected by the Queensland Government to transform the historic, yet underutilized, site.

“We are now at level four of the car park basements under the east end of William Street, and expect to reach street level around Easter 2020,” said Destination Brisbane Consortium project director Simon Crooks. “This means William Street will be reconstructed and used by construction traffic to build the remaining basement and podium levels.”

“This time next year, the podium levels will be well and truly sitting above George Street as we work towards completing the tower shells for fit-out in 2022,” he added.

Builder Probuild began excavation on the site in 2017, removing close to 400,000 cubic meters of material from the site, much of which has gone to Brisbane Airport for reclamation work, and to build the BNE auto mall.

In July 2019, Probuild handed over the massive task of building what is Queensland’s largest construction project to construction giant Multiplex.

The Queen’s Wharf precinct, which has taken more than a significant footprint of the central business district (CBD), will include four new luxury hotels, more than 50 new bars and restaurants, along with 2,000 residential apartments for the completed major development.

Fifth and sixth apartment towers have been approved for the site, offering 1,360 apartments, but the construction timing has not been confirmed.

The 500-meter foreshore, including the newly created Mangrove Walk and upgraded Bicentennial Bikeway, opened in October 2019, while the wharf precinct is expected to open in late 2022.

There is significant public space integrated into the design of the development as well—the equivalent of 12 football fields.

This public space will help to accommodate the additional 1.39 million visitors expected in Brisbane as a result of the project. The development has also earned a 6-star Green Star Communities rating.

In addition to the main works, attention in 2020 will turn to the public realm, as the construction of the pedestrian bridge to South Bank will commence and works for The Landing will continue. Piling at South Bank is expected to start mid-way through that year.

“The Neville Bonner Bridge works are expected to kick off, with site establishment at South Bank in February 2020,” Crooks said.

Victorian company Fitzgerald Constructions, responsible for Melbourne’s Jim Stynes Bridge and Seafarers Bridge, will oversee the construction of the Neville Bonner Bridge, named after the Queensland Federal MP.

For more on this story, go to The Urban Developer.