Multiplex Completes Final Tower in Australia’s Collins Square Development

Multiplex has reached completion on the fifth and final commercial office tower at Walker Corporation’s landmark $2.5-billion Collins Square development located in Melbourne’s central business district. Collins Square is one of the largest commercial mixed-use developments in Australia. Spanning an entire city block, it consists of five commercial office buildings with retail space providing a combined total of more than 250,000 square meters of commercial space and 10,000 square meters of retail area.

The final $168.5-million tower spans three levels and reaches 117 meters in height. It provides a total area of approximately 40,000 square meters of commercial office space, and includes an integrated fit-out for the anchor tenant Transurban on Levels 24-31.

Designed by architects Woods Bagot, Collins Square Tower 5 features high-quality office space with an architectural curved curtainwall façade to provide a light-filled spacious office floor plate, and curved structural steel roof to prevent overshading of Southbank. Tower 5 connects to the foyers of the adjacent towers and sits above retail, public circulation spaces, car parking and end-of-trip facilities. The building also includes innovative destination-controlled lifts with Bluetooth technology throughout allowing occupants to access and control the elevators via mobile phones.

Challenges faced during construction include the construction of the tower above a seven-level operational commercial carpark, and structural and service integration with the adjacent Tower 4 without interruption to existing tenants.

Collins Square seamlessly integrates commercial office space with retail on Collins Street. The precinct forms a vital “bridge” between Melbourne’s two major commercial centers, the CBD and Western Precinct. The Collins Square development has a Green Star Design & As Built v.3 rating (an internationally recognized sustainability rating system); as well as a minimum NABERS (National Australian Built Environment Rating System) Energy 5 star rating due to its use of a trigeneration system for producing power, along with the rainwater harvesting system and water-efficient fixtures and fittings. The precinct boasts the highest concentration of environmentally sustainable buildings in the Southern Hemisphere.