Update 22/11/11: The 37 storey 480 Queen Street Commercial Tower by Grocon was today approved by the Brisbane City Council. It is not yet known if Suncorp has chosen 480 Queen Street or Southpoint as their new headquarters. Keep posted for the latest announcements.
Could this be Suncorp’s new HQ building? Grocon proposes massive 80,000sqm campus style office tower at 480 Queen Street?
Grocon has submitted an application to build a 36 floor office tower in the site of the former Trilogy Tower proposal. The new proposal has been designed to lure Suncorp as the key anchor tenant.
This year Suncorp announced it would consolidate it’s existing CBD offices into a new campus style format with large floor plates and space totalling around 30,000sqm.
The new 480 Queen Street proposal has been designed to accomodate large floor plates which is a key condition of Suncorp’s requirements. The development is intended to be split into two stages, with the lower campus levels being constructed first. The total GFA of the building is 80,230sqm which makes it one of Australia’s largest office buildings. Given the current commercial climate however stage 2 (sky rise) may not come into fruition for some time.
Included in the design is a pedestrian cross block link between Queen and Adelaide Streets. If approved this will be Grocon’s second development in Brisbane’s CBD following the controversial decision to bulldoze a 100 year old printery building in Elizabeth Street which will soon house the Australian Taxation Office. Similarly to the ATO building in Elizabeth Street, architects BVN have been involved in the design of 480 Queen Street in conjunction with Donovan Hill.
Suncorp has not publicly announced any deal yet with Grocon however the submission of this DA indicates that Grocon feels confident in winning the tender for office accommodation. DA Number: A003148514 Images below from BCC Planning and Development Online:
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This tower looks terrible, clunky and conspiciously out of place. It doesn’t match the slimness of the Brisbane skyline and just looks stumpy. It’s as if someone put a glass layer on some terrible 1980s stone rectangular office building. I hope the council rejects it and demands a more innovative design… and I hope Grocon sacks whoever drew up this design.
Not really cutting edge stuff is it. Seems like a 1970’s designer was asleep and just woke up. Come on Brisbane, cant we have something different.
You look at Katar and wonder why we are going backwards in design , make it juicy, make it wow, but dont give me 70’s American.
It looks very boxy, like lego.
Grocons development on elizabeth street it’s amazing, I just don’t understand how they came up with this design in other words this design on queen is ugly.
Oikster did you mean Qatar?
You cant really compare Brisbane to the UAE. For starters the value on some of their developments are 5 to 10 times the price of a high rise here. One of the recent developments they have completed was 1.5 billion US dollars. Of course they have a high spec.
I wouldnt worry too much qbout Suncorp going to Grocons development the money is on Suncorp going to Southbank ala the Anthony John Southpoint development…watch this space
South Bank is without doubt THE Hot Spot of Brisbane. It will soon be the home of Brisbane’s premier mixed-use development – Southpoint. I am sure all the Directors and CEO’s of Suncorp will be considering not just the unparalleled views from this location, but also the convenience of parking, rail, and bus – transport nodes for all employees, and the exceptional first class dining and entertainment options available throughout the whole South Bank precinct. I am with the previous writer – this must be the logical choice.
Yes, i did mean Qatar, my blew. I am not talking about spending billions, if you look at the recently finished 111 eagle st, this to me is what i want to see. You don’t need to spend big to make a impact, just dont give me a boxy looking thing that will need a cage put around it to make it look good in 10 years time, like the gothic building. Build another moreton fig tree design if they have to, this building looks very special, and it screams queensland, same as Goma, and the wacky footbridge, they all scream Queensland.
We already have enough boxy forms, saying that, i do like the building across from the Casino. But no more boxes, please.
That is the worst looking pile of cube they could posibly put there. Must be dirt cheap to build because I see no other excuse. Trillogy was going to be something beautiful and noticeable, a trademark on the Brisbane skyline. This is a disgrace.
This is a scheissen-burger. Doesn’t touch the ground with grace, doesn’t add to the skyline. Looks very economical, but with such low design input i hope it is canned. – Slickster
Balances the skyline very nicely. Get over your lusting after height, philistines.
That is a seriously ugly piece of architecture – are they kidding? Please dont tell me that 70’s style is coming back. The other proposal (Southpoint) seamlessly fits in to the environment and certainly would be a more defining monument to such a Queensland company than a hard edged block stuffed in to the CBD. Just sayin…
And it looks cheap and nasty.
What a sad addition to Brisbane’s skyline – a completely wasted opportunity.
Looks like this might be a go ahead… a solid development in several senses of the word. After building most of the premier highrise in Sydney and Melbourne in the last 30 years, Grocon would like to leave their monuments in Brisbane too… they’ve been busy donating free work to the QLD goverment and people of QLD, gained a foothold with the new tax office on Elizabeth Street, but will they get the market share they need? All the best with this project, this is a hole that needs to be plugged, and hopefully Donovan/Hill are still on board…