GPT Group confirms plans to build 12-storey timber office at Melbourne Central

GPT Group today confirmed it will build a premium-grade commercial tower atop Melbourne Central.

The 12-level complex, named Frame (artist’s impression, top), will be the country’s largest engineered timber office building.

Colliers International has been appointed to lease 19,400 square metres of space within Frame.

The facility will include a “hotel-inspired sky-lobby” on levels five and six. It will also contain large floorplates measuring approximately 2000 sqm.

“Frame will be a ground-breaking office building, connected to elevated garden spaces and a new rooftop retail, entertainment and dining precinct at Melbourne Central,” GPT’s head of Office & Logistics, Matthew Faddy, said in this company statement.

“Frame will deliver a superior level of amenity to any workplace in Australia. It provides a fully integrated office, retail and cultural environment that offers more than just desk-space”.

“Frame will feature abundant natural light and a warehouse-style environment, with the design of the building aimed to improve the sense of well-being of its occupants.”   

Last June, this proposed timber office, Daramu House, was approved in Sydney’s Barangaroo.

ARM Architecture Principal Ian McDougall said Frame’s design “addresses the needs of the new, socially conscious generation of worker, promoting wellness and encouraging positive social exchange through green open spaces and dedicated wellbeing retail offerings”.

“The new rooftop retail precinct is a unique concept where city dwellers and visitors gather to learn, interact, have fun and be inspired. It is a meeting place between workers and the rest of the city,” he said. 

Ten months ago, a permit was granted to develop a six-storey, 8000 sqm timber office on Waterfront Way, Docklands.

Dubbed Woodwork, the proposed office would rise near the Melbourne Star ferris wheel, in an area formerly known as Harbourtown, which Ashe Morgan is replacing with a $250 million mixed-use village.

In Sydney’s Barangaroo, two wooden office buildings have been approved:

  • International House Sydney, Australia’s first engineered timber office building, rising six storeys, was completed in 2017;
  • Last June, a sister building to be known as Daramu House was approved. Set to rise seven levels, Daramu House is due for completion later this year.

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Marc Pallisco

A former property analyst and print journalist, Marc is the publisher of realestatesource.com.au.