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Australia 108

Project Description

Australia 108 is perfectly positioned within Melbourne’s most desirable arts, dining, and entertainment precinct at 70 Southbank Boulevard. The tower is 319m tall, making it the tallest residential building in the Southern Hemisphere. Australia 108 comprises over 1050 apartments with associated amenities and car parking.

The iconic starburst houses premium facilities including two pools, a cinema and private dining facilities. The top levels house premium penthouse apartments with breathtaking views of Melbourne and Port Phillip Bay.

Structural features include:

  • The key structural system used in this 319m tower is a concrete core and outriggers to mega column and mega frame.
  • Complex starburst construction sees amenity zones cantilevering over 8m.
  • Building façade access is by way of a main crane housed at the roof with supplementary systems housed under the starburst zone.
  • Floors are flat plate two-way post-tensioned plates on a ring pattern of columns and mega columns. Lateral stability and acceleration control are a key design element; thus, a liquid column damping system is provided on the 98th Level.
  • Car parks are concealed behind a pattern of cantilevered planters.
  • Large diameter piles are used to support the structure; these are found more than 40m below ground level.

Robert Bird Group’s Construction Engineering team was engaged by Multiplex to provide specialist construction engineering services for the project. The construction engineering scope included temporary works items such as tower cranes, Alimak bases/grillages, façade retention, temporary works items throughout the tower construction and the design of the Level 69 to 72 starburst, including the design of the construction methodology and for the significant access platforms required as part of these works.

The temporary starburst construction platforms enabled access for the installation of the fully clad golden starburst trusses on Levels 69-72. These cantilevering platforms also provided crucial support for constructing the slabs on these levels, particularly where they extended beyond the typical Level 68 building line. Given the building's design, the decks needed to cantilever up to approximately 8 meters from the Level 68 slab edge.

Project Challenges

  • Outrigger design using ultra high strength reinforcement (MACALLOY and SAS bars) embedded within core and columns.
  • Staged erection of outrigger to core walls: connection of high strength reinforcement through core and outrigger walls which are poured weeks apart.

Starburst amenity area:

  • 4 levels of floors cantilevering 8m outboard of main structure – 200m above ground level.
  • Pools at edge of cantilevering structure creating large overturning forces on building: additional wind area.

Liquid column dampers:

  • Large mass (circa 200,000-300,000L of water) some 300m above ground.
  • Structural support of liquid columns via series of interconnected walls and slabs.
  • Wave formation in LCDs generated via building movement.

Added Value

Change to coupled precast columns – quicker floor cycle times typically:

  • Saving of 1 day per floor cycle.
  • No puddle pouring of high-strength concrete onsite.
  • Full coupling of column reinforcement.
  • Less reinforcement via removal of bar lapping.
  • QA improvement of shrinkage and concrete grade characteristics.
  • Advanced grouting technology (NMB couplers from Japan can achieve 150MPa strength).
  • Improved axial shortening adjustments on-site integration of temporary works and permanent works designs for Starburst levels.
  • EXVIS visualisation of construction sequence (useful for client and builder alike).
  • Steelwork used for both temporary and permanent design – less erection / clean-up, multi-use.
  • Temporary worker protection screens at starburst edges which hang 10m outboard of structural floor.

 

 

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Project Metrics

Construction Value:

AUD $800 million

Year Completed:

2019

Environmental Performance:

No Data

Sectors:

Residential & Retirement

RBG Client:

World Class Global

End Client:

World Class Global

Architect(s):

Fender Katsalidis Architects

Main Contractor:

Multiplex

RBG Services:

Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering, Virtual Design & Construction