This was published 3 years ago
North Sydney's new tallest building gets green light
By Tom Rabe
North Sydney’s tallest building has been approved by the NSW government, with a 42-storey commercial office block to tower over the new Victoria Cross Metro Station within four years.
Planning Minister Rob Stokes announced the approval on Wednesday while touring the cavernous metro construction site almost 50 metres underground with Transport Minister Andrew Constance.
Mr Stokes said the development above the $476 million Metro station would transform the North Sydney CBD, making it more pedestrian friendly.
An artist's impression of the newly approved 42-storey North Sydney office tower above Victoria Cross Metro Station.
“North Sydney, particularly in the '60s and '70s, was turned into a very classic old fashioned downtown which was alive only between 9 and 5 — this is all about breathing new life and liveability into an urban core,” he said.
Public space near the tower will be doubled, according to Mr Stokes, who said a “green spine” would run along Miller Street, with landscaped terraces, outdoor dining and pedestrian paths.
NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance and Planning Minister Rob Stokes in the Victoria Cross Metro station site on Wednesday.Credit: Peter Braig
Mr Constance said the coronavirus pandemic had not slowed the Metro progress, which he said was still on track to open in 2024.
“We haven’t had to shut a site, we’ve been able to go full steam ahead,” Mr Constance said.
“It is going to change the very nature of North Sydney in a way that North Sydneysiders have never seen before.”
The tower, which will overtake the newly built 158-metre 1 Denison Street office building as the tallest in North Sydney, is expected to provide enough office space for 4000 people.
Ministers Andrew Constance and Rob Stokes address the media 50 metres below North Sydney.Credit: Peter Braig
Tunnelling on the Metro underneath the harbour was completed earlier this year, and station fit-out works on the Victoria Cross station are scheduled to start in early 2021.
Once completed, the project will run from the city’s north-west towards North Sydney before slipping under the harbour into the CBD and onwards towards the south-west.
Close to 360,000 tonnes of rock has been crushed and removed from the new Metro site.
Metro chief executive Jon Lamonte said the construction of the public transport project was expected to line up with the opening of the new office building.
An artist's impression of the newly approved 42-storey North Sydney office tower above Victoria Cross Metro Station.
“We’re not just about building the railway but we’re also about the places that we’re going to create,” he said.
“We’re looking forward to Miller Street turning into a really good precinct area for everyone to enjoy not just during the week but on weekends as well.
The high elevation of North Sydney relative to Sydney Harbour presented major challenges for engineers designing Victoria Cross station and the route of the rail line.
They had to ensure the gradient of the track from a tunnel under the harbour to North Sydney was not too steep for the metro trains to climb, while making sure Victoria Cross station was not too deep below the surface.