Awards — November 9, 2022
Quay Quarter Tower wins International High-Rise Award
Sydney’s landmark Quay Quarter Tower has been awarded the prestigious International High-Rise Award overnight in Frankfurt, Germany, from a field of 34 projects representing 13 countries. Designed by 3XN and developed in partnership with BVN as Executive Architect, it’s been almost a decade in the making, reaching completion in 2022.
It’s a great privilege to have been involved on such a city-defining building as Quay Quarter Tower, and for this to have won the International High-Rise Award today. It’s been an incredible journey and the ultimate collaboration on what has been described as a ‘once in a generation’ project. We congratulate AMP on a grand vision, 3XN on a beautiful competition winning design, Multiplex on their construction excellence and all our partners on working together to turn this design vision into a reality.
Dan Cruddace, QQT Project Director, BVN.
The International High-Rise Award was initiated in 2003 and is awarded every two years. It recognises development excellence in aesthetics, design, integration into its urban context, sustainability, innovative technology and cost-effectiveness.
Quay Quarter Tower will now feature in the Best High-Rises exhibition at Deutsches Architekturmuseum from November 10, 2022 until January 22, 2023.
Quay Quarter Tower. Photos by Martin Siegner.
Quay Quarter Tower features a striking design comprising five shifting glass "vertical villages" stacked on each other and punctuated by atrium space. It offers expansive views of sydney Harbiur and brings natural light into every corner of the building.
It all began with an inspiring brief. AMP Capital’s vision from the outset was to retain the original building and adapt it for contemporary Sydney. This was just one of 60 sustainability targets. QQT had high ambitions from the outset and is a blueprint for environmentally responsible architecture: 6-star Green Star, 5.5 Star NABERS energy rating and WELL Gold certified.
Retaining the original building represents an embodied carbon saving of 7.3million kg compared to a conventional construction project of this scale: equivalent to two years of operational emissions from basic building systems like air conditioning and elevators.
BVN worked on this extraordinary project for almost a decade. First the team completed the masterplan for AMP Capital and identified the tower as the centrepiece of the precinct. Next, AMP Capital ran an international design competition which was won by Danish architects, 3XN.
The client then also appointed BVN as Executive Architect and the two firms developed the project in detail, resolving the many complex challenges of transforming the original building. When Multiplex was selected to build QQT in 2018, BVN was novated to the builder. Coordinating construction through to conclusion in 2022.
BVN is now working on a major carbon-neutral Interior Design fit-out for one of the first business tenants, spanning three floors.
Quay Quarter Tower is jointly owned by Dexus Wholesale Property Fund, Mirvac Wholesale Property Fund and Rest Super. The project client was AMP Capital.
