A development application has been approved by Brisbane City Council to convert 320 George Brisbane into a mixed-use 30-storey commercial tower, reports brisbanedevelopment.com.

After the transformation, the 135-year old heritage building will include 9,100 square metres of premium office space, express lifts, three levels of restaurants/dining, residential, and 17 carparks with a roof top bar above that will have views across the Brisbane River and CBD views. 

Hames Sharley, the architects in charge of the building’s design indicate it will be one of the narrowest skyscrapers in the city when comparing to other buildings of similar height, being only nine and half metres wide. Principal of Hames Sharley Jason Preston said the slimness of the building will present challenges with design.  

“Given the building’s four lifts are designed as a ‘side core’ to the west boundary wall, a building of this kind will twist and sway differently to a traditional tower, which is usually anchored by a number of central lifts, stair cores and a larger floor plate.

“Working closely in collaboration with Currie and Brown (project managers) and ADG (structural and façade engineers), we proposed a hybrid ‘exo-skeleton’ bracing system for the building, both as a structural necessity and to visually anchor the building, whilst retaining a typical continuous glazed curtain wall as the external skin,” said Mr Preston.

The heritage listing on the building means the façade will remain and will be restored under guidance from an expert heritage architect. Mr Preston said 320 George Street was internally rebuilt in the 1980’s and as a result, most of the interior heritage were gutted.

“There is existing original brick work which has been covered in plaster during one of the past renovations.

“We are proposing to peel back the layers of render to expose the original brick work internally in the lobby,” said Mr Preston. 

Construction for the project is expected to commence at the end of this year.