Sydney Will Soon Be Home to the World's Tallest 'Hybrid Timber' Tower with a Rooftop Park

Sydney is not short on developments. Kings Cross has plans for a new theatre and a revamped station, the CBD will soon have another building defining its skyline with Event Cinemas George Street set to be torn down in favour of a 79-storey skyscraper and there is a new stadium and the $750 million Sydney Fish Market in the works, not to mention the (finally) finished light rail and the ongoing Sydney Metro project. Staying on trend, Aussie tech giant Atlassian has just unveiled designs for the world's tallest 'hybrid timber' tower atop Central Station. Yep, expect more cranes in the sky soon enough.

The proposed Atlassian headquarters is set to take over the existing YHA site on Pitt Street with a sustainable 40-storey-high tower. Designed by New York architects Shop and Australian firm BVN, the energy-efficient project features a predominantly timber structure, with a glass and steel facade. It'll have a mix of indoor and openair areas, including elevated green spaces and a plant-filled terraced rooftop.

With the aim of operating on 100 percent renewable energy and reaching net zero emissions, the building will have a vertical facade with built-in solar panels, as well as self-shade capabilities to control temperature.

It's not all breaking news, however, with the development first mentioned back in 2018 when the NSW Government announced its proposed tech precinct which, when complete, will span from Central to Eveleigh. The inner city hub, dubbed Tech Central Precinct, has been pitted to be the "Silicon Valley of Australia" by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, with 250,000 square metres of office space, of which 50,000 will be available as affordable space for startups.

Now, keeping in line with Berejiklian's plans for NSW to recover from the COVID-19 recession by creating more jobs by way of developments, Atlassian has become the precinct's first anchor tenant. The construction of the tech company's headquarters will generate an additional 2500 jobs and just shy of $1 billion to the Australian economy. Once complete, the tower will house 4000 Atlassian staff.

Atlassian will submit a development application for the tower in the coming months and, if approved, hopes to start construction in 2021.

Atlassian's headquarters is slated for completion in 2025 as the first anchor tenant in NSW's Tech Central Precinct. For more information on Tech Central Precinct, head here.