City of South Perth, Australia Set to Become Home of World’s First Hybrid Timber Tower

The City of South Perth, Australia’s skyline is about to become home to one of the world’s most unique tower buildings. Grange Development submitted plans on Thursday (4-21-22) to the City of South Perth for what is set to be the world’s tallest $350 million (A$) hybrid timber tower and Australia’s first carbon negative building. The building is currently dubbed C6—for both its location at 6th Charles Street and Carbon being the 6th element on the periodic table.

Designed by Fraser & Partners—a research-based design studio that has emerged from Elenberg Fraser and created in response to the demands of our times and viewed through the lens of the climate crisis—C6 will be constructed using approximately 7,400 m3 of timber leveraging Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT), Glue Laminated Timber (Glulam), and Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL).

The proposal currently includes provisions for 245 one, two, three, and four-bedroom apartments set over 48 levels; a 500 sqm rooftop with an edible garden, dining, and entertainment space; and 1650 sqm of communal wellness amenity.

If approved, the 183 m high residential building, at 6 Charles Street, South Perth will become one of Australia’s most ambitious carbon negative buildings, with only the Atlassian hybrid timber Tower in Sydney currently on target for a similar carbon negative status.

Grange Developer Founder and Director, James Dibble, said C6 represents the future of what is possible, except that it will be delivered now. “If we get this right, we should never have to rely on building another solely concrete or steel tower in our lifetime.”

Dibble added, “The built environment is one of the three major drivers of catastrophic climate change, alongside transport and agriculture. With promising technological advances in both the transport and agriculture industries now working towards drastically reducing global carbon footprints, the property industry is lagging dangerously behind. Timber as a building material has been around for centuries, but only recently has mass timber construction and fabrication methods made it a viable option en masse.”

On-site energy production, a complete electric vehicle solution that can totally remove the need for fossil fuel-powered cars, a huge focus on biophilic design to deliver tangible health benefits, and a building that actively sequesters carbon.