Imagery courtesy of S P Setia.

Our Project of the Week is the crowning glory of one luxury twin tower just topping out in the Melbourne skyline.

Part of the Sapphire by the Gardens development in the major Australian city, Shangri-La Hotel Melbourne CBD will take up residence in one of two 60-storey-plus skyscrapers when it opens in Q1 2024.

Striking façade

The five star hotel will occupy the taller 62-floor tower, spread across approximately 57,114 sq m gross floor area. The other tower will house 325 luxury apartments.

The 500-room Shangri-La Hotel Melbourne will feature a striking façade embellished with champagne gold fins. The facility will also deliver the largest ballroom space in the city’s CBD with elegant six-metre-high ceilings. Other amenities will include restaurants, a lounge and bar, spa, fitness centre with gym and yoga space, as well as both a roof garden pool and indoor heated swimming pool.

Sky bridge challenges

The S P Setia Berhad Group development was designed by Fender Katsalidis in collaboration with Cox Architecture, with Multiplex acting as the general contractor. The two towers overlook Melbourne’s World Heritage-listed Carlton Gardens and will be connected by a Sky Lounge two-thirds of the way up.

Multiplex was faced with construction challenges associated with the sky bridge design. The construction team resolved to create a temporary cantilevered deck beneath the structure to enable safe working access.

Project progress

The project first broke ground in 2018 and at the time the entire development was scheduled to complete in 2021, with the hotel becoming operational this year. However, project delays, likely pandemic-prompted, mean that construction is now due to complete in early 2023 with the hotel coming online in 2024.

Both towers recently topped out at the beginning of August. At the milestone’s ceremony, Multiplex regional MD Graham Cottam commented: “Constructing two towers simultaneously takes exceptional planning and management, especially when facing construction and engineering complexities like the iconic sky bridge, 46-storeys in the air.”

SP Setia president and CEO Datuk Choong Kai Wai added: “The completion of Sapphire by the Gardens and the Shangri-La will mark our fifth significant development within Melbourne.”

Ideal opening time

S P Setia has tasked project consultant Colliers with marketing the hotel development, which is moving into a fitout phase soon. Colliers’ head of hotels, Australia, Gus Moors, said: “This architectural wonder is destined to become a Melbourne landmark for decades to come. This is a rare generational asset in one of the most culturally vibrant and desirable cities in the world, under the aegis of one of the world’s most prestigious luxury hotel brands: Shangri-La.

“As the hotel market across the country moves into rapid recovery mode, the timing of the delivery for the Shangri-La will see this 500-room property open at an ideal time in the hotel cycle.”

Moors concluded: “Upon completion, Shangri-La Melbourne will incorporate an incomparable range of luxury accommodation choices, including approximately 500 spacious and well-appointed guestrooms, along with exquisite family rooms – the first of its kind in Australia – with Horizon Club guestrooms, Premier and Presidential Suites on its upper levels.”

Many TOPHOTELNEWS articles draw on exclusive information from the TOPHOTELPROJECTS construction database. This subscription-based product includes details of thousands of hotel projects around the world, along with the key decision-makers behind them. Please note, our data may differ from records held by other organisations. Generally, the database focuses on four- and five-star schemes of significant scale; tracks projects in either the vision, pre-planning, planning, under-construction, pre-opening or newly opened phase; and covers newbuilds, extensions, refurbishments and conversions.

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