This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
GLOBAL real estate investment manager Hines is set to reduce carbon emissions at its flagship T3 Collingwood development by 34%.
T3 Collingwood—Timber, Transit, Technology—a mass timber office, the first of its find in the Asia Pacific, will cut carbon emissions by more than a third of standard concrete and steel construction.
“T3 Collingwood is a ground-breaking, sustainable evolution of old-fashioned office buildings. The timber we use is rapidly renewable, sustainably sourced, cleaner to construct and helps keep carbon out of the atmosphere,” said Ray Lawler, CEO at Hines, Australia and New Zealand.
The Collingwood office is located at 36 Wellington Street, around 3km north-east of the Melbourne CBD, with the 15-storey heavy timber building spanning 18,200sqm.
“Collingwood was chosen to be our first T3 project in Asia Pacific because of its excellent transit connections and the local restaurant and shopping scene this area of Melbourne is famous for,” added Lawler.
Hines acquired the Wellington Street site in 2019 for $28.5 million and was originally set to commence speculative construction in 2021, with the federal government’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) announced last November that it would invest $70 million in US company’s Collingwood project.
T3 projects replace traditional structural systems like concrete and steel with prefabricated solid wood systems, with T3 Collingwood to use 2,358 cubic metres of Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) from XLam Australia and 874 cubic metres of Glue Laminated Timber (GLT from Australian Sustainable Hardwood (ASH), with both manufacturers based in Victoria.
“Timber is not only 100% renewable, recyclable and non-toxic, it also has productivity and wellness benefits. T3 Collingwood will have state-of-the-art connectivity systems, with collaborative working spaces and wellness-inspired amenities,” said Lawler.
The building is targeting being one of the country’s tallest all-timber office towers and be part of Hines’ global portfolio of 26 T3 assets in various stages of development across the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Spain.
Hines developed its T3 concept to address changing tenant requirements and the firm’s own sustainability goals, including its recently set net zero operational carbon target in its building portfolio by 2040.
