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Listed real estate investment trusts and top-tier property developers constructing mega-projects across the country are putting the final touches on a number of city shaping projects which are set to finish over 2020.
Sydney will soon welcome the city's tallest residential tower, being developed by Greenland in the CBD, as well as a new $1 billion landmark tower set to house the Nine Network and Microsoft.
Melbourne's tallest tower, delivered by World Class Global, is closing in on completion after five years of construction while the $1.25 billion mixed-use development affectionately referred to as “the pantscraper” is also winding up.
Sustained demand for high-quality commercial projects has helped push vacancy rates for office buildings across the eastern seaboard to record-lows and construction activity to its highest level on record.
The commercial boom, which started in 2016, has also driven an expansion of commercial investment and planning beyond the nation's two largest cities with a number of high-profile commercial projects coming online in 2020.
The residential high-rise market, which is slowly emerging from a two-year slump, has also benefited from pent-up demand that is not satisfied by the current low supply within the premium market.
Take a look at some of the major developments launching across the year that have pushed the limits of architectural and sustainable design.
Winten Property Group's new $1 billion landmark tower, 1 Denison Street, which is being built by Multiplex is close to completion and more than filled with pre-commitments.
Winten bought the site, which combines the former North Sydney Shopping World and an adjoining office building, for around $80 million in 2016.
The Bates Smart-designed towner will offer 60,000sq m of premium office space with 2000sq m floor plates and a two-level lifestyle precinct.
The soon-to-be tallest building in North Sydney will also be the new home of the Nine Network, which is moving from Willoughby further north.
Microsoft will also occupy seven levels, spanning levels 25 to 31 of the tower, up to 10,655sq m, with plans to move into its new premises in mid-2021.
Australia 108, set to be Australia's tallest tower, is on track for completion in Melbourne's CBD.
The $900 million skyscraper which was approved in June of 2014 will comprise 1,105 apartments across 99 levels.
The tower is being developer by Singapore-based property group World Class Global, a subsidiary of listed Singaporean group Aspial, and being constructed by Multiplex.
Residents began moving into the tower in mid-2018 as part of a staged handover having access to lower level apartments and completed amenities.
In the next few months, owners of the project’s premium Cloud Residences between levels 72 and 83 will begin moving into their apartments, which overlook most of Southbank’s existing towers.
World Class Global chief executive David Ng said Australia 108 was rising rapidly and would reach its full height early this year, with the building expected to be fully completed in mid-2020.
In July of last year, residents of the partially completed super-skyscraper claimed to have experienced loud cracking sounds among a number of smaller defects.
Cbus Property's 44-level twin-tower project at 447 Collins Street in the heart of Melbourne's CBD, affectionately dubbed “the Pantscraper”, was originally tipped to be finished by late-2019.
The $1.25 billion development being built on a 6,000sq m corner site at Collins and William Street will comprise 49,500sq m of premium office space, 184 apartments and 294 hotel rooms in Melbourne's first five-star W hotel, along with 950sq m of ground-level retail.
The tower, which was approved in April 2016, is co-owned by commercial property investment group ISPT, was designed by local architects Woods Bagot and New York-based SHOP Architects. It is being built by Multiplex.
Six storeys were removed from the original design to alleviate concerns that the skyscrapers would shade the north bank of the Yarra River.
Collins Arch is also pushing to receive a 6-star Greenstar accreditation and 5.5 star NABERS energy rating to make it among the best in the city for the environment, as well as its workers.
An inclusion within Collins Arch is the 1,900sq m Market Street public park, Melbourne’s first park in 40 years.
Charter Hall's $750 million commercial tower at 130 Lonsdale Street is on track to be completed in the second quarter of 2020.
The building, which received approval in 2016, is one of three towers within the property fund manager's $1.2 billion development precinct in central Melbourne known as Wesley Place.
The Premium-Grade tower will offer 60,000sq m of vertical campus-style office and premium retail space across 35 floors and will be held in the unlisted Charter Hall Prime Office Fund.
The project is targeting a Platinum WELL certification, 6-Star Green Star and 5-Star NABERS rating.
Major tenants will include Vanguard, Telstra Super, Cbus Super, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority and AustralianSuper.
Mirvac's $800 million-plus redevelopment above the historic Olderfleet Buildings on Melbourne's Collins Street topped out late last year.
The 40-storey Grimshaw-designed premium office tower, which provides 58,000sq m of state-of-the-art workspace has been constructed behind the historic facade of the Olderfleet Buildings, one of the best-preserved examples of the “marvellous Melbourne” era of the 1890s.
Mirvac bought the Collins Street property from Aviva Investors in late 2013.
Anchor tenant Deloitte has committed to more than 22,000sq m of office space across 12 floors for 12 years, while law firms Norton Rose Fulbright and Lander & Rogers have also taken space along with property consultancy Urbis.
The tower is targeting a five-star Green Star rating and a Platinum WELL certification.
The future home of Zurich Financial Services in Australia is nearing completion in North Sydney.
The A-Grade building which was designed by FJMT is currently being constructed by firm Roberts Pizzarotti.
Zurich lodged a development application for the commercial tower mid-2017.
The global insurer went on to sell its future Australian headquarters in late last year to CBRE Global Investors on behalf of a German pension fund in a fund-through transaction worth about $350 million.
Anchor tenant Zurich had originally pre-committed to more than 80 per cent of the tower on a 10-year term, but it will now take up about 64 per cent of the building.
The 21,000sq m tower is expected to be finished in late 2020 and will feature a rooftop terrace, end-of-trip facilities and a lobby cafe.
With a strong focus on sustainable design, the building is targeting 5-Star Green Star and 5 Star NABERS ratings.
Developer Brady Group will round out its $500 million 380 Lonsdale Street project this year, its largest development to date, which features two towers rising 52 and 68 levels.
The under-construction skyscraper, dubbed 380 Melbourne, will feature 700 apartments as well as a 252-room Voco branded hotel lead by British accommodation giant IHG, replacing an existing seven-level carpark on site.
The Elenberg Fraser-designed towers will rise from a seven-level podium with apartments comprising of 616 residential units and another 112 premium apartments and provisions for 254 car parks.
The Melbourne-based private developer picked up IHG's Voco branded hotel, a new 4.5 star upmarket boutique brand designed to fill a gap between its premium Indigo and midscale Holiday Inn offerings, in November of 2018.
IHG will also open a 164-room Holiday Inn in Ringwood in the city's eastern suburbs in 2020.
The beachfront Jewel development topped out in 2018, yet a year on the finishing touches are still being applied to the project which is now set for completion later this year.
The Jewel, comprised of three crystalline towers, represents the first absolute beachfront resort development on the Gold Coast in more than 30 years.
The project will be home to a five-star 169-room hotel and two other residential towers comprising 512 apartments.
Architect Chad Oppenheim and DBI’s Barry Lee designed the towers’ glass curtain wall, drawing inspiration from three smokey quartz crystals discovered in the Gold Coast region.
The eye-catching venture has not been without its problems having changed hands three times since it was started by the Dalian Wanda group early in 2015, now with developer Yuhu Group who paid $1.13 billion for the project.
Development contractor Multiplex and subcontractors on the project, about 800 subbies, walked off the project in protest in late 2018.
The 66-level Greenland Centre, at the corner of Bathurst and Pitt Streets in Sydney, is set to be one of the city's tallest residential towers when completed this year.
The $400 million tower, being delivered by Chinese-backed developer Greenland Australia, was one of the earliest apartment buildings released at the start of the 2012-2017 boom with most of the 481-apartment sold quickly in 2014 and 2015.
The 235-metre skyscraper, which is being delivered by tier-1 builder Probuild Constructions, after Greenland and Multiplex parted ways in 2017.
Greenland acquired the former Sydney Water Board site in 2013 for $113 million, submitting plans for the ambitious tower and tapping Multiplex to build it.
The residential tower is designed by architecture firms BVN and Woods Bagot.
Giant Chinese property developer Hengyi is close to completing more than 1,039 apartments in a 72-storey tower at 170 Victoria Street in Carlton.
The Chinese group, an affiliate of mainland Chinese player Shandong HYI, acquired the former CUB site in Carlton from listed Singaporean developer Chip Eng Seng for $64.8 million in late 2017.
Builder Multiplex commenced construction on the Elenberg Fraser-designed tower in 2016. The residential tower includes 2,700sq m of mezzanine retail space with a food and beverage offering fronting Bouverie Street.
In October, Min Wang of Shandong HYI had assets frozen by the Australian Federal Court after issuing an assessment totalling $103 million for the 2015 and 2016 years. Wang and her husband, Liang Chen operate the Shandong Hengyi Group.
