Griffith University Campus Gears Up for Green Addition

Dirt is to be turned early next year on a flagship nine-storey development at Griffith University’s Nathan campus as it also prepares to expand into the Brisbane CBD.

Lendlease has been tapped to deliver the 22,000sq m so-called “arrivals building” that will target a five-star Green Star Building V1 rating.

It will accommodate staff and students relocating from the university’s ageing Mount Gravatt campus—also on the city’s southside—which is closing at the end of 2025.

Architecture firm BVN won a competition to lead the project’s design.

Griffith chief operating officer Peter Bryant said the new building—also known as N82—would be a centrepiece for the Nathan campus and feature a central outdoor atrium formed by a series of elevated terraces.

“This will be a state-of-the-art building which will include a range of key features and new space types for the campus,” Bryant said.

“Importantly, the building incorporates a Changing Places facility on the ground level for people living with a disability and will include an adult change room with a hoist, a change bed and an accessible toilet.

“The building will encompass formal and informal teaching spaces, lounge areas, and integrated teaching spaces with research and staff accommodation.”

He said the building’s five-star Green Star rating would be achieved through a number of factors, including responsible construction and procurement practices and setting embodied carbon targets.

▲ A render of the flagship “arrivals building” to be built at Griffith University's Nathan campus, south of the Brisbane CBD.

“The roof will include solar panels for green energy, and natural ventilation with high opening windows and fans on the terraces and in all teaching and workplace spaces,” Bryant said.

BVN’s design has been inspired by the adjoining Toohey Forest with the internal colour palette reflecting the forest’s fauna and flora. As well, it has a Designing with Country element that will take staff, students and visitors on a journey through the atrium as they traverse the levels, staircases, and terraces.

The university’s engineering academics is also working with the project team on a proposal to install geotechnical and structural real-time sensing into N82 to support teaching, learning and research.

Meanwhile, an announcement from the university is believed to be imminent on the preferred site of its new Brisbane CBD campus, which will cater for about 7500 students and 400 staff when it opens in 2027.

Four buildings have been short-listed.

The university has rejected claims it will be filling the void left by anchor tenant Myer in the six-floor, newly renamed Uptown centre in Queen Street Mall.