Melbourne Residential Tower Tops Out Ahead of Schedule

The share of foreign buyers in the Australian property market has fallen to a six-year low, with owner-occupiers and first home buyers growing to occupy nearly 40 per cent of the market in new property.

This is good news for new apartments coming to market this year – and another one has just topped-out faster than expected in the CBD, “Avant”, a 167-metre residential tower developed by Singaporean property developer World Class Global.

Construction giant Probuild have cut two months from the construction of the 54 A’Beckett Street tower, utilising a new construction methodology, which they call the “Probuild Construction System”.

Avant’s project manager Lorien Dalmau, said the delivery speed could be credited to the construction system, which uses a “horizontal” technique, similar to a car assembly line. The builder said it ensures a steady construction pace and reduces bottlenecks and defects in large-scale construction.

“We’ve been utilising key elements of the PCS here at Avant, including strategies to optimise the movement of personnel and materials to the workface,” Dalmau said.

Designed by Elenberg Fraser, Avant comprises 456 apartments over 43,600 square metres. The building features three-storeys worth of retail and communal amenities.

Probuild Victoria managing director Luke Stambolis, said their methodology was borrowed from the automotive industry.

“They’ve been doing this for years. We’re currently in development linking our supply chain system, with IOT monitoring and digital payment system both integrated.

Probuild is scheduled to hand over 203 apartments, up to level 29, in February before handing over the remaining 253 apartments – along with three levels of residential communal amenities – to World Class Global in mid-2018.

World Class Global is a subsidiary of Aspial. They acquired the 510sq m site in 2015 for approximately $11 million.