Canberra is set to have its tallest residential building after the ACT government approved Geocon's Belconnen tower development.
The ACT Planning and Land Authority has approved the 27-storey building which will be constructed on the corner of Eastern Valley Way and Aikman Drive in the town centre.
Geocon had revised plans for the project in September following community and agency concern over the height.
The original development application lodged in April this year proposed a 112-metre residential building and adjoining 80-metre hotel.
The revision scaled the development down to a 26-storey, 80-metre tower. ACTPLA's approval requires a further change to some design elements, which will mean the building will be eight metres higher than what was proposed in the revision - adding another floor and taking it to 27.
Under the amended application there would still be 235 apartments constructed but the size of the hotel reduced from 168 to 96 rooms.
Geocon managing director Nick Georgalis said it was exciting to finally have approval for the project and the team looked forward to getting the apartments onto the market early next year.
He said the building had lost a bit of its personality in the revised application and was pleased the planning authorities had requested some of the original design elements be returned.
Mr Georgalis said while he would have liked it to be the tallest building in Canberra he was quite happy with the title of highest residential building.
“The people who did feel it was too high probably have a resolution now that it is a shorter building maybe any tall building may not satisfy or suit what they want,” he said.
“We've also had feedback from a lot of people unhappy that it's not as tall as it was.
“We're quite happy where it is, we think it's still a fantastic development we've kept a lot of the integrity and personality of what we wanted initially to deliver.”
Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate deputy director-general of planning Ben Ponton said following extensive assessment and deliberation ACTPLA had conditionally approved the amended development application.
“The decision requires the amended 26-storey building to be further revised to better incorporate positive design elements from the original 35-storey proposal,” he said.
Mr Ponton said the changes would see the tower-top element of the building being accentuated and increase the height of the entry level and colonnades.
As a result of the changes the amended building will increase in height by one story to 27-storeys.
“A modest increase in height to achieve this design outcome was considered appropriate by the planning and land authority,” Mr Ponton said.
“As approved, this building will make a positive contribution to the evolving character of the Belconnen town centre.”
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