ANZ today announced it would develop Australia's largest office building on the Yarra River in Melbourne's extended Collins Street, Docklands to provide high-quality accommodation for 5,500 ANZ staff.

ANZ's new workplace at 833 Collins Street in Melbourne's Docklands precinct will reflect ANZ's commitment to reducing its environmental impact. The workplace is the largest, greenest commercial office building currently under construction in Australia. It will be home to over 6,500 ANZ staff and is due for completion in late 2009.

ANZ's specific needs and aspirations, the new Melbourne office will represent best practice for workplace design: a low rise 10-storey 'groundscraper' with a dynamic central atrium space and fully connected large floor plates. Accommodating over 6,500 staff, the building will incorporate a mix of employee and community amenities.

HASSELL has been appointed to provide interior design and architecture services for ANZ's new workplace being developed by Lend Lease at 833 Collins Street in Melbourne's docklands. This is the largest office building currently under construction in Australia with an area of 83,550 sqm and will be home to over 6,500 staff.

This paper explores the influence of property market aspirations and sustainability issues upon workplace environments presently influencing office buildings in Australia. Emerging trends and influences are shifting the traditional demand for high-rise office towers toward an alternative or evolved building typology of Sustainable Groundscrapers and Megaplate Towers. In a country where internal space efficiencies are key drivers in virtually all commercial developments, we are witnessing progressive design concepts and the creation of world class benchmarks. The temperate to sub-tropical climate combined with a maturing national sustainability agenda that is supported by both government and private sectors, has most recently served to create an environment for innovation generating new and progressive examples of sustainable commercial built form.

This paper has provided a broad overview of different historic developments for concrete high-rise buildings. The evolution of concrete skyscrapers from the first reinforced concrete high-rise, the Ingalls Building, which was 15 stories high to modern skyscrapers Petronas and the Jin Mao is discussed. How new innovations in construction technology such as the advances in formwork, mixing of concrete, techniques for pumping, and types of admixtures to improve quality have all contributed to the ease of working with concrete in high-rise construction is also briefly discussed in the paper.

Guide to Long-Span Concrete Floors has been produced to provide architects, building designers, structural engineers and architectural and engineering students and lecturers with an appreciation of the factors that should be taken into consideration in selecting a flooring system for a particular building. Covering major architectural, structural design and construction considerations this publication incorporates sketches and photographs and included graphs to enable designers to quickly identify appropriate floor systems to carry applied loading for the desired span and provide approximate dimensions for the preliminary design.
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Available for loan through CCAA library.

Austress Freyssinet is a design and contracting company specialising in structural, remedial and geotechnical works. Post-tensioned floor systems in building structures such as car parks, offices, residential buildings and shopping centres have always been a key aspect of the Company's activities. Post tensioning work is a core activity for the company, used in applications including buildings, bridges, silos, industrial facilities, nuclear power plants, dams, harbours, tunnels, etc. Their website has a vast range of technical and project information on post tensioned construction.

POST-TENSIONED slab design is widely used in Australia, with the main benefits over conventionally reinforced concrete being its ability to span greater distances without resorting to thick slabs and beams (and the consequent loss of head height), and reduce deflection and cracking. There are also some associated labour and time savings.

Advances in corrosion protection and design flexibility give contractors new options. (About the authors: Scott Greenhaus is President of VSL and John Crigler is Vice president and Technical Manager of VSL).