These landmark Sydney skyscrapers are set for a height increase

A LANDMARK Renzo Piano-designed skyscraper in Sydney is set to become taller as the Australian city relaxes height restrictions that have been in place for decades.

Last week, Lendlease moved to increase the height of one of three residential towers currently in the works as part of the USD $3BN One Sydney Harbour development.

The Barangaroo area where the development is being built has been dramatically transformed over the last few years.

Located just west of Sydney’s Central Business District (CBD), the area has already seen the construction of Sydney’s tallest building, the 275-metre Crown Sydney, completed in late 2020.

Above: The height increase would put the development's middle tower at nearly the same height as the tallest. Image courtesy of Renzo Piano Building Workshop.

Renzo Piano’s three residential tower plan would be another significant addition to the skyline. At heights of 250-metres, 210-metres and 107-metres respectively, Lendlease is asking for the 210-metre tower to be extended to 233-metres, adding eight stories and 32 apartments to the development.

The tower, known as Residences Two, will feature uninterrupted views of the famous harbour bridge and opera house as well as Darling Harbour and the Blue Mountains to the west.

Residences Two will have full-floor and part-floor homes, as well as one, two and three-bedroom configurations beneath full floor penthouse levels.

The neighbouring 250-metre Residences One made headlines in 2019 when it netted the country’s most expensive residential sale with a USD $106M two-level penthouse.

Now, architects are arguing the extension of Residences Two will have no discernible impact on neighbouring buildings, or on the overall master plan for Barangaroo.

“This is because the current height of (the tower) is already taller than the adjacent International Towers development and is largely shielded from the Crown Hotel,” Piano said in a statement.

“We have closely studied the skyline as viewed from Darling Harbour.

“The proposed increase in height (will) help to emphasise the overall ‘stepping’ envisaged in the masterplanned precinct.”

Above: The towers will have uninterrupted views of Sydney's iconic harbour. Image courtesy of Renzo Piano Building Workshop.

Early in 2020 the City of Sydney endorsed changes in decades-old planning controls to lift height restrictions from a 235-metre cap to 330-metres.

Originally put in place in the 1980s after the construction of the 309-metre Centrepoint Tower so that no building would eclipse its height on the skyline.

Architects and urban planners have long argued the cap has held back development in Australia’s largest city, and since its lifting there have been numerous other high-profile skyscrapers announced, including twin 80-story towers at 338 Pitt Street.

Renzo Piano is the Pritzker Prize-winning architect behind such landmark buildings as The Shard in London and the Pompidou Centre in Paris.