Prefab skyscraper project in Melbourne

Melbourne in Australia will be home to another prefabricated skyscraper, with the latest addition being a student accommodation building that will top out at 150 metres.

Joining Rothelowman’s La Trobe Tower, the new building at 42-50 La Trobe Street —  designed by the Melbourne-based architects Hayball – will make use of Hickory Group’s Hickory Building System that utilises offsite manufacturing for the majority of building components. Floor slabs, facades and Hickory’s Sync bathroom pod system will be manufactured offsite and then trucked to La Trobe Street for final assembly.

With a gross floor area of nearly 25,000 square metres, the building is slated to be delivered eight months faster than traditional construction methods would allow, resulting in a 30% saving over conventional construction methods. Similar to La Trobe Tower, 42-50 La Trobe Street will employ an electric crane to lift the modules into place outside of traditional work hours, minimising traffic disruption and site congestion.

The new project will see a 43-level tower, with a smaller seven-level building to the rear of the site. Together, they will house 783 student beds. The building will also include a ground-floor café, numerous community spaces, terraces and collaborative learning spaces.