Major Refurbishment Proposed for 444 Queen Street

One of Brisbane’s most ugly commercial buildings would soon receive a major refurbishment if a development application by PGIM Australia is approved.

Designed by Fender Katsalidis, the proposed 24-storey development is an adaptive reuse of the 47-year old building’s primary structure, in a similar fashion of the recent Midtown Centre refurbishment.

Deteriorating external facade elements of the existing building would be removed and replaced with a high performance curtain wall facade, bringing the building to a proposed A-Grade standard and targeting a 5 Star Green Star design rating.

According to the development application, the proposal incorporates heritage cues from its neighbours, the Country Life building, as well as Customs House positioned across Queen Street.

“The podium has been tailored to its context, in terms of height and materiality (using a warm and neutral palette) to provide a considered transition to the heritage buildings surrounding the site, whilst aligning with the contemporary podium form of 480 Queen, striking an appropriate balance between the two.”

– Fender Katsalidis / Urbis.

The development also proposes to re-enliven and enrich the streetscape through the addition of a new podium with glazing to provide transparency, visual connections and activation.

Vertical greenery is proposed across podium and tower levels with a series of elevated and vertical subtropical gardens.

A green rooftop space with planters and an outdoor seating terrace to promote use of outdoor spaces is proposed on the rooftop.

On the ground floor, a café and bar is planned with the potential for alfresco dining opportunities to provide additional streetscape activation. Additionally a full business lounge is also proposed for the ground floor area.

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Project rundown

• Site Area: 1,708m2
• GFA: 22,401m²
• Height: 24 Storeys / RL 90.81m
• Lifts: x6
• Retail: 232m² ground floor retail tenancy & 301m² business lounge
• Communal Space: Rooftop terrace provided for office tenant
• Car Parking: x52 car spaces including 1 PWD space
• Bike Parking / EOTF: New end-of-trip cycling facilities (EOTF) are proposed in the basement, accessible via the rear of the site. The EOTF includes x157 bicycle spaces, x224 lockers, x12 showers, split between male and female
• Architect: Fender Katsalidis
• Landscape Design: Lat27
• Town Planner: Urbis
• Sustainability: Provision for 439m² rooftop solar panel array

According to architect Fender Katsalidis, the architectural theme has drawn inspiration from heritage buildings that sit around the site.

“Whilst the sculptured, natural podium treatment is a key architectural feature of the design, particularly at the lower levels of the building, it also serves a functional purpose through strategic placement and spacing of glazing to provide shading where needed, whilst also enhancing access to natural light.” – Fender Katsalidis.

A recent example of a similar Brisbane CBD adaptive reuse project is the Midtown Centre project.

Midtown Centre – Architectural first in Australia from Ashe Morgan on Vimeo.

Plans

Tell us what you think about this development application below in the comment box. The development application for this project, available to view on Brisbane City Council’s Developmenti online platform is A005905778.

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