The site included a three-storey 1908 Art Nouveau building. The tower is sensitively setback from the heritage façade, reinstating the decorative grandeur of the original features and creating a landmark building, both at street level and on the skyline.

Innovative thinking was applied across all aspects of the project. The design uses a self-supporting ‘H-frame’ wall solution, which moves the structural core to the perimeter and enables floorplates to be column free. This let the height and slenderness of the tower to be maximised.

Air rights purchased from the adjacent property, allows the building to cantilever 4.5-metres, creating unobstructed views.

A prefabricated system was also developed, in conjunction with 4D Workshop and Hickory, and 472 prefabricated modules were craned into place.

With the limitations of a 480sqm footprint – roughly the size of a netball court – and a heritage frontage, Collins House required some inventive thinking. Australia’s slimmest tower, and fourth in the world by aspect ratio, is an elegant residential building which demonstrates how small sites can be viable.