City corner over the top

26 June 2026

Well this is super depressing – Lendlease actually wants to go to nearly twice the MANDATORY 40m height limit for their boring office project around Young & Jacksons, and it’s entirely up to the Minister Sonya Kilkenny to say yes or no, without any public process.

I thought the 40m (plus plant levels) design was awful enough, both boring and dominating in this extremely important gateway site. A version twice as high will make the pub look titchy, stick up behind the dome of Flinders Street looking from the south, distract from the dominance of the Cathedral, and stick up aggressively in the low streetscape of Flinders Street. It will also cast a wide shadow most of the year right across the intersection and the Fed Sq corner in the late afternoon, especially in winter. And it’s just offices, plenty of other places to put them.

A few months ago Lendlease put it on hold, not enough profit ? This would set an awful precedent – the 40m height limit in the retail core has been in place since 1982, that’s 44 years, and has ensured a low scale and feel and sunlight to the busy shopping streets. It was a re-imposition of the whole CBD limit of 40m (1916-1950s), and the retail area had relatively few mid century towers. It has a huge concentration of smaller historic buildings, lanes and arcades, and the height limit discouraged site amalgamations for towers, so it also had the effect of preserving most of those buildings intact. Now many are apartments or boutique hotels or low rent spaces above the ground level. All of that would be under threat if this gets a permit, even if it’s said to be a one-off. I guess I’ll be emailing the Minister! Report in today’s Age. It’s telling that there’s only one image from an elevated position, which doesn’t show how it would look from the street, or from a distance.

I’ve done a terrible outline and pic 4 is the 40m proposal. Pic 6 is my own preferred version, one that draws from traditional front vs side walls for pre 1940 buildings in the cbd, and the tradition of neon signs on that corner.