The world’s largest timber-hybrid building under construction—dubbed a “timber building inside a much larger building“—has reached its halfway point of construction, with Dexus and Atlassian revealing that the first of seven timber habitats is now ready for “full fitout.”
“We’re not just putting up another office tower,” said Atlassian’s CEO and co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes. “We’re rethinking what a workplace can be. It’s sustainable design at a global scale, right here in Sydney. One that’s greener, smarter and built for how teams actually work today.”
Designed by BVN and New York-based SHoP, each ‘habitat’ comprises four floors of timbered space stacked on top of each other inside a steel exoskeleton structure, an engineering feat which elimiates the need for internal columns: “The timber floors are connected to the concrete floors via drag straps,” said Tim Allen, timber structural lead for TTW, who spoke at Timber Construct – Australia’s only timber construction conference about the engineering last year. “Why build a 39-storey building partly out of timber?” Allen said. “Because it comes down to using the right timber for the right application.”
Wood Central understands that each ‘pod’ comprises one fully air-conditioned floor with three floating timber floors, the latter recessed to overlook a triple-heart atrium ‘park space’ that partially opens to the elements. These open gardens are to be planted with 13,000 natives and are key to reducing the tower’s footprint.
In total, more than 30,000 cubic metres of cross-laminated timber and glulam are being clicked into place piece by piece inside the 39-storey skyscraper, with European giants Stora Enso and Wiehag supplying the timber panels, columns, and beams chosen for their durability and fire resistance in the habitats, all sandwiched between steel-and-concrete megal floor plates, atop a seven-storey concrete podium.
In October, Peter Morely, the Dexus project director responsible for the project, said the project team had “broken the back on the most technical, structural phase of the build,” with “the hybrid timber approach allowing (the developers) to bring the building up quicker and get the facade on quicker than a more traditional build.”
“That’s because we’re jumping up five levels every time, and while we’re going up, we’re coming back and infilling with the timber within each of those five-storey zones,” according to Morely. Atlassian Central is co-owned by Dexus and Atlassian, with Built and Japanese asset manager Obayashi appointed as builders, confirming that the building remains “on schedule” for a grand opening in 2026, with the tech giant expected to take over five of the seven habitats in late 2028, following a full fit-out.
“What Atlassian has done has set the bar high at a global level. And we’re going to see a lot of action around buildings that tackle embodied carbon in a real and authentic way,” according to Joe Karten, Built’s head of sustainability, who last year spoke to the AFR’s Tech Zero about the project. “They’ve [Atlassian] made no secret that they didn’t require the standard property developer margins on that project,” Karten said, adding that “they invested some extra money to create a real icon of a project. Now, that’s invaluable because attracting talent—we know in tech, the war for talent is fierce.”
- To learn more about this year’s Timber Construct, slated to be staged in Melbourne on October 13 and 14, 2025, click here for more information.
