MANY MINDEDSydney tower doubles the height record for hybrid timber construction
Atlassian Central has reached its full height of 180 m (591 ft) in Sydney, described as the world's tallest hybrid timber skyscraper. The mark more than doubles the previous record held by Milwaukee's Ascent at 86.6 m. Designed by SHoP Architects and BVN Architecture, the 39-floor building is mostly office space, with a four-story collaboration area, garden terraces, a rooftop garden, and a hostel.
The structure is a hybrid rather than pure timber: a concrete core and a steel exoskeleton carry the loads alongside roughly 10,000 cubic meters of engineered timber, mainly glue-laminated columns and cross-laminated panels. The facade integrates solar panels and an automated cooling system. Completion is scheduled for late 2026.
Buildings are one of the largest sources of embodied and operational carbon, and mass timber stores carbon in the structure while cutting the concrete and steel that dominate emissions. Proving that timber can reach skyscraper scale expands what low-carbon construction can attempt, which matters for making cleaner shelter and workspace ordinary rather than experimental.
The headline numbers are targets, not verified outcomes: BVN states a 50% cut in upfront embodied carbon versus a conventional office tower and a 50% gain in operational energy efficiency. Those figures need confirmation once the building is complete and occupied, which has not yet happened. Watch for measured performance data after the 2026 opening.
Source: New Atlas