The design consists of a single 12-storey tower element combined with a three-storey negative podium that will make up the maximum overall building height of 15-storeys. The 949 Ann Street project will be primarily made up of 14 office spaces in a range of floor plates from 890 square metres to 1070 square metres. The floor plates have been arranged to allow excellent orientation to both street frontages to contribute to the site’s significant corner status.

Two commercial and retail spaces are proposed at ground floor level, making up around 390 square metres of gross floor area. These tenancies are oriented towards the street frontages and have been positioned in such a way as to facilitate pedestrian activation and promote pedestrian connectivity along both Ann Street and Chester Street.

The building also features 71 car parking spaces, 91 bicycle parks and end of trip facilities are proposed within the three-level basement and ground level. An extensive rooftop level and sky gardens at several levels are also proposed for ancillary recreational purposes and are supplemented by various planting opportunities, a roof garden and amenity facilities.

The negative podium space on the street corner, generous publicly accessible space at ground level, and additional awning elements contribute to the public realm and respond to the ‘significant corner site’ status of the site under the Fortitude Valley Neighbourhood Plan.

The development incorporates extensive landscaped areas and vertical planting opportunities on and around the building.Given the urban context of the site, these landscaping areas are intended to afford the development with a defined ‘green edge’ which softens the hard-built form interface with the surrounding public realm.

The site is identified as a key gateway site to the city, and therefore the council were looking for an exemplary piece of architecture. The site suited 1000 square metre plates, and they have been arranged so they can be interconnecting floors and exterior verandas. The building has been designed to respond to Buildings That Breathe guidelines, newly established by the Brisbane City Council. As well, it is activated at street level by two retail tenancies that opens onto Ann Street and Chester Street respectively. This is the first project to be submitted through Brisbane City Council’s new “Design Smart” town planning process which fast tracks approval to a 20-day time line.

‍