CBUS Property has enlisted four big architectural consortiums to design a building for the site at Market St and Flinders Lane in Melbourne, commonly known as 447 Collins St.

CBUS sought Expression of Interest from 12 architectural firms for the redevelopment of the site and have since announced four successful shortlisted practices.

These include:

  • Hassell + Bjarke Ingles Group (BIG) (Copenhagen)
  • Fender Katsalidis + Skidmore, Ownings & Merrill (Chicago)
  • Woods Bagot + ShoP Architects (New York)
  • Bates Smart + Snohetta (Oslo)

The design competition commenced on 10 February and will run for six weeks. Following that will be two weeks to review and award the winning design.

A proposal with the Future Melbourne (Planning) Committee is seeking the demolition of the existing 27-storey, former National Mutual Plaza building at the site.

CBUS intend to commence demolition of the existing building within two months of receiving a suitable demolition permit for the works.

The tight schedule is prompted by the building permit, which was granted back in 2006, but will expire in December 2015 if development has not commenced.