Tower 2 of Barangaroo South’s International Towers Sydney (ITS) has reached the highest point of construction following 22 months of construction and over two million worker hours – a milestone marked by an ancient Scandinavian tree ritual at the summit of the 42-storey tower.

Designed by Lord Richard Rogers and Ivan Harbour of British firm Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, the ITS is located at the heart of the precinct, and has been benchmarked against office developments in New York, London, Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai. Most notable of its design is its large contiguous floor plates of approximately 2,300sqm which, combined with the ‘vertical villages’ in the mid- and high-rises, will offer tenants maximum flexibility.

“Its large, flexible floor plates has attracted leading organisations including Westpac, PwC, HSBC, KPMG and Gilbert + Tobin and will add around 270,000 square metres of premium office space to Sydney – similar in scale to both the three towers at Marina Bay Financial Centre in Singapore and the three towers at Canary Wharf in London,” said Lend Lease.

Ceiling heights of the buildings are also higher than industry standards, rising approximately 2,900mm on typical floors, and about 3,100mm on designated client floors at the top of each high-rise.

The towers, which aim to be Australia’s most sustainable high rise office buildings, will feature solar shading facades, landscaped podium roofs and outdoor sky terraces. The centralised precinct services will support carbon neutrality, water recycling, and divert over 80 per cent of waste from landfills. To date, two of the three towers have achieved a 6 Star Green Star – Office v3 rating from the Green Building Council of Australia.

Image: Barangaroo South

Joining the ITS in Barangaroo South are a set of residential towers by Pritzker Prize winner Renzo Piano and two low-rise apartment buildings by FJMT and PTW Architects, all of which are part of LendLease’s new Barangaroo South concept plans submitted earlier this month.

Law practice Gilbert + Tobin and Westpac are the anchor tenants for Tower 2, which is the first of the three commercial towers to near completion. The first Westpac employees will move in from mid-2015.