Construction of Chatswood’s largest and tallest apartment complex, the Metro Residences designed by Cox Richardson, is now underway after being delayed by more than 12 months.

Following a favourable finding by the Land & Environment Court, joint-venture development partners Galileo Group and ISPT have successfully resolved all matters, paving the way to start work on the three towers on the northern Sydney suburb’s skyline.

The three apartment towers are designed to become increasingly transparent as they soar above the Chatswood Transport Interchange. Finely-detailed metallic grids and glass curtain walls give the façades a crystalline sheen, with feature blades folding at the top of each building creating distinct crowns.

Architects Cox Richardson describe the Metro towers as ‘tall, slender and elegant additions to the skyline’.

“The towers have relatively compact floor plates, ranging from approximately 480m2 to 820m2, allowing for slender forms rather than the slab-like structures found in other parts of the Chatswood Business District,” said Nick Tyrrell, a director of Cox Richardson.

“The towers are based on an earlier concept by COX DesignInc and respond to the Chatswood city grid, adjacent boundaries, rail alignment, and minimise shadow impact on the Garden of Remembrance.

“They connect the north, south and west via a feature blade wall on one façade of each tower that is aligned to one of these three directions, providing a city-scale signal or beacon symbolically linking to the broader transport network.”

Because the towers are slender it allows for more corner apartments, multi-directional views, cross-ventilation and greater light penetration. Apartments will have multi-purpose wintergardens which provide versatile living space.

Metro View (31-storeys) will be the first tower completed – around March/April 2014. Metro Spire (42-storeys) will follow around two months later, with Metro Grand (46-storeys) expected to complete the development around February/March 2015.

In all, there will be 553 apartments, the majority already sold.