The developer planning a 1,169-ft tower in Melbourne, Australia that is set to be the country's tallest, along with a second structure that would be among the tallest in the city, recently selected contractor Multiplex as project builder. 

Beulah International, developer of the dual high-rise called STH BNK By Beulah, has estimated the project cost at the equivalent of $1.3 billion. Melbourne and Victoria state officials have already signed off on the plan. Multiplex says it expects to start work later this year or early next year. 

The plan calls for the mixed-use towers sharing a lower podium in Melbourne’s Southbank neighborhood south of the Yarra River. The taller tower would include 102 floors, while the shorter 827-ft-tall tower would include 72 floors. Designed by UNStudio and Cox Architecture, both would feature a “green spine” creating a curved appearance with terraces and verandas draped in shrubs.

AECOM is doing structural and civil engineering on the project, a spokesperson for the firm’s Australia business unit confirms. The design and engineering team also includes Arup, Grant Associates and Aspect Studios, according to Beulah. 

Multiplex, a subsidiary of Canada-based Brookfield Asset Management, says it had $3.8 billion in revenue last year. As of December, residential projects accounted for $3.7 billion of its $12.1-billion workbook, the largest piece, it says. The contractor previously worked for the developer in Melbourne on its 535-ft-tall Paragon tower project, completed in 2021. Multiplex also built the Australia 108 tower, currently the tallest building in Melbourne and second-tallest in Australia behind Gold Coast’s 1,058-ft-tall Q1 Tower.

Jiaheng Chan, Beulah managing director, said in a statement that Multiplex experience “delivering some of Australia’s most significant and iconic projects” was a big factor in its selection.

STH BNK would be Australia’s fourth supertall building, which the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat defines as those at least 984 ft tall. It would also be the second-tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere, after the 1,256-ft-tall Autograph Tower in Jakarta, Indonesia, according to council data.