The Bates Smart-designed Adina Apartment Hotel Melbourne Southbank, operated by TFE Hotels, opened yesterday and, aside from being within walking distance of everything Melbourne is famous for, the property’s green design is a winner.
The 220-room property’s green cross-laminated timber (CLT) tower is a fifth of the weight of concrete, and is believed to be the world’s tallest engineered timber extension, cleverly built on top of an existing office building.
The 5,300 tonnes of CLT used to build the 10-storey, 32m-tall extension tower act as a carbon sink, offsetting about 4,200 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
“The environmental benefit of using CLT, wherever possible, in place of carbon-emitting materials like concrete and steel, represents best practice green design,” said Bates Smart Director Julian Anderson. “What’s really exciting is people will make a decision to stay at Adina Melbourne Southbank because it ticks all the boxes on location and experience, but also because of its commitment to sustainability.”
Situated at the intersection of Southbank Boulevard and City Road, the ultra-modern apartment hotel capitalises on its position via a striking, curved ‘glass curtain’ façade, punctuated by floor-to-ceiling windows in every room. Crowning a total building height of 71.56m, it further enhances Melbourne’s chart-topping skyline, ranked Australia’s #1 and teetering high on the world’s Top 100 list, ahead of Sydney, London and even Las Vegas (according to the internationally-recognised Emporis ‘Skyline Ranking’).
Looking forward to welcoming the hotel’s first guests, Adina Melbourne Southbank Hotel General Manager Nigel Maxey knows they’re in for quite a few surprises, not least being choice of rooms with striking views. Either north-facing city views across the Yarra River or, southwards, to Port Philip Bay, home to about 100 bottle-nosed dolphins known to venture into Melbourne’s rivers for a CBD getaway about six times a year.
“The other WOW-factor is the spaciousness of rooms, particularly the 10 two-bedroom apartments, which hug the curve of the building on every level, covering 75 to 80 square metres,” Nigel said of the hotel that also offers 70 studio apartments and 140 one-bedroom apartments. All with fully equipped kitchen and laundry facilities and lounge/dining areas.
“Guests will definitely enjoy being able to spread out and live like locals, with the benefit of full hotel services including 24-hour reception, meeting facilities and really impressive on-site leisure facilities. Ideal to entertain families or people staying on business.”
