Please turn your device to portrait.
Thrive Construct proposes 2,500 modular-constructed CLT mid-rise apartments to accommodate an influx of workers.
With the South Australian government investing $600 million in Whyalla, South Australia, to construct an electrolyser that will power a green hydrogen power station, large companies are jockeying for positions for rights to build the hydrogen-based manufacturing plant.
And, with GFH Alliance also preparing to manufacture Greensteel in Whyalla, the future appears assured for the coastal town. (main pic: Thrive Construct’s proposed cross-laminated timber modular development for Whyalla.)
With a population of 22,000 and an anticipated influx of a further 5,000 to 6,000 people, Barrie Harrop’s Thrive Construct and joint venture partner Japanese urban design group Nikken Sekkei have delivered a letter of intent to the SA government proposing to build 2,500 cross-laminated timber (CLT) mid-rise apartments.
If successful, Harrop will build six or seven cross-laminated timber mid-rise apartment buildings, which could make it the largest CLT development in the country.
In July this year, Harrop announced their first cross-laminated timber development, the 31-level Adelaide building set to be constructed on the north-west corner of Victoria Square fronting Franklin Street.
Last week Harrop met with South Australian Minister for Regional Development Clare Scriven and Minister for Trade and Investment, Housing and Urban Development and Planning Nick Champion and presented a letter of intent to embark on the project.
Nikken Sekki said in the letter: “Nikken Sekki team welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with Thrive Construct to create a one-of-a-kind advanced modular cross-laminated timber housing estates on the foreshore precinct of Whyalla.
“We hope that our experience will contribute and support the urban development of the foreshore precinct as a bridgehead to the future generation.”
Harrop asked the state government to provide a repayable loan of $5 million to start phase one of his development. The 178 room, 48 apartment foreshore hotel was designed by Cox Architects, and is scheduled to be built on the site presently occupied by the Whyalla Foreshore Motel.
