Image Credit: Cox Architecture
During the height of Covid, veteran developer Barrie Harrop had a goal to bring the world’s tallest cross-laminated timber hotel to Adelaide. It would tower 31 storeys above Victoria Square extending from the heritage-listed MLC building. The development was set to cost around $250 million, but travel restrictions saw interest dwindle, and the project had to be put on hold.
Now these plans have been reignited and Adelaide could soon be home to this impressive tower. New plans have added two double penthouses on the original design to stand 35 storeys tall with a total of 324 rooms. The property is set to welcome guests between late 2026 and early 2027.
The idea traces back to Swedish innovation, where Harrop saw the potential of building with timber rather than materials like concrete and steel.
“I got one of my friends to go and stay at a wooden hotel in Sweden and I gave him a strange request,” Harrop said. “I said, ‘go to this new hotel, sit in the lobby for half an hour, and ring me back to tell me what people do.”
“It’s a weird request, Barry,” his friend laughed, “But we’ll do it for you.”
“After half an hour, he rang me and said, ‘as they entered the hotel lobby, the first thing they did was walk up to the wood columns and stroked them’.”
“So there will be a real tactile experience as you enter the building and that extends through the hotel.”
The tower will sit behind and above the existing MLC structure and include 324 hotel suites, 20 residential apartments, and four penthouses. A rooftop restaurant and bar are also planned, which would become the highest in the city. It will literally take the rooftop bar scene to the next level.
Designed by Cox Architecture, the hotel is set to be built using cross-laminated timber (CLT) from renewable plantation timber, with a green steelcore. Construction is scheduled to begin later this year, led by Multiplex. A globally recognised international hotel operator is expected to run the site, although it hasn’t been revealed just yet.
Harrop believes the project shows how sustainable construction can be scaled quickly, which will require up to 65% fewer skilled workers on site. He added it has the potential to help build a new growth industry in Australia through collaboration with Thrive Construct and its global experience in large-scale CLT developments.
The hotel is set to become the tallest in the world made from CLT. The project aligns with the state’s growing focus on timber construction, with recent CLT use at Adelaide Oval and the Adelaide Aquatic Centre.
“It’ll be iconic,” says Harrop. “We’re going to save the MLC building, while in Melbourne they’re looking to demolish its counterpart.”
“These buildings are historic because of the technical aspects of their facades,” Harrop continued. “These unique facades are a sort of evolution of buildings throughout the world and they’ve been given heritage status because of that.”
The project will fully restore the MLC building to its former glory while upgrading it to meet 2025 compliance standards.
“Going back to the ’60s and ’70s era, the MLC building was a sort of weather beacon for everyone in the area. If you wanted to know what the weather was going to be you’d look at the MLC building and check the lights,” Harrop told us. “We’re going to bring that back as a weather beacon in a more modern form.”
So why now, when it’s been on the back burner for so long? As was the nature of 2022, international benefactors began to pull out of the project, tourism and global travel hitting a spectacular low. It just wasn’t the right time. But now, with a boom of tourism in South Australia, and Victoria Square about as central as it gets to some of what the Festival State does best, the project is being revived.
“It’s great timing,” Harrop said. “We’ve been contemplating this project since before Covid. Of course we lost a bit of momentum through that process.”
“It’s a town square and a celebratory place,” Harrop said. “Tens of thousands of people congregate in that square for Tasting Australia, cycling events, and other large celebratory events.”
Now, with momentum back and the city’s tourism sector thriving, all eyes are on Victoria Square waiting for the world’s tallest cross-laminated timber hotel to begin its ascent.
