Centrepoint Tower

[Delta]

Sydney Tower or still often known by its original name, Centrepoint Tower, was designed by architect Donald Crone. Its height to tip of spire is 1014ft/309m.

Crone conceived Sydney Tower in 1968. Construction of Centrepoint's shopping areas began in late 1970 with the first 52 stores opening in 1972. The office component was completed in 1974.

Construction of the tower component began in 1975 and was completed in 1981. However, building this tall tower was no small feat. Engineers had to overcome the potential problem of Sydney

[darkknight]

i like this tower!! I dont know why!! I just like it!!!

[Malt]

Nice post.. I didnt know many things u mentioned about the tower. I never knew it had office aqnd shopping space... And those resturaunts revolving in opsiite directions. thats interesting

And also, 2 years to get the thing to the top!? how come?

[monsoon]

[wolfdawg54]

I have always liked the tower. BTW it looked good in Sim City 2000.

[swags]

That is a pretty nice tower. I never realized it was stabilized by cables though... go figure. Looks good at night.

[Delta]

And also, 2 years to get the thing to the top!? how come?

Great and innovate mid-1970s structural eninginering.

Beides hoisting the turret from the top of the office component to the top of the shaft (read below), there were a few construction strikes at the time as well on the site.

The shaft supporting the turret is made up of 46 barrel units, each weighing 27 tonnes. These were brought on to the site in seven pieces and welded together. Once the first three sections were in place, a gantry crane was erected to hoist the remaining 43 barrel units.

Each barrel unit was completed with lifts rails, stairwells and hydrolic risers before hoisting. The shaft contains two sets of fire stairs, fire, electrical and plumbing ducts in one half and the lift shafts in the remainder.

The tower itself weighs 2.239 tons. One of the floors in the turret contains a 162.000 litre water tank which serves as a counterbalance to the wind gusts.

The golden turret has a total 420 windows.

BTW the 3 athletic metallic sculptures were placed atop for both the 2000 Sydney Olympic and Para-Olympic games:

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[Malt]

Cool, still seems like a long time to get the top up there... thanks for the info

[Dale]

Am I the only one who thinks the tower looks rather dated ?

[Delta]

^ No, you're not the only one. However, it is a 1960s design and yet the structural engineering technology used @ the time of its construction was quite incredible. The turret has been known to sway up to 1 metre (3.28ft) in high wind forces.

The golden turret can look superb shining in the sun. Personally I think the "pole" looks rusty - it's supposed to be maroon lol.

Check out all the dishes and antennae - pic by R. Braddish:

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[danteque]

I do not like the tower. It's all golden and ... glam.

[Delta]

^ I'm not crazy about the tower either, but I do like glam

Below is scanned from The Sydney Morning Herald in March '78. They were 1m (3.28ft) less off in height lol. BTW For "height freaks" , the neighbouring MLC Centre Tower is now the 4th highest structure in the main Sydney CBD.