User:Invincible/Eureka Tower

Eureka Tower is a residential building situated in the Southbank precinct of Melbourne. The structure was officially opened on 11 October 2006. The tower was designed by the architectural firm Nation Fender Katsalidis. The development was initially proposed as two shorter buildings, however this was changed to the current taller design.

Name
The Eureka Tower is named after the Eureka Stockade, a rebellion during the Victorian gold rush in 1854. This has been incorporated into the design, with the building's gold crown representing the gold rush and a red stripe representing the blood spilt during the revolt.

Statistics
Eureka Tower stands at 297.3m above ground level and is exactly 300m above sea level, which was the maximum allowed height for the site at the time it was proposed. In addition to the original proposal of two towers, a design was also made for a taller tower standing at approximately 300m. Eureka Tower is the tallest building in Melbourne, and also claims to be the tallest building in Australia as well as the tallest residential building in the world, however this is disputed by the Q1 Tower in the Gold Coast which has a taller spire reaching 322m but a lower roof.

Eureka Tower is 91 stories tall plus an additional basement floor. Of these floors, the lower 12 floors contain car parking because the building's proximity to the water table as well as the Yarra River makes construction of an underground carpark unviable. There are a total of 74 floors of apartments with the remainder being used for building facilities and the observation deck.

Construction
The tower was built using reinforced concrete using a slipform method. The contractors for the building's construction were Grocon.