Multiplex has started work on SP Setia’s $525 million Atlas Melbourne. The start is welcome. ABS data shows the queue of approved high rise apartments behind it has rarely been thinner.
Multiplex has started construction on Atlas Melbourne, a 72 storey residential tower at 383 La Trobe Street in the Melbourne CBD.
The $525 million project for Malaysian developer SP Setia will deliver more than 850 apartments. Completion is expected in 2030.
Multiplex describes Atlas as one of the first major residential towers to break ground in the CBD in years. Victoria’s building data points the same way, and it says something useful about what comes next.
Atlas is a $525 million tower on a tight CBD site
The site covers 2,851 square metres and runs between La Trobe and Little Lonsdale Streets. It was home to a 1985 office building that served as the Australian Federal Police headquarters in Melbourne.
Demolition of that building is the first stage of works.
The tower is designed by Cox Architecture and Fender Katsalidis. Plans include a ground level arcade that extends the laneway network with retail and dining, plus three levels of resident amenity.
Atlas is the second tower Multiplex has built for SP Setia. The first, the twin tower 308 Exhibition Street development, reached practical completion in 2023.
According to Multiplex, the build will use about 39,000 cubic metres of concrete and 4,500 tonnes of steel reinforcement. Around 450 workers are expected on site at peak.
Victoria’s queue of approved high rise apartments has almost emptied
The ABS Building Activity release tracks apartments in buildings of nine or more storeys. It shows how many are under construction, how many started each quarter, and how many are approved but not yet started.
That last group is the queue. At the end of the March 2026 quarter, Victoria had 909 high rise apartments approved and waiting to start.
It is the lowest figure since the series began in September 2016. At the end of 2017, the same queue held 6,374 dwellings.
Work already on site tells a different story. Victoria had 19,754 dwellings under construction in nine storey plus buildings in March 2026, up from a low of 13,252 at the end of 2022.
Starts sit between the two. Across the four quarters to March 2026, 7,049 high rise dwellings commenced in Victoria. That is well above the weakest year in the series, 3,328 in the year to December 2021, and well below the strongest, 12,583 in the year to June 2018.
So there is a meaningful amount of tower work under way today. What is thin is the line of approved projects waiting to follow it.
For scale, one project the size of Atlas, at more than 850 apartments, is close to the entire approved backlog recorded in March.
The broader medium and high density picture is similar. Victoria started 22,089 private sector dwellings other than houses in the year to March 2026, a category that also includes townhouses and units. In the year to March 2016, the figure was 35,231.
There is a meaningful amount of tower work under way today. What is thin is the line of approved projects waiting to follow it.
Presales decide when a tower like Atlas can start
What are presales?
Presales are off the plan contracts signed before construction begins. Construction lenders commonly require a developer to hold a minimum level of presales before they will fund a high rise build. This is why an apartment tower can hold planning approval for years before work starts on site.
SP Setia says more than 60 per cent of Atlas apartments are sold, and it has linked that sales level directly to the decision to start.
Getting there took time. When SP Setia launched Atlas in October 2024, it said construction would begin in the second quarter of 2025, with completion by mid 2029.
Major works have started more than a year after that original target.
The buyer side has had some help. Victoria’s temporary off the plan duty concession allows buyers of strata apartments and townhouses to deduct construction costs incurred after the contract date from the value that stamp duty is charged on.
According to the State Revenue Office, the concession applies to contracts signed from 21 October 2024 and before 21 April 2027, with no price cap. It opened the same month Atlas launched.
A four level basement beside the City Loop sets the early program
Multiplex has named the four level basement as a key challenge on the project.
The site sits close to the City Loop rail tunnel that connects Flagstaff and Melbourne Central stations. Multiplex says excavation near that tunnel will require meticulous engineering and construction planning.
On a constrained CBD site, the basement and early structure usually set the pace for everything above them. Any delay underground flows directly into the later trades.
Tower work draws on the same finishing trades as housing
SP Setia has said major works will run for about 52 months. It is targeting first residential handovers in September 2029, with further stages through 2030 and final handover in December 2030.
For comparison, Multiplex reported that 308 Exhibition Street took about four and a half years to build, with more than 500 workers on site during peak periods.
Structure and concrete trades come first. Finishing trades follow floor by floor, including plasterers, tilers, painters, waterproofers and joiners, and their heaviest demand typically arrives in the final years of a program like this one.
Detached and medium density builders draw on many of the same finishing trades. When several large towers reach fitout at once, subcontractor availability and pricing across a whole metropolitan market can move.
One tower will not do that alone. And with the approved queue this short, there is little sign yet of a wave of towers reaching fitout together later this decade.
One tower start is not a high rise recovery
Atlas shows a large CBD apartment tower can still reach the start line in 2026. It took an experienced developer, a repeat builder relationship and more than 60 per cent of apartments sold.
The ABS figures show how rare that combination has become. With fewer than a thousand high rise apartments approved and waiting in Victoria at March, the next wave of towers has not yet been approved, let alone sold.
For anyone tracking supply, approvals are the early signal and commencements are the work. The gap between the two shows whether starts like Atlas are the front of a queue or the end of one.
We will keep tracking the nine storey plus pipeline each quarter alongside wider construction market conditions. The June quarter release will show whether the queue has started to refill.
The Good Builder Take
A new crane on La Trobe Street is good news, and getting a tower of this size moving in the current market is no small thing.
The number worth remembering, though, is 909. That is how many approved high rise apartments were waiting to start across Victoria in March.
The towers going up now were sold years ago. The towers that would follow them have not been approved yet. For builders and trades planning the next two to three years, the tower work on site is real. The tower work after it is not locked in.
Frequently asked questions
Atlas Melbourne is a 72 storey residential tower at 383 La Trobe Street in the Melbourne CBD, developed by SP Setia and built by Multiplex. The $525 million project will deliver more than 850 apartments, with completion expected in 2030.
At the end of the March 2026 quarter, 909 dwellings in Victorian apartment buildings of nine or more storeys were approved but not yet commenced, according to ABS Building Activity data. That is the lowest figure since the series began in September 2016.
Large apartment towers generally need a significant share of apartments sold off the plan before construction finance is available. Atlas was launched in October 2024 with a start then planned for the second quarter of 2025. Major works began in September 2026, with more than 60 per cent of apartments sold.
Multiplex expects completion in 2030. SP Setia has said it is targeting first residential handovers in September 2029, with final handover targeted for December 2030.
Related articles
- Hickory and MaxCap Break Ground on $300m Melbourne Student Tower
- Japanese Investment Deepens in Melbourne’s Build to Rent Market
Last updated: 18 September 2026. ABS data current to the March 2026 quarter, original terms.
General Information Only: This article provides general information only and does not constitute financial, legal, tax or professional advice. It does not take into account your particular circumstances. Figures and program dates are drawn from the sources stated and may change. Seek independent professional advice before making any decision based on this content.
0 Comments