AS THE rest of the ACT relaxed and enjoyed the Christmas break, the building that promises to be Canberra's most environmentally friendly began to rise close to the ashes of the historic Hotel Acton, destroyed by fire in June last year.
The crane perched 80m above the Nishi development on Edinburgh Avenue in New Acton worked overtime while the rest of Canberra took time out this month, with workers on site taking advantage of empty city streets devoid of office workers to accelerate the pace of construction.
Scheduled for completion this year, the building will climb 17 storeys into the Canberra skyline and will incorporate more than 200 Japanese-style apartments, 11 floors of office space, a hotel, restaurants, retail space, a cinema and a central atrium filled with public art. Nishi is the third residential tower in the precinct to be designed by Fender Katsalidis and built by the Canberra-based Molonglo Group. Interior design for the development will be done by Japanese firm Suppose Design Office, based in Tokyo.
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