The future of urban living in Australia’s largest city lies in skyscrapers that breathe, adapt and shelter nature from further encroachment.
Imagine a Sydney where the skyline isn’t just a backdrop, but the solution to our biggest urban challenges. In fact, if the world’s population was organised at the density of Sydney CBD – approximately 11,000 people per km², it could easily fit within the land size of New South Wales.
That’s why Natasha Devlin, President of the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat’s NSW Chapter, is a big advocate for sustainable urbanism, or “density done well”.
“Think about that from a carbon absorption perspective, and preservation of our animals, forests and water,” Devlin told delegates of a session at the Sydney Build Expo 2025. “Our forests, our wildlife, all remain untouched.”
Are skyscrapers synonymous with sustainable living?
High-rise living can deliver powerful sustainability benefits, Devlin said.
“From an operating energy perspective, tall buildings … use 50 per cent less energy than if you’re living in a suburban house,” she said. “Residents in tall buildings spend 50 per cent less time commuting than if you lived in a suburban house” .
Tall buildings also use 25 per cent less water and take 25 per cent less material to build in an urban context.
“You’re [also] going to drive 50 per cent less if you live in a tall building in the city, which results in 50 per cent reduction in vehicle energy use per capita.”
What are the smart design considerations?
Any savings accrued from this urban model can evaporate without thoughtful design and materials selection, including smart facades, said Martin Reuter, Managing Director at ingenhoven associates.
“Single-glazed facades let in a lot of unwanted heat, which drives up the building’s energy use,” he said. “To combat this, we’re looking at a double-skin facade with a water-filled cavity. That cavity not only boosts insulation but also shelters the external solar-shading system from wind and rain. Right off the bat, you get roughly a 50 per cent reduction in heat gain.”
Picture an external shading system that automatically deploys whenever sunlight strikes the building.
“It works rain or shine, is protected from damage, and gives you 50 per cent savings right away,” Reuter added.
Gone are the days of the glass tower, agreed Amy Dowse, Director at Tzannes, from both a sustainability and materiality point of view.
“Often it’s quite hard to convince clients to have a formal mixed-mode building,” she said. “But a really important aspect is being able to actually feel the environment around you and not be confined in a glass box the whole time.”
Mixed-mode spaces, incorporating breakout areas and portioned zones, can connect occupants with fresh air and daylight. An evolution in materials use is also on the horizon.
“We’re already noticing more walkways and towers incorporating solid materials – partly because planning regulations have shifted toward higher window-to-wall ratios,” Dowse said. “It’s encouraging to see warmer, more varied materials coming through, whether in response to a country-centred design approach or simply as alternatives to glass.”
But true sustainability reaches into the structure itself, said Emma Pyett, Design Director, Delivery at Built, referring to the timber-framed Atlassian Central project, on which she is a key team member.
“Five years ago … we set a target of 50 per cent reduction in embodied carbon across structure, superstructure and facade,” she said. “Timber was obviously a major benefit, but there were a huge number of other megastructure elements we still needed to manage. We had to source the right steel with the right embodied carbon content.”
Although Australian‐grown timber was attractive from an emissions standpoint, local availability simply couldn’t meet the volume and quality requirements of the project.
“We had to consider the travel of the timber from Europe, the performance of it, depending where we got it from, and the supply of it,” Pyett said.
Read more: How Sydney’s engineers approach tall building design
What are the key opportunities for building vertical cities?
When it comes to building Sydney’s future skyline, safety and speed is the order of the day, Dowse said. “Prefabrication – whether it’s timber floor modules or facade panels – can dramatically reduce onsite risk and compress timelines,” she said.
Design for adaptability and longevity is also key to ensuring an enduring urban landscape. “I see a future where prefabrication, quality construction and adaptive reuse are built right in – so these towers can stand for 100 years, not just 25,” Reuter said.
But urban living is not all about skyscrapers. There is a point where liveability can be compromised and cities can go dark. For example rapid urbanisation has led to reduced sunlight in many Chinese suburbs.
Ensuring the right mix of tall and small can enhance quality of life. “People need access to daylight. They need access to open space. It needs to be something which is nicely set together, and not just a series of high rises,” Reuter said.
Stacking homes around transit nodes is Sydney’s best bet for affordability and livability. Instead of sprawling ever-outward, vertical neighbourhoods can concentrate amenities – cafes, parks, childcare – within a few minutes’ walk, delivering vibrant, walkable precincts, Dowse said.
“When we have these overstation developments, people can come in and be transported right to the center of where they work or where they might want to go out from a leisure point of view,” she said.
