Contentious second tower at Harry Seidler's Shell House approved

Victoria's planning minister Sonya Kilkenny has approved a proposal to construct a second tower on the site of the Harry Seidler-designed Shell House at 1 Spring Street in Melbourne's CBD.

The proposed 33-storey tower designed by Ingenhoven and Architectus will occupy part of the existing northern plaza of Shell House on Flinders Lane and would require the partial demolition the existing Shell House.

The architects were selected through international design competition. Christopher Ingenhoven said in a presentation to the City of Melbourne's Future Melbourne Committee on 5 April 2022 that the proposed tower had been designed in coordination with Penelope Seidler and Greg Holman, who had originally worked on Shell House.

Ingenhoven described the proposal as "a well-integrated, non-dominant, and an elegant addition," as well as "a friendly neighbour."

Shell House was added to the Victorian Heritage Register in 2017. Heritage Victoria had originally refused to grant a permit for the redevelopment proposal in August 2021.

In December 2021, the then planning minister Richard Wynne called in the development application prior to a scheduled Heritage Council hearing to review the application, which led to the cancellation of the hearing.

In April 2022, the proposal was unanimously supported by City of Melbourne councillors. Then deputy lord mayor Nicholas Reece, "The design of this tower is striking in sculptural form and elegant in the way it adds to the skyline of the city. And if it is approved by the minister [it would become] an important addition to Melbourne's skyline and one which will come to be considered of architectural significance to the city."