AMP Sydney Tower

1981

The 309m tall tower is Sydney's tallest building providing panoramic views over the city.

The tower is robust enough to withstand very strong winds and earthquakes and is stabilised by 56 cables which if laid end-to-end would stretch from Sydney to New Zealand.

AMP Sydney Tower is one of a handful of buildings in the city to be designed with a tuned mass damper (a sort of giant water based pendulum) to reduce the effect of wind oscillation. Each year an event called the "Tour Run Up" has runners scale the 1312 steps (1504 total) to the top. They start at the podium level (30m up) and run 94 flights of stairs with 13 steps each. The record is 6 minutes, 52 seconds set in 1998.

Hyder Consulting (Freeman Fox) was the structural designer. The AMP Tower is a member of the World Federation of Great Buildings.

AMP Sydney Tower Year: 1981