GC - Q1 Skypoint

**Mad Aussie** · 03-08-2011, 08:37 PM

Last weekend my wife and I had a 3 day conference on the Gold Coast, Qld which is about 100 k's south of Brisbane and stretches to the border with New South Wales.
When you think of the Gold Coast you should think of Surfers Paradise, Indy Cars (until recently), kilometres of surf beaches (no privates ones), theme parks, bikini girls, suntans, surfers, nightclubs, whales, expensive boats, millionaires, Ferrari's, Aston Martins, Limo's ... it's our Miami/Pensacola ... in fact one of the Gold Coast suburbs is called Miami.

The conference was in the Q1 building so we stayed there on the 19th floor for 2 nights.
Q1 is Australia's highest building. It's taller than the Eiffel Tower or the Chrysler Building in New York. Here's some more facts ...
* The Q1 Building is taller than the Chrysler building in New York City.
* Q1, structurally, is the 25th tallest building of the world!
* Q1 is 322.5 metres high.
* SkyPoint has one of the World's fastest elevators taking you from ground to Level 77 in 42.7 seconds.
* Australia's only beachside Observation Deck .
* Offers stunning 360 degree views of the entire Gold Coast, from the surf to the hinterland and beyond.
* SkyPoint is 230 metres above sea level.
* There are 1331 steps from the ground to Level 77.
* 6 piles, up to 2.4 metres in diameter, extend up to 50 metres into rock
* 61,000 cubic metres of concrete was used to build Q1
* 9,300 tonnes of steel reinforcing
* 250 tonnes of structural steel in the roof and spire
* 18,926 panes of glass
* 1000 kms of electrical cabling in the lifts of Q1 was used in the building enough to stretch from the Gold Coast to Sydney!
* Sand from the site was taken by the truckload to replenish Surfers Paradise beach
* Q1 sits on 1.2 hectares of land
* The project cost approximately $255 million AUD
* The spire is made of steel and glass, is 97.7 metres in height and begins at level 75
* Illuminated by arc lights, the spire is visible 200kms away
* During the construction phase a new level went up every four days

The project to build the world’s tallest residential tower was officially launched on the 28th June 2002. Sunland Construction team began work immediately, with a workforce of 500 labouring for over 3 years, or a total of 2.5 million man hours. More than 2500 people were involved in the project. Q1 Resort and Spa officially opened on the 26th of October 2005.

This shot of an info panel (they are all around the observation floor) shows the Q1 in relation to the other tall buildings in the world currently.

These shots show the Q1 building from various directions

**Mad Aussie** · 03-08-2011, 08:44 PM

This is inside the elevator to Skypoint ... the observation deck. One of the fastest in the world, it gets your from floor 1 to the 77th floor in 43 seconds!

In the ceiling of the lift is this monitor connected to an outside camera on top of the lift itself. You can see the speed, altitude, floors we pass as it speeds upward or back down.

And here we are up in Skypoint. You can see the lounge with the licensed bar/cafe where you can order a nice meal and enjoy the views.

At night Skypoint takes on a ethereal glow

Unfortunately the big windows and lighting make for a lovely visual experience to the eye but the camera struggles badly with the reflections.

more in sec ...

**Mad Aussie** · 03-08-2011, 08:49 PM

Here's a few views from Skypoint ...

Looking North ...

Looking south ...

It pretty much rained the whole time we were there with wind gusts of 50 k's at times ... made life a bit difficult ...

Looking east

I took loads of shots on walk arounds (some you've seen in other recent threads from me this week) and also from our room balcony so I'll put those up when I get the time.

**Andrew** · 03-09-2011, 12:13 AM

Wow!! That's quite the building and one hell of a view. As usual, nice photos too. (Just from your pictures from your journeys I just know I'm going to have to get there some day.) One of my sisters worked Surfers Paradise during her six month stay many years ago. Questions,,,in a major storm how far does the Q1 sway in the wind.....with your proximity to the very active New Zealand faults do you experience major geo tremors very often? I know you're on the stable side but still, I wouldn't want to be in any of those tall ones should the ground start to shake.

**Mad Aussie** · 03-09-2011, 12:34 AM

Originally Posted by Andrew

Wow!! That's quite the building and one hell of a view. As usual, nice photos too. (Just from your pictures from your journeys I just know I'm going to have to get there some day.) One of my sisters worked Surfers Paradise during her six month stay many years ago. Questions,,,in a major storm how far does the Q1 sway in the wind.....with your proximity to the very active New Zealand faults do you experience major geo tremors very often? I know you're on the stable side but still, I wouldn't want to be in any of those tall ones should the ground start to shake.

Thanks Andrew. Glad you enjoy my litle journeys.
They are built to sway a little and withstand cyclones but in the 50 -70k winds I was there in I didn't feel any swaying/movement at all. We get no earthquake activity so no worries there.

**JAS_Photo** · 03-09-2011, 03:11 AM

Very cool set! Love the lounge in Skypoint with the windows all around.

**Mad Aussie** · 03-09-2011, 03:23 AM

Originally Posted by JAS_Photo

Very cool set! Love the lounge in Skypoint with the windows all around.

Thanks JAS

**Marko** · 03-09-2011, 10:34 AM

Wonderful set MA with some VERY strong images.
My faves (thus far - you always sneak more shots in - lol) are shots 1, 2, and 4 from post two and shot 5 from post three.

**Mad Aussie** · 03-09-2011, 03:49 PM

Originally Posted by Marko

Wonderful set MA with some VERY strong images.
My faves (thus far - you always sneak more shots in - lol) are shots 1, 2, and 4 from post two and shot 5 from post three.

Thanks very much Marko. Certainly lots more to come but I will start new threads of like photos.