Diamond Towers

Diamond Complex logo.

### Address

4 Downtown West Ave (North Tower)98 Waterfront Ave (South Tower)12 Downtown West Ave (Plaza)

### Upgraded / Expanded

29 August 2020 (I)
July 2022 (II)

## Technical Details

### Floor Count

14 (+1 basement, North Tower)14 (+1 roof & 1 basement, South Tower)

## Other Information

### Parking Availability

Yes (Downtown West Carpark - Diamond Complex Entrance)

The **Diamond Complex** (French: Complexe de Diamant) is a twin tower complex located in the Downtown district of New Kensington. The complex consists of the North Tower, the South Tower, and Diamond Plaza. The North Tower was the first building to be built outside of the city's historical Gateway district.

## History

Plans to build what was known then as the Diamond Towers date back to May 2020. While plans to build City State Tower had already been set, the government decided to start the Downtown district off with a building complex, the Diamond Twin Towers, which was a cheaper way to begin as compared to building City State Tower first. Furthermore, City State Tower soon went under a major redesign and was soon forged into the current Verre Salle Tower.

Later, all Downtown projects were put aside temporarily to focus on maintaining the ageing Gateway district. Thus, design planning only began in mid-July 2020. By the end of the July 2020, the design for the Diamond Twin Towers was finalised as two simplistic towers with square glass panels supported by reinforced steel beams and poles forming the towers' skeletons.

Building works began on 7 August 2020 and concluded quickly on the next day, 8 August 2020. The towers were then only used as observatories, hence came the informal name Observatory Towers.

#### **Expansion & Design-Editing (August 2020)**

Then, on 29 August 2020, the towers underwent a three-day height expansion and design-editing, which ironically, took longer than building the towers itself. New reinforced steel poles were placed between the glass panels, giving the towers a more compact look. Two new floors were also added to both towers, Floor 11 and Floor 12. Floor 12 on the North Tower became the new North Observatory and Floor 12 on the South Tower became the new reserved area for SkyLine platforms.

When SkyLine Phase 2 was completed, the complex was served by the SkyLine on Floor 12 of the South Tower.

However, in December 2022, the SkyLine platform ceased service on Floor 12, being brought down to Floor 4. This was due issues regarding the impractical leeway that had to be made for the SkyLine tracks to be brought up from a minimum elevation of 5m at the preceding station (northbound service) to the elevation of the South Tower's Floor 12 (44m). Due to this shift, however, Floors 5 through 12 became inaccessible due to the lack of space for a stairway to proceed to the upper floors. The observatory on the South Tower's Floor 11 was consequently closed.

#### **Expansion & Design-Editing II (July 2022) + Refurbishment**

In August 2022, the towers were once again modified, with a second floor count increase from 12 to 14. The windows were also made narrower yet again due to another addition of steel poles between the pre-existing ones. A link bridge was also added between the two towers on Floor 5 of both towers, with a tiny cantiliever section measuring 2m jutting out from the northern end of the bridge.

Interior works for both towers also finally began, completing by mid-August. All floors are now occupied, excluding Floor 2 of the South Tower and Floors 12 and 13 of the North Tower.

## Trivia

* Diamond Towers Station the highest elevated station by far, beating its current second closest competitor, Heritage Park Station by three times the height.
* The towers have no other purpose other than being observatory towers. Thus, observatory fees are extremely high, at $75 per person.
* The North Tower of the complex was the first building to be erected in the New City.