Stage 40 of the Chadstone Shopping Centre development has won an ICSC VIVA (Vision, Innovation, Value, Achievement) award for design and development excellence. 

Chadstone is the biggest shopping centre in the Southern Hemisphere with more than 600 retailers. The latest $660 million expansion includes a 7,000sqm glass gridshell roof, designed to house a premium dining precinct, Australia's first Legoland Discovery Centre and a Hoyts cinema complex. 

Architecture firms Buchan and CallisonRTKL - who have collaborated on design for Chadstone Shopping Centre across several decades and many stages of development - worked together again on Stage 40. 

“Chadstone is already a top player on the global scene so we wanted to further enhance its reputation by creating a whole range of precincts and ‘places’ within the centre,” says Buchan Melbourne managing principal Andrew Mackenzie. 

“We’ve got Food Central at lower ground, which is an active, lively, buzzing fast food environment. 

“The Dining Terrace mezzanine, which is more of a premium dining precinct with offerings from celebrity chefs and on-trend restaurants.

"And our entertainment precinct which features a Legoland Discovery Centre and the flagship Hoyts Cinema complex. All these areas cluster around the spectacular gridshell roof, which is an amazing free-form space – a truly remarkable piece of architecture and engineering.” 

A 5-star Green Star rating also confirms the centre’s long-term commitment to sustainability, with air conditioning efficiencies, smart bus technology and rainwater collection and recycling among many environmentally-friendly features.