ROBINA Land Corporation (RLC) is set to take Robina to new heights with an $80 million, 16 storey, commercial office building on a prime site in the heart of CBD-Robina.

Robina Projects Australia (RPA) which is developing the building in association with RLC, has lodged a development application with the Gold Coast City Council for the tower which if approved will be located at the M1's high volume junction 79 entrance to CBD-Robina.

CEO Richard Wyatt says the state-of-the-art office tower, to be called The Rocket, will cement the area's position as the Gold Coast's premier business district. Work is expected to start in October, pending approval.

"Little more than five years ago, as Robina Town Centre was slowly finding its feet, Robina Land Corporation was debating whether to make its first stand alone office building one or two levels," says Wyatt.

"It's taken almost 30 years to get Robina to the point where the critical mass and diversity of economic activity is sufficient to get the snowball really moving but that's where it's at now."

Wyatt says the project is a logical progression both in economic and urban design terms.

"The up-scaling of economic activity in CBD-Robina demands a renewed up-scaling of the architectural landscape and that's what The Rocket is about," he says.

"Every city has to have one office building that is understood to be the principal commercial address. It doesn't have to be the biggest, but it does have to be the best. The Rocket will create a dramatic entry statement not only to Robina but to the precinct in which it will take pride of place."

The building will feature a three-level basement with carparking for 400 cars and will be targeting a Greenstar design rating of four with energy efficiency and environmental sensitive design elements at the fore. Around 12,500 square metres of commercial space will be provided with 1,200 sqm at street level designed for boutique shops and restaurants.

Robina Projects Australia general manager Hylton Slater is confident the project will get the green light from council.

"Robina's Act of Parliament provides for 20 level buildings in the precinct where The Rocket is proposed to be built," he says.

Slater says one of the main design issues for RPA has been car parking, and that, although the company could have sought a reduction in the number of spaces required by Council regulations because of the building's proximity to the rail station and bus interchange, RPA had decided to proceed with the full car parking provision.

"Even though it obviously makes environmental sense to rely on public transport and reduce the number of car parking spaces, as many people who will work in The Rocket will arrive by public transport, we still want to be able to offer occupants and visitors easy access to car parking."