The ancient Nordic building tradition of 'topping out' (also known as 'tree topping') has been deployed in Dubbo for a brand spanking new development in the city.

This Scandinavian ritual was recently performed at Dubbo’s new 84-apartment 15-storey No.1 Church St development that is now taking shape nicely.

“Tree topping involves placing a pine or other sapling on the highest point of a new partly-constructed building for both good luck and practical purposes," local developer John Walkom explained.

“They would do it when they almost finished the structure and, when the wood on the tree had dried out, they knew it was time to put the roof on,” John explained.

“In Australia, you may see it on many large buildings in metropolitan areas… we just used a white pine for our tree here,” he added.  

With reasonably good weather for most of the construction phase, the vital internal work on the swish new modern living project is now taking shape and, with topping out, also designed to bring good luck to the building, things are only looking up for what will no doubt become a major landmark in the region.

“With the structure now completed, the fit-out is now well underway, and we expect to be completed by about the end of the year. Now we’re inside, the weather is not so critical, so we think it will go pretty smoothly from hereon in,” John explained.

No.1 Church St is on the corner of Church and Bligh Streets on the eastern bank of the Macquarie River and opposite Biddybungie Reserve, with spectacular views already on show.

With the one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments now nearly ready, local lad John and his brother Kevin are excited about this new style of development taking shape in the region.