Estimated to have a diameter of 4m and big enough to cut through the ute beside it, the giant blade is attached to an excavator inside the “Signature” site on Regent St.

But it is uncertain when the blade will spin, as the $43 million, 151-apartment, 22-storey tower is back before Wollongong City Council for modifications to the designs approved last May.

Supomme Property Development, headed by Sydney-based Kevin Xu, will proceed without the services of the architect who designed the original project, Tony Owen Partners.

Mr Owen confirmed to the Mercury that he had been dropped from the project after the original development application was approved.

The modifications sought do not alter the project greatly, but would increase the floor-to-floor heights from 3m to 3.1m, resulting in some increase in building height.

Council’s design review panel has concluded that the “basic form of the building is still considered to be consistent with the design intent” of the approved version.

The panel questioned whether the “abundant” columns around the street frontage was necessary, as fewer columns would provide better interface with the street, and wanted more details on this.