Beulah Reveals Brunswick Eco Townhouse Plans

High-profile developer Beulah has scooped up a site in Melbourne’s inner-north, revealing plans for a eco-focussed townhouse project.

The Melbourne-based developer has acquired a 3700sq m site at 17-23 Hodgson Street in Brunswick, about 5km north of the CBD.

Beulah has appointed Six Degrees Architects to deliver 25 low-rise, eco-sustainably townhouses targeting carbon-neutrality, that will “consciously seek to retain the existing heritage facade on-site and add immense value to the precinct through community-focused, biophilic design and ecologically sustainable materials,” according to the developer.

The site is near the Sydney Road retail precinct, which includes Barkly Square Shopping Centre and Union Square Shopping Centre, and within walking distance to some of

Melbourne’s most popular parklands including Royal Park and Princes Park, and the Melbourne Zoo.

Beulah managing director Jiaheng Chan said the site was “an exciting opportunity to engage with the community to deliver homes that will be warmly welcomed by locals”.

“Brunswick is a thriving creative and environmentally conscious pocket of Melbourne and we look forward to working with the local people and community to do the site justice,” he said.

“Our aim is to attract like-minded individuals to this fantastic location, with an opportunity to live and breathe all the wonderful things that Brunswick and its people have to offer.”

Six Degrees director Peter Malatt said the firm was “excited to be collaborating with Beulah to transform the historic warehouse precinct into 25 exceptional Brunswick townhouses”.

▲ Beulah’s The Wilds in Northcote: lessons learnt from the eco-centric project will be put into practice on the Brunswick development.

“We are an architectural practice with a strong connection with Brunswick, and a passion for its unique character and history,” he said.

“We appreciate its sense of community … having completed the Heller Street park and townhouses, which one our directors lives in, as well as the Spanish Cellars apartments in adjacent streets, gives us an opportunity to leverage this local knowledge and play off the rich history of the site.”

The ecological approach for Brunswick follows in the footsteps of Beulah’s The Wilds, which is set to become the first carbon-neutral detached housing development in inner Melbourne, the developer said.

Situated on Cunningham Street in the Westgarth precinct of Northcote, the development “aspires to set a benchmark in environmentally sustainable Design principles, with all houses incorporating a solar panel array and being 100 per cent electric, including induction cooktops, enabling the houses to operate fossil-fuel free”.

“We intend to draw on this research and experience in working with Six Degrees Architects to create a thoughtful design for Brunswick that is mindful of people and planet,” Chan said.