Taking Melbourne’s Urban Living to the Next Level

“To elevate that urban living experience is to offer people amenities uncompromised.”

And according to Melbourne-based developer Orchard Piper director Luke McKie, the foundation to provide that experience remains unchanged—high-quality architecture.

“It’s probably the one thing that never goes out of fashion,” he said.

“It’s the first thing we always lean on. We’re not necessarily trying to increase add-ons to the buildings. We always focus back on the quality of space, quality of the materials and picking the best sites we possibly can. Orientation and amenity are always paramount.

“And we will always push for less yield rather than more, to make sure the apartments we can get into the building are of the highest possible quality.

“I think those things when combined provide a much more elevated living experience than just a bunch of add-ons.”

McKie will be a speaker at The Urban Developer Melbourne Residential Developer Summit, a conference dedicated to apartment, townhouse and greenfield development, on April 13 in the Victorian capital.

“The market’s expectation of what a high-end property should offer has evolved,” he said.

▲ Orchard Piper’s Luke McKie and a render of the Toorak Village development.

“Certainly, people are looking more at things like home offices and second living rooms where they can spread out rather than just having one primary living room.

“And 10 years ago … no one was asking for things like concierge services. Our next four apartment projects will have concierges.” 

The latest of those projects is Orchard Piper’s Toorak Village mixed-use development in one of Melbourne’s most affluent suburbs.

Its design by Kerry Hill Architects comprises retail and office space fronting Toorak Road as well as nine three-bedroom apartments—to be offered at an average price point of $6 million to $7 million—with private lobbies and a 24-hour concierge providing a familiar face at the front door for services such as taking delivery of parcels or food orders, managing dry cleaning or letting in trades.

“Those kinds of services I think are becoming more and more requested,” McKie said.

“Our market, in particular, is very experienced in property. They have typically had holiday homes, they've renovated homes and they've travelled a lot. So they’ve had a lot of exposure to really high quality property markets globally and so they expect that in our projects.”

The Urban Developer Melbourne Residential Developer Summit will take place in Melbourne on Thursday, 13 April. The summit will also offer premium networking opportunities that will allow attendees to connect with like-minded professionals, industry leaders, and potential partners.

Click here to learn more and to register.