RMIT Build-to-Rent, Student Housing Village Moves Forward

Urban Planning Collective has won the support of the Future Melbourne Council for its mixed-use project in North Melbourne.

The planners submitted the application to the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning on behalf of owner Centurion Australia Investments.

Plans for the 6195 sq m site at 5-17 Flemington Road, North Melbourne include a 19-storey student accommodation building and two build-to-rent towers of 19 and 22 storeys.

The student housing tower will be the first stage of the development.

Council documents show that the estimated cost of works for the entire project is $264 million.

Architectus and Metier3 designed the plans, which were amended slightly after feedback from the Melbourne Design Review Panel. 

The site is currently known as RMIT Village. 

The Future Melbourne Committee voted unanimously to support the project but not without some discussion about demolishing an existing five-year-old building on the site that was partially retrofitted to provide student housing.

“We need to ensure that disposable buildings don’t get built in the first place and we push for alternatives such as retrofitting,” City of Melbourne deputy lord mayor Nicholas Reece said.

“It's a very significant development, which is why it has gone through so much scrutiny.

“The City of Melbourne has a vision for more density in this part of the city, particularly with student accommodation.

“But let the message go forward that the era of disposable buildings is over.”

▲ Deputy lord mayor Nicholas Reece says the era of disposable buildings is over.

The student housing tower will sit on the corner of Bedford Street and Bedford Place and offer 644 apartments, 2 per cent of which will be accessible.

The two build-to-rent towers will front Flemington Road, Bedford Place and Blackwood Street and comprise a total of 538 apartments. 

There will be space for 242 cars, 3 motorbikes and 344 bicycles in the built-to-rent towers with car parking space on two basement levels.

The ground floor of the build-to-rent towers will have retail and medical tenancy space.

There will be amenities on the lower ground floor of the student housing building and car parking space on the upper ground floor.

Developer interest in student accommodation and build-to-rent has ramped up on as overseas student numbers in Australia mushroom.