Melton Goes Public with Community Hub Scheme

A Victorian growth corridor council has gone public with its plans for five-storey community centre.

The Melton City Council wants to build the centre at Cobblebank, a developing suburb 33km west of the CBD.

The Cobblebank Community Services Hub (CCSH) would sit on a 6850sq m site at the intersection of Hollingsworth and Stadium drives at 15 Hollingsworth Drive, part of a larger 23.69ha council-owned lot.

Architects Design Inc has designed the plans for the five-storey plus basement building offering 8039sq m of leasable space.

The design includes a two-storey podium below three recessed levels, public plaza, green street, 89 bicycle storage spaces and carparking with 48 electric vehicle charging bays.

A north-south oriented lobby on the ground floor would offer end-of-trip facilities, prayer room, meeting rooms, parents room, reception and waiting rooms. 

The four floors above comprise lobbies and flexible office space of 2385sq m on the first floor, 1447sq m on the second, 1402sq m on the third and 1400sq m on the fourth. 

Winter gardens on the north and south facades are included on the first, third and fourth floors.

The council plans for the centre to provide a home for health and community services essential to the suburb.

▲ A render of the proposed hub that would include a so-called green street. 

Currently vacant, the site is opposite a carpark and the Western BACE business incubator at 222 Ferris Road. It has 85m of frontage to Hollingsworth Drive and 78m to Stadium Drive.

The Cobblebank Train Station is 400m to the east and the Cobblebank Stadium further along Stadium Drive. 

The plans, first filed in August, are now on exhibition. 

Cobblebank and the other 30 locales that make up the City of Melton are on the Victorian Volcanic Plains, which cover 10 per cent of the state.