Model Files 150-Unit BtR Plans for Abbotsford Schweppes Site

Build-to-rent specialist MODEL has filed plans for 151 homes as part of a historic warehouse adaptive reuse project. The proposal for 35-45 Lithgow Street has been in the works since the launch of a $250-million Regenerative Decarbonisation Fund by MODEL, and is the developer’s second build-to-rent project in Melbourne. Two apartment buildings up to six storeys are proposed for the Abbotsford site, 3.5km east of the Melbourne CBD. Under the scheme, the original warehouse on the south-east corner of the site, would be adaptively reused as a cafe and for residential amenities. The project, submitted via the Victorian Department of Transport’s Development Facilitation Program, falls within the Victoria Street Activity Centre, an overlay that seeks to support housing density and connectivity in the area. High-spec homes The project is designed with cross-laminated timber to a Passivhaus-certified level, and is aiming for a six-star Green Star rating, which added design complexity, MODEL founder and chief executive Rory Hunter said. The project went through considerable process with the DTP and the Office of the Victorian Government Architect. “[And that process] matched our aspirations for a better outcome, because often what happens is that what the developer wants, is not want the councils wants, and what they want isn’t what the community or the government wants,” Hunter told The Urban Developer. ▲ A rendering of the Abbotsford proposal put forward by MODEL. “If you start with the end goal, which is delivering the best buildings we possibly can, then you can start to get real alignment. “But it means it’s been a very technical journey and it’s been 18 months to get to this point.” The current project is a slight downsize from initial plans for 173 apartments and a GFA of 14,182sq m, with a nine-storey building height that “significantly’ exceeded the height controls for the site. “By being challenged and pushed through that bigger collaboration stage, yes, it took more time, but the outcome is far better,” Hunter said. Lithgow Street adaptive reuse The planning documents submitted to the DTP detail the “renewal of a blighted” 2096sq m site that includes the former Schweppes Cordial factory. Built of brick above a bluestone plinth, it includes a 21m-high brick smokestack. “It was a very complex, not just because of the heritage overlay, but it’s also part of a broader heritage overlay on the overall area,” Hunter said. “And it’s a very deep site, so we considered how we get the density that we needed to be able to get the scale, so that it works commercially, while working within those parameters. And very deep sites for resi are really difficult to unlock.” ▲ The Warren &amp; Mahoney designs pay homage the industrial history of the area. Designed by Warren and Mahoney, the fresh plans were submitted after the DTO consultation allowed the heritage elements to be “pruned” of non-original sections. The original 1937 factory has been retained, and also includes on-site open space with deep-soil planting, and a single basement car park, as demand for basements starts to shift. It also includes an affordable element, which is “unusual”, according to Hunter, as most other projects will pay the levy rather than include the affordable. “We think that’s the right thing to do, and from a build to-rent standpoint, at a Federal level, there’s a whole raft of tax incentives to deliver on affordable housing, and so it’s a great way for build to-rent to be able to align what the community needs with what the government needs at both levels.” A project for Abbotsford Melbourne has taken to build-to-rent like a duck to water, and a place like Abbotsford is ideal for the MODEL, Hunter said. “It met all the criteria that we needed, as far as being an inner city location with an urban professional, 25 to 35 age group, who might have deep roots in the inner north, as opposed to some of the other built-to-rent assets in places like Southbank and Docklands that are more transient.” Sustainability as well as design are differentiators for the Abbotsford development, Hunter said. ▲ The project was designed with cross-laminated timber to Passivhaus certification specifications. “We chose Abbotsford very intentionally, because there is such a supply/demand imbalance in the suburb, there’s just simply not enough apartments, and there’s certainly not enough small apartments, because the vast majority of homes in Abbotsford are single-person homes,” he said. And while the assessment time may have been a bit longer, it’s result was a building Abbotsford locals will want to live in. “We have housing targets we need to deliver on, but we also need to make sure that the houses we design and build are great places to live in,” Hunter said. “We can accept it takes a bit longer in planning if it means that the outcomes are buildings which are going to be phenomenal 50 years from now.”

Model Files 150-Unit BtR Plans for Abbotsford Schweppes Site

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