A new player has entered the build-to-rent market in Melbourne, keen to push the envelope with its first project that has been proposed for the inner north-east. 

Developer MODEL is planning a 17-storey, 200-apartment tower at 276 Johnston Street at Abbotsford, 2km from the Melbourne CBD and next to Victoria Park train station. 

The developer says the proposal would become the tallest mass-timber residential building and the first large-scale apartment building to be certified to the passive-house standard in the city.