Monash Uni Taps ADCO for 252-Bed Hybrid Timber Build
Monash University has appointed ADCO as the builder for a 252-bed student accommodation project at its Clayton campus.
The Jackson Clements Burrows-designed hybrid cross-laminated timber project began construction last week and completion is scheduled for mid-2027.
The architects previously designed Turner Hall, one of four student residence buildings at the Clayton campus that collectively provide 1000 beds.
ADCO will deliver the six-storey building as a high-performance, all-electric development aligned with Monash’s sustainability principles.
The builder has delivered primary, secondary and tertiary educational facilities across Australia for more than 50 years, creating long-term partnerships with major institutions.
That includes more than 20 projects with Bond University over 20 years, as well as student accommodation developments at Deakin University Burwood and facilities for Monash University and La Trobe University.
The new 7500sq m Clayton campus development, about 26km east of the Mebourne CBD, will comprise single en-suite rooms across all six storeys supported by communal kitchens, winter gardens, study zones and lounges on every floor.
Music and gaming rooms, mobility-accessible units, a wellness hub and a sports court will be available to all Monash Residential Services residents.
Ground-floor facilities comprise a bike arrival station, communal laundry, parcel lockers, digital gaming space and reading nooks.
The new digs will be in the North East Precinct of the Clayton campus, bordered by existing student accommodation and the Jock Marshall Reserve.
Monash’s vice-chancellor and president Professor Sharon Pickering said the apartments would be critical to campus life and “help foster community, connection and belonging”.
The hybrid cross-laminated timber development continues Monash’s adoption of mass timber construction.
The university delivered Gillies Hall, a timber student accommodation project also designed by Jackson Clements Burrows at its Peninsula campus in 2019.
Gillies Hall, one of the largest Passivhaus-certified buildings in the southern hemisphere and one of Australia’s largest cross-laminated timber buildings, comprises 150 student beds in studio apartments.
In support of Monash Uni’s ambition for a net zero campus by 2030, the project used cross-laminated timber panels that halved the embodied carbon compared with typical concrete construction.
The student accommodation project set a benchmark and was the subject of a 2021 research paper at the World Conference on Timber Engineering.
Monash University’s Clayton campus has 42,477 students and about 3000 on-campus beds.
Private developers are also targeting Clayton’s student accommodation market.
Parallel Workshop Architects designed and delivered the nearby 65-room Stockdale Housing project, which reached full occupancy within two months of completion.
Rockonus Group has filed plans for a four-storey development, also designed by Parallel Workshop, at 12-14 Marshall Avenue that would deliver 96 self-contained apartments.
