Victoria Approves $410m Rail Loop Apartment Tower Project
Almost 800 homes have been greenlit for what’s been labelled Australia’s largest housing project.
Victoria has approved the $410-million, 795-apartment highrise development beside the future Glen Waverley Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) station.
About 70,000 homes are forecast to be built across the six SRL station precincts by the 2050s.
Planning minister Sonya Kilkenny granted the permit for the Springvale Road site under Victoria’s Development Facilitation Program, a ministerial pathway used to accelerate significant residential proposals incorporating affordable housing.
The mixed-use scheme comprises two towers rising 35 and 30 storeys.
It will deliver 795 one, two and three-bedroom apartments above basement parking and ground-level retail, within walking distance of the future SRL Glen Waverley station, Glen Waverley Primary School and The Glen shopping centre.
According to the ministerial permit register, the application was filed on August 30 and publicly notified on November 10 before being approved this month.
Since the program opened, more than 8300 homes had been fast-tracked across Victoria, the government said.
The pathway allows qualifying residential developments with affordable housing to be determined directly by the planning minister rather than councils.
Permit documentation confirmed the Glen Waverley scheme includes an affordable housing component, although the proportion has not been disclosed.
The approval has come as construction intensifies on SRL East, a 26km twin-tunnel orbital rail line linking Cheltenham, Clayton, Monash, Glen Waverley, Burwood and Box Hill.
The state said more than 3000 people were working on the project and tunnelling will begin this year.
Trains are scheduled to operate by 2035.
Across the six SRL East precincts, the government forecasts capacity for 70,000 homes and 230,000 jobs, positioning the rail investment as both transport infrastructure and a long-term land-use program reshaping Melbourne’s growth pattern.
At 35 storeys, the taller Glen Waverley tower will rise well above much of the surrounding suburban fabric, signalling the scale of density anticipated within designated SRL precinct cores and providing an early benchmark for height and yield expectations around future stations.
