Government Plots School for Stockland’s Truganina Estate

A new school is on the cards with the Victorian government taking the reins as part of Stockland’s massive masterplanned residential estate west of Melbourne.

The Mt Atkinson project at 1 McKinley Drive in Truganina covers 315ha and will include an industry business park, town centre and proposed train station as well as the residential estate.

According to BCI records, Scentre Group is also a developer of the project.

With 800 families already part of the estate and work under way on other stages, an application has now been filed for the Tarneit Plains Primary School.

Stockland sold the land at the corner of Trickett Drive and Clara Avenue to the Victorian government in March this year for the school.

“As the Mt Atkinson community expands, so do the educational needs of families from kindergarten through to high school,” Stockland senior development manager Anthony Scafidi said.

“This announcement means children can be taught close by, enabling them to walk or ride to school should they choose.” 

The Victorian School Building Authority and the Victorian Department of Education and Training are the developers of the school, which will sit on a 3.5ha site.

Construction on the school is expected to cost $25 million and to start in the fourth quarter of 2023.

▲ Stockland’s 84ha Stockland Wattle Park community in Tarneit in Melbourne’s western growth corridor.

Stockland has an estimated development cost of $836 million for the entire project. It expects to have 4400 residential lots sold by the end of the project and around 4200 families living within the estate. 

The developer has invested heavily in greenfield sites after moving away from retail assets in 2021.

It has other residential estates and communities in the same growth corridor including Grandview, Wattle Park and Grand Central.

Demand in the corridor between Geelong and Melbourne has increased as Greater Geelong grows in population.