Elland Avenue - 2 Elland Avenue, Box Hill

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When K2LD Architects were commissioned to design a new school in Bendigo they turned to the students for inspiration.  Armed with crayons, it wasn't long before the limitations of architecture and design were being tested with notions of space ships, floating desks and lickable wallpaper.

After a great deal of sketching, the children collectively decided that it was only fitting their new school, which is located on Maple Street in the Bendigo suburb of Golden Square, took inspiration from a tree house.

Golden Square Primary Principal Barry Goode says that "children are particularly sensitive to change, so we felt involving them in the process from the beginning would ease the transition and foster a sense of ownership over their new school". The new Golden Square Primary School is the result of merging to campuses on to a single site.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/golden_square_primary_094.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Golden Square Primary School in Bendigo - image supplied"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="387" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/golden_square_primary_094.jpg?itok=ZMJ_uORu" title="Golden Square Primary School in Bendigo - image supplied" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Golden Square Primary School in Bendigo - image supplied</figcaption></figure>The school consists of a central administration and specialist building which houses reception, office, art, library and staff facilities and is flanked by two double storey buildings in which a total of four classroom precincts are contained.  

The four classroom precincts are arranged around a central collaborative space with further staff resource and meeting rooms in each.

Owing to the size of the site, in order to merge the two campuses, a second storey had to be added to create more capacity.

K2LD Principal Tisha Lee said "the added height feeds into our tree house concept, allowing us to get creative with 'trunk' and 'canopy' inspired levels, whilst the withdrawal spaces offered an opportunity to create play 'cubby' spaces".

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/golden_square_primary_061.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Golden Square Primary School in Bendigo - image supplied"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="387" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/golden_square_primary_061.jpg?itok=JMDoVMR7" title="Golden Square Primary School in Bendigo - image supplied" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Golden Square Primary School in Bendigo - image supplied</figcaption></figure>K2LD is gaining a greater presence on the Urban.com.au Project Database yet in an interview with Urban.com.au, Tisha Lee said that around 40% of K2LD's portfolio is made up of public school projects and that K2LD doesn't lock its staff into any type of project - they're exposed to all facets of work the firm takes on.

"It helps us feel real and allows us to engage with the community on a more personal level, the public sector work allows the staff to transpose aspects of the community into the private sector work" says Lee.

K2LD currently have <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/architects/k2ld-architects">four projects</a> on the Urban.com.au database, one of which - 399 Little Lonsdale Street -  will be a hotel with Accor Group brands operating in the property, with onsite demolition for the tower recently completed.

<h2>Where is design headed for public schools?</h2>

No-one would argue that a school's primary purpose is to educate children, however Tisha Lee expects that in the many new schools that are to be built, as foreshadowed in the recent state budget, we will see increasingly diverse spaces added to them to cater for greater community needs, both inside and outside of normal school hours.

Outside of school hours, the new schools that are built may be used for adult education and learning, the performing arts, language education and perhaps even religious uses.

During the day, new schools may include spaces for stay-at-home parents who are looking to network with others; in a sense the design of new schools may witness a greater merging of the humble public school and community centres that are traditionally separate in middle suburbia.

This trend makes sense for new schools which have been mooted for medium and high-density areas of the city given that land is scarce and more expensive - Fishermans Bend, Arden-Macaulay and E-Gate would benefit from this school and greater community facility treatment.
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Alastair Taylor

Children at the heart of the school design process

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In hindsight it seemed like such an obvious choice that Box Hill would be sit at the peak of high density living in greater Melbourne. A natural hub with multimodal transport options, established health, retail and entertainment offerings and a diverse population, it has the ingredients to underpin what is an now unprecedented boom in apartment living within postcode 3128.

In all actuality Box Hill's rise has been a long process to this point, with a string of unrealised projects over the past decade. While Whitehorse City Council have been proactive in accepting measured higher density living within Box Hill's core, the market dynamics were such that various projects never actually proceeded to construction.

It has only been in the last 12 to 18 months that Box Hill has asserted itself as the dominant suburban apartment hot spot, with the exclamation mark coming in the form of Whitehorse Towers. With its 511 apartments selling in no time and its taller tower soon to reach 115 metres, Whitehorse Towers is the first in a new batch of buildings that will transform Box Hill.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/image93_2.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="A selection of Box Hill projects that never saw the light of day"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="430" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/image93_2.jpg?itok=LO2wjXCX" title="A selection of Box Hill projects that never saw the light of day" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>A selection of Box Hill projects that never saw the light of day</figcaption></figure>A sweep through the Urban.com.au Project Database shows 23 current residential apartment projects within Box Hill, with in excess of 2,250 apartments in play. Of these 23 projects, 9 are currently under construction with the latest to join the ranks being Elland Avenue which began piling during November.

Further to these a number of other noteworthy projects are also on the Box Hill radar, the most prominent being 12-14 Nelson Road which is seeking approval for a 22 storey building containing 164 dwellings. Whitehorse City Council have indicated 12-14 Nelson Road is satisfactory in its site context and two further apartment developments at 5 Rodgerson Road and 9-11 Bruce Street received planning permits during October, the latter project advancing via VCAT.

Factoring in the projects that have yet to enter the Urban.com.au Project Database, the overall count of current apartment projects centred around Box Hill's core would exceed 30; a massive number in context.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/image95.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Box Hill's largest to date - Sky One and Whitehorse Towers"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="376" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/image95.jpg?itok=xoGp0-pA" title="Box Hill's largest to date - Sky One and Whitehorse Towers" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Box Hill's largest to date - Sky One and Whitehorse Towers</figcaption></figure>The smaller projects underpin Box Hill's apartments success story, it's the tall projects surrounding Whitehorse Road that garner public attention. The latest to break cover is the most recent incarnation of 545 Station Street which has appeared in many guises, but is now known as Sky One.

Expected to be Box Hill's tallest development, Sky One is championed by Golden Age Group after their purchase of the site from AXF Poperty. Registrations of interest are open for the project which will be officially launched during early 2016.

The northern side of Whitehorse Road will likely also receive a substantial tower with plans afoot for a mixed-use building tower for the Spotlight Box Hill outlet that may well usurp Sky One as the suburb's tallest building.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/image91_2.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title=" 9-11 Ellingworth Parade and 701 Station Street. Image courtesy Lindellas and Artisan Architects"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="259" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/image91_2.jpg?itok=PJ_T2YO_" title=" 9-11 Ellingworth Parade and 701 Station Street. Image courtesy Lindellas and Artisan Architects" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>9-11 Ellingworth Parade and 701 Station Street. Image courtesy Lindellas and Artisan Architects</figcaption></figure>Box Hill's popularity has also flowed into land sales with multiple development sites currently on offer. The buoyant residential sector has evidently given vendors confidence to hit the market with the expectation of receiving top dollar for their respective sites.

Seven large residential development land parcels are currently on offer within Box Hill, with two holding approval for residential schemes, namely 701 Station Street and 9-11 Ellingworth Parade. These sites follow hot on the heels of 820 Whitehorse Road which was sold recently with the onsite commercial complex expected to make way for a tower in excess of 25 levels.

The frequency and scale of the residential projects flowing into Box Hill have seen it become the apartment hot spot right now. A time of intense change is upon the suburb.

The following is a list of all Box Hill projects we have added to the Urban.com.au project database to date.
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silvermb

Box Hill: The new suburban apartment powerhouse

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Sitting in Moonee Valley City Council's offices last week and looking over the plans for <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/news/moonee-ponds-in-the-market-for-some-high-rise-activity">Hall and Margaret streets</a>, it struck me that we are starting to see the same level of developer confidence in Melbourne's suburbs that used to be contained to Southbank back in the 1990s.

Southbank Towers which stands 28 levels high, completed in 1997 and built by ubiquitous Southbank developer Central Equity, was a new milestone for the developer back in the day.

If you peruse <a href="http://www.centralequity.com.au/s_past_projects.php">CE's long list</a> of completed projects, you will see Southbank Towers set a new benchmark in scale for Central Equity which prior to Southbank Towers was building smaller-scale buildings in the inner city on both sides of the Yarra.

<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="450" src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m0!3m2!1sen!2sau!4v1443402034680!6m8!1m7!1sZcLlSQmUyz3x_dlyyNinEw!2m2!1d-37.8231592!2d144.9607381!3f151.71915787117135!4f31.37611199527079!5f0.4000000000000002" style="border:0" width="100%"></iframe>

The municipalities of Melbourne, Yarra, Port Phillip, Stonnington and Maribyrnong are referred to the inner sub-region of the previous State Government's Plan Melbourne strategy (from the archives: <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/news/how-much-urbanism-will-central-melbourne-need-to-build-by-2031">How much urbanism will central Melbourne need to build by 2031?</a>) and it is no secret these five LGA's are seeing the vast bulk of medium and high density dwellings built.

But as I say when we field requests from other media outlets about Melbourne development data, we really need to pay far more attention to the suburbs.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/plan_melb_central_subregion_0_0.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="The inner sub-region of Plan Melbourne with the previous Government's proposal for a cross-city rail tunnel"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="399" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/plan_melb_central_subregion_0_0.jpg?itok=LK-83JuD" title="The inner sub-region of Plan Melbourne with the previous Government's proposal for a cross-city rail tunnel" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>The inner sub-region of Plan Melbourne with the previous Government's proposal for a cross-city rail tunnel</figcaption></figure><h2>Why is 20 levels significant?</h2>

For no particular reason other than if we go back over the tall building history of Melbourne to the late 1950s when ICI House was constructed on land outside the CBD.

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICI_House">ICI House</a> has 20 levels, was once Australia's tallest building and at the time was the building which made a statement and set the cat amongst the pidgeons in terms of sending buildings even higher, just like Southbank Towers did for residential buildings in Southbank.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/orica_house.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="ICI House. Image CC BY SA Wikipedia."><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="774" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/orica_house.jpg?itok=DJRpLedD" title="ICI House. Image CC BY SA Wikipedia." width="580"></a>

<figcaption>ICI House. Image CC BY SA Wikipedia.</figcaption></figure><h2>The hills are alive with sound of piling rigs</h2>

Earlier this year we reported on <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/news/whitehorse-towers-box-hills-largest-development-approved">Whitehorse Tower's approval</a> and it has since sold out and started construction.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/img_6632.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Whitehorse Towers site works in full swing. Image Mark Baljak"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="463" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/img_6632.jpg?itok=FaHyxguH" title="Whitehorse Towers site works in full swing. Image Mark Baljak" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Whitehorse Towers site works in full swing. Image Mark Baljak.</figcaption></figure>As the suburb's name suggests, Box Hill is an elevated area so when you build a tower, or two in Whitehorse Towers' case - 36 and 26 levels respectively - the towers become more prominent when viewed from a distance. Not to mention I dare say the views from this project will be utterly spectacular.

However when you take a good look at the other development within a one kilometre radius, a development story emerges of a suburb that is not too dissimilar to that of one company's: Central Equity.

We are tracking <a href="/new-apartments/box-hill-vic-3128">21 projects</a> in Box Hill and most are in the four to tweleve level range. Some examples include Chloe, <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/buildings/elland-avenue-2-elland-avenue-box-hill">Elland Avenue</a> and <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/new-apartments/757-station-street-box-hill">757 Station Street</a>. This is replicated in other major suburban nodes in Melbourne.

<h2>Moonee Ponds: the east can't all have the fun</h2>

As reported earlier this morning, <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/news/moonee-ponds-in-the-market-for-some-high-rise-activity">Caydon have lodged plans</a> for two more towers on what's known as the Readings site in Moonee Ponds, the tallest of which punches through the old Melbourne barrier of 20 levels.

Like its 20+ level counterpart in the East, Moonee Ponds is elevated - around 45 metres above sea level - and the area is not without high-rise residential precedent.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/img_6580_0.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Caydon's new proposal for Hall Street. Image from Planning Application"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="644" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/img_6580_0.jpg?itok=EnoJhqHN" title="Caydon's new proposal for Hall Street. Image from Planning Application" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Caydon's new proposal for Hall Street. Image from Planning Application</figcaption></figure>The proposal which is currently before Moonee Valley City Council measures 68 metres and when taking the already elevated position into account, the tower like Whitehorse Towers will act as an anchor in the suburban skyline should it be approved in its current form.

Moonee Valley already has one building complete above the 20 level barrier in Travancore and another under construction opposite Flemington Racecourse, however the Hall Street proposal is first in the elevated section of Moonee Ponds and in its traditional activities district.

<h2>Hills and public transport, a recipe for development confidence?</h2>

The location of both of these suburbs in elevated areas is significant however I would argue there is something far more significant.

Both Moonee Ponds and Box Hill are two of suburban Melbourne's richest "non-rail junction" public transport nodes: they are both simply major stations on single rail lines.

While Box Hill's rail frequency does benefit from the junction-effect of combining rail services into a single line at Ringwood in this case, Moonee Ponds and Box Hill are hubs for all three modes of public transport: heavy rail lines, trams and both boast large bus hubs (although, Box Hill bus hub is <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/news/is-it-time-to-reconfigure-the-moonee-ponds-transport-interchange">better connected to heavy rail than Moonee Ponds</a>).

<h2>Where could the 20 level barrier be breached next?</h2>

If I were a betting man, the rail junction suburbs of Melbourne outside the inner city - Dandenong, Caulfield, Ringwood, Camberwell, Newport and Sunshine - are likely to be the next suburbs to stare down the old Melbourne barrier.

Dandenong is ever so close with <a href="/developments/dandenong-vic-3175">Spectra</a> having 17 levels and the suburb has another 22 projects ranging in floor heights from four to twelve. Ringwood is half way there with 10 levels at <a href="/buildings/233-east-233-maroondah-highway-ringwood">233 Maroondah Highway</a>, the suburb has another five projects in the four to eight level floor height range.

Camberwell? Despite its penchant for fostering celebrity NIMBYism, it actually chalks up eleven projects in the three to nine level range.

Caulfield has not reached the heights that Ringwood has as yet in the same region Malvern East has <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/buildings/vanguard-781-807-dandenong-road-malvern-east">Vanguard</a> at 18 levels as well as a good mix of four to eight level projects. Sunshine has a sole <a href="/developments/sunshine-vic-3020">nine level building</a> on the database and we are not tracking anything for Newport as yet.
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Elland Avenue

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Children at the heart of the school design process

Box Hill: The new suburban apartment powerhouse

20 years after Southbank Towers, the suburbs are punching through the 20 level barrier

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