Vela - 4 Station Street, Blackburn

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<a href="https://www.urban.com.au/developers/samuel-property">Samuel Property's</a> latest development, <a href="/buildings/willow-brighton-74-78-well-street-brighton">Willow Brighton</a> is architecturally-designed by <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/architects/bayley-ward">Bayley Ward</a>, with grounds by Acre Landscape. Willow Brighton is inspired by nature, with elements of modern art deco opulence. Recently we caught up with Illan Samuel, Managing Director of Samuel Property to learn more about the vision behind the project and some of its best selling points.

<figure><a href="/buildings/willow-brighton-74-78-well-street-brighton"><img alt="" class="image-article_full_width_580px" height="385" src="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/screen_shot_2020-07-28_at_9.59.18_pm.png?itok=aJ0kMLyk" width="580"></a></figure>Urban.com.au: Where did you draw inspiration for Willow Brighton from?

Illan Samuel: We drew inspiration from the immediate surroundings. Willow is located on a boulevard style tree-lined side street and there is some fantastic historic Brighton architecture also nearby. We took the inspiration from this location and fussed it together with more progressive overseas architecture that features the use of arches together with more progressive landscaping.

We also worked hard to understand the way the sun and wind interface with the site, how to maximise light, airflow and green aspects - both looking in and out of the residences.

The development was always considered with the end-user in mind and how they would live in the spaces.

<figure><a href="/buildings/willow-brighton-74-78-well-street-brighton"><img alt="" class="image-article_full_width_580px" height="385" src="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/screen_shot_2020-07-28_at_10.00.03_pm.png?itok=TeS8uLVw" width="580"></a></figure>U: What is the price range of the apartments and are the floorplans flexible?

IS: A range of 2, 3 and 4 bedroom residences are available with pricing starting from $2.175 to $6.495m (penthouse).

Yes, floorplans are flexible, although we have worked with Bayley Ward to design them to incorporate features and apartment sizes that we believe will accommodate buyers requirements. 

As part of the "Samuel Standard", we always work closely with any buyer to make customised modifications to suit their brief - a significant advantage to purchasing off the plan with an experienced developer.

<figure><a href="/buildings/willow-brighton-74-78-well-street-brighton"><img alt="" class="image-article_full_width_580px" height="583" src="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/screen_shot_2020-07-28_at_10.00.47_pm.png?itok=KoGjANWN" width="580"></a></figure>U: What were the top 5 features you decided had to be included in the development and why?

IS:

<ol>
<li>Vast light-filled spaces with high ceilings flowing seamlessly into outdoor terraces. Why? Because everyone wants natural light together with a sense of space and functionality (indoor/outdoor). </li>
	<li>A living experience where the ritual of bathing, eating and preparing food - are prioritised. Why? Because these tasks should be celebrated and enjoyed on a daily basis.  </li>
	<li>Intelligent and elevated living that is fundamental yet comforting at every turn. Why? Progressive design that thinks about how people truly live and what matters on a daily basis.</li>
	<li>A material palette inspired by simplicity, purity and integrity. Why? Creating spaces that are both functional, calming and will have longevity only benefit the occupant. </li>
	<li>Biophilic Design. Why? We understand the benefits of having a connection to nature on human well-being creating spaces to come home to, unwind and relax. </li>
</ol>
<figure><a href="/buildings/willow-brighton-74-78-well-street-brighton"><img alt="" class="image-article_full_width_580px" height="387" src="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/screen_shot_2020-07-28_at_10.00.30_pm.png?itok=EBnpq-q5" width="580"></a></figure>U: What do you think buyers love the most about Willow Brighton?

IS: At first, the location - being one of the best of Bayside. Close proximity to begin your day with a walk on the beach or coffee at the neighbourhood cafes along Church St. If City life is on the agenda - a simple train ride with the station only a stroll from Willow is an easy feat. The location is incredibly strong as evidenced by the 85-point "walk score", which is well above average. The location is close to everything, yet not too close where you feel you can't escape back to your private sanctuary. 

As they begin to understand the offering other key aspects will begin to be apparent. The high attention to detail from Samuel. and the design team, the strong track record of current and completed developments and the consideration to the design intent. 

<figure><a href="/buildings/willow-brighton-74-78-well-street-brighton"><img alt="" class="image-article_full_width_580px" height="727" src="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/screen_shot_2020-07-28_at_9.59.44_pm.png?itok=XWauVG07" width="580"></a></figure>U: If you had to choose your favourite aspect of the building, what would it be?

IS: The Arches. The combination of the feature terrace framing, wrapped in soft landscaping, custom "bagged" brick facade with the deep reveal architect detail.

It sets the building apart from others in terms of the commitment to a timeless high-quality design using materials that are locally sourced and highly durable and non-combustible. 

<figure><a href="/buildings/willow-brighton-74-78-well-street-brighton"><img alt="" class="image-article_full_width_580px" height="386" src="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/screen_shot_2020-07-28_at_10.11.09_pm.png?itok=5G_RJr06" width="580"></a></figure>U: What makes Willow Brighton stand out from other properties on the market?

IS: The overall offering - which takes out the risk for the buyer whilst making the process an enjoyable one, rather than daunting and perhaps scary.

The experience of Samuel Standard as the developer and ability to work together pre-purchase, during construction and post via The Samuel Stand and Samuel Aftercare. 

In other developments. these aspects are unknowns and that only amplifies the risk for the purchaser.

<div class="rtecenter">More Samuel Property projects:</div>

<div class="rtecenter"><a href="https://www.urban.com.au/buildings/axel-451-burke-road-glen-iris">AXEL</a></div>

<div class="rtecenter"><a href="/buildings/caspian-43-crisp-street-hampton">CASPIAN</a></div>

<div class="rtecenter"><a href="/buildings/edition-65-lansell-road-toorak">EDITION</a></div>

<div class="rtecenter"><a href="https://www.urban.com.au/buildings/lennox-glen-iris-25-belmont-avenue-north-glen-iris">LENNOX GLEN IRIS</a></div>

<div class="rtecenter"><a href="https://www.urban.com.au/buildings/saint-george-9-13-st-georges-avenue-bentleigh-east">SAINT GEORGE</a></div>

<div class="rtecenter"><a href="/buildings/smith-bentleigh-77-robert-street-bentleigh">SMITH &amp; BENTLEIGH</a></div>

<div class="rtecenter"><a href="https://www.urban.com.au/buildings/turner-residences-1561-malvern-road-glen-iris">TURNER RESIDENCES</a></div>

<div class="rtecenter"><a href="https://www.urban.com.au/buildings/vela-4-station-street-blackburn">VELA</a></div>

Got a question for the developer? Share it in the comments section below. 
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Olivia Round

Melbourne apartment of the week: Willow Brighton

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It's very easy to assume that Melbourne is only building skyscrapers and high-rise towers in the inner city and low-density detached housing on the fringes.  Skyscraper proposals attract headlines across a wide range of media outlets but there's an equally huge story of Melbourne's current development scene that is easily overlooked.

What of the middle ground between skyscraper or sprawl?  There are in fact hundreds of small stature apartment projects in Melbourne's suburbs that are easily glossed over.

At the time of writing there are 983 projects listed on the Urban.com.au Project Database.  208 of those are made up of either 2, 3 or 4 floors and when combined contain over 7,000 dwellings across all phases of the development cycle: that is from planning to construction.

If the search criteria is expanded to include projects up to and including 5 floors, the total number of projects rockets up to 339 with over 12,000 dwellings in play.

The following (long!) list is every low-rise project with either 2, 3 or 4 floors that Urban.com.au is tracking on within our  <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/developments">Project Database</a>.  <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/">Data Portal</a> subscribers can pull this information directly by exporting the database and filtering through a spreadsheet program like Excel or OpenOffice Calc.

I'm going to let the database do the talking from this point on - so get off your mobile, turn your tablet to portrait layout or jump on a desktop/laptop: here's Melbourne's low-rise high-density story.
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Alastair Taylor

Welcome to boom-town: Melbourne's low-rise high-density projects in one long list

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One of the major changes to planning during the term of the last Victorian Government was the implementation of <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/news/planning-minister-approves-new-residential-zones-in-39-victorian-lgas">new residential and commercial zones</a> right throughout <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/news/planning-minister-approves-new-residential-zones-in-39-victorian-lgas">metropolitan and regional areas</a>.

The new planning zones were designed to provide clarity to the community and also to developers in order for them to make investment decisions with a clear understanding of what can be built on the sites they purchase.

One developer which is working away in the General Residential and Residential Growth Zones is <a href="http://www.samuel.com.au/">Samuel Property</a>.

To date Samuel Property have begun development of two projects: Vela in Blackburn and Lennox Glen Iris. Urban.com.au recently chatted with Illan Samuel who is head of the company and some interesting planning anecdotes came out of the conversation.

<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/lennox.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Lennox Glen Iris. © Samuel Property"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="337" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/lennox.jpg?itok=XRuU3Ah1" title="Lennox Glen Iris. © Samuel Property" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Lennox Glen Iris. © Samuel Property</figcaption></figure>Lennox, located at 25 Belmont Avenue North in Glen Iris, was initially targeted at the downsizer market and four weeks out from kicking off the marketing campaign for the project, a decision was made to switch direction and target young professionals.

All 20 apartments were sold in 4-5 weeks and it attracted “very much a hyper-local buyer pool - young people who were either renting or originally grew up in the area - and no offshore buyers” according to Samuel.

Illan Samuel told Urban.com.au that development sites in side streets right near main strips are preferred; buyers like being close to the action but not directly on the main drag as it were. Lennox in Glen Iris and Vela in Blackburn fit this bill.

Take this <a href="http://planningschemes.dpcd.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/194614/whitehorse02zn.pdf">map of zones</a> for the Blackburn area in Whitehorse, Vela Blackburn as seen in the render below is located at 4 Station Street, just off Whitehorse Road and right inside the <a href="http://planningschemes.dpcd.vic.gov.au/schemes/whitehorse/ordinance/32_07s03_whse.pdf">RGZ3</a> zone. Lennox in Glen Iris located at 25 Belmont Avenue North comes under <a href="http://planningschemes.dpcd.vic.gov.au/schemes/stonnington/ordinance/32_08s10_ston.pdf">GRZ10</a> according to <a href="http://planningschemes.dpcd.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/191743/stonnington06zn.pdf">Stonnington zone maps</a> for Glen Iris.

<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/apartments4.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Vela Blackburn. © Samuel Property"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="330" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/apartments4.jpg?itok=7vqlzmIm" title="Vela Blackburn. © Samuel Property" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Vela Blackburn. © Samuel Property</figcaption></figure>Vela in Blackburn, like Lennox in Glen Iris, has sold out of its 24 apartments and Illan told Urban.com.au the sales campaign drew in a lot of local buyers.

As is the custom when Urban.com.au asks developers about future plans, there was a lot of coyness, but Illan did tell us that a similar profile development - side street just off a main strip in RGZ or GRZ - is currently at planning in Glen Eira.

Vela in Blackburn is already under construction and Lennox Glen Iris is set to commence construction in October.

<h2>Comment</h2>

There is still, no doubt, scope to improve the planning zones further. For instance, encouraging (forcing?) councils to apply them to more areas in their LGA and experimenting with other "carrot or the stick" tools like density bonuses which might allow developers to build an extra level in exchange for affordable or social housing components in developments located in any General Residential or Residential Growth Zone.

Regardless, it is encouraging to see capital seek out these development opportunities and from early-adopter and entrepreneurial developers as well; as it is the little things, built in high volume, that are going to count over the long run if Melbourne is to reach the goal of diversifying its residential stock as we grow over the coming decades.

Lead image credit: Lennox Glen Iris location, <a href="http://www.lennoxgleniris.com.au/video">Samuel Property</a>.
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Melbourne apartment of the week: Willow Brighton

Welcome to boom-town: Melbourne's low-rise high-density projects in one long list

Samuel Property and the new residential zones

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