Dahua Group and RotheLowman look to impress as Hawthorn m...

Dahua Group and RotheLowman look to impress as Hawthorn marches on

Mark BaljakFebruary 17, 2016

The Hawthorn/Hawthorn East duo continue to bubble along as apartment hotspots with a raft of fresh planning applications before City of Boroondara. Leading the next wave of apartment projects for the popular postcodes is a sleek application headed by Shanghai-based Dahua Group.

Under affiliate Dahua Australia, the leading Chinese developer is pursuing its second sizeable Melbourne apartment project in the form of a 356 dwellings spread over a 12,289sqm site in Hawthorn East.

Following on from Dahua Australia's Noir in South Yarra, 33-53 Camberwell Road would see the demolition of six lowrise commercial and retail buildings. With similar design traits to another of their upcoming projects nearby at 196-202 Burwood Road, RotheLowman have created a flowing lowrise complex with the standout feature a seemingly suspended swimming pool which spans two buildings.

Snapped up by Dahua Australia during mid 2015, the development of 33-53 Camberwell Road would add to the many apartment projects that continue to consume prime development sites along the Burwood Road/Camberwell Road corridor.

33-57 Camberwell Road, Hawthorn East application summary

Ground level perspective. Image courtesy RotheLowman

Application submitted December 2015
Site area: 12,289sqm
356 dwellings spread over five buildings
37 x 1BR, 50 x 1BR plus, 63 x 2BR, 169 x 2BR plus, 20 x 3BR, 1 x 4BR, 5 x duplex, 11 x townhouses
Provision for 474 car parking spaces, 251 bicycle bays & 375 stores
2,025sqm of retail space split between two large tenancies
Amenities include: rooftop area, lap pool, sundeck, internal courtyard and public plaza
NSA residential: 24,659sqm
GFA: 53,480sqm
Estimated project cost: $80 million

Designed up and down

The expansive site is partly zoned CZ1 and carries a 14.5 metre height limit. To counter the architects have chosen to sink the site below ground level, allowing for seven levels of residential living when only five are discernible from the street.

Combined with the intense site landscaping and public plaza combined into the design, the design firm is hopeful that the proposal will create a strong benchmark for future developments in the Hawthorn area.

The primary design driver for the internal faces of the development was the creation of a crafted valley landscape, with a soft tiered edge and a sense of scale within the central zone. Imagery was inspired by the stepped landforms of rice paddy fields and the stone terraces of Machu Pichu.
This concept informed the notion of a central courtyard space, and the facade treatment created by tiered and contoured forms. Horizontal concrete bands with a textured finish are evocative of stone terraces, creating a series of strata like levels, while green glass and external walls in a colour pallete of soft natural tones are drawn from a natural pallette.
Urban context report, RotheLowman

The proposed feature stair leading to the lower courtyard. Image courtesy RotheLowman

Public piazzas at entry points to the site off Burwood Road and Camberwell Road create openings into the site. Feature stairs cut a pathway into the open contoured space. The sunken courtyard garden within creates a layered spatial experience and provides visual connection, interest and recreation.
Urban context report, RotheLowman

Boroondara contends with a number of significant proposals

33-57 Camberwell Road is by some way the largest current planning application on Boroondara's agenda, but a number of other noteworthy applications are also filtering through.

17-23 Lynch Street is VicTrack's latest disposal of an unwanted land holding. The JAM Architects-designed building would see 107 dwellings created adjacent to the Belgrave/Lilydale Line on what is now a hardware outlet and vacant land. Sales for the project are poised to commence upon approval.

17-23 Lynch Street, 2 Queens Avenue and 29-31 Queens Avenue

Nearby Queens Avenue in Hawthorn also continues to garner the attention of developers with two projects under consideration. 29-31 Queens Avenue is awaiting a planning permit after receiving a notice of decision for its 72 apartments while Ascui and Co. have lodged plans for 563-565 Burwood Road which also maintains a Queens Avenue frontage.

Combined the four major developments outlined above could add as many as 550 apartments to Hawthornn and Hawthorn East, without factoring in the many smaller active apartments projects in the area.

33-57 Camberwell Road, Hawthorn East development team

Developer: Dahua Australia Hawthorn Pty Ltd
Architect: RotheLowman
Town Planning: Contour Consultants
Project Manager: PDS Group
Development Manager: United Property Corporation
Landscape Architects: Jack Merlo Design
Traffic Consultant: GTA Consultants
Services and ESD: ADP Consulting
Waste Consultant: Leigh Design
Land Surveyor: Bosco Jonson
Acoustic Consultant: Acoustic Logic
Building Surveyor: Grimbos Building Surveyors
Accessibility: Morris Access Consulting
Engineering Consultant: Mordue Engineering
Fire Consultant: Omnii
Arborist report: John Patrick Pty Ltd

Mark Baljak

Mark Baljak was a co-founder of Urban.com.au. He passed away on Thursday 8th of November 2018 after a battle with cancer. He was 37. Mark was a keen traveller, having visited all six permanently-inhabited continents and had a love of craft beer. One of his biggest passions was observing the change that has occurred in Melbourne over the past two decades. In that time he built an enormous library of photos, all taken by him, which tracked the progress of construction on building sites from across metropolitan Melbourne.

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Apartments

Dahua Group

Hawthorn

Planning applications

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