Gamuda Land set for Fishermans Bend, South Melbourne apartment development
Malaysian property developer, Gamuda Land, is set for just its second Australian development following its successful delivery of its 661 Chapel Street tower in South Yarra.
Gamuda Land, led by CEO Ngan Chee Meng, has spent $24 million on a prime site at 272 Normanby Road, South Melbourne, with the intention of delivering a 200-apartment, mixed-use tower.
The 2,600 sqm site, famously home to the Dunlop Rubber Co for over 70 years, is located within the Montague Precinct of Fishermans Bend.
Ngan Chee Meng said after the delivery of the company’s maiden 661 Chapel Street, South Yarra project in 2018, Gamuda Land is focused on building a strong pipeline of residential projects in Australia over the next five years.
“Since Australia’s borders reopened for business, Gamuda Land has been actively looking to expand its foothold in all capital cities, in order to bolster residential supply by an additional 1,000 residences,” Ngan said.
“The South Melbourne site was immediately attractive to us, as it plays to Gamuda Land’s global experience in developing sustainable communities and townships.
“As a town maker, Gamuda Land is well positioned to apply our expertise in our international projects towards addressing challenges like climate change and housing affordability, which form the cornerstone of our scheme for South Melbourne.”
The former plans for the site had 260 apartments
Gamuda Land’s vision is to re-instate local biomass on site, with extensive tree-planting and contributions to public green space included in the scheme.
“Working with the traditional landowners as a first step, our design brief started with an understanding of the site’s natural landscape and its indigenous heritage. We wanted to understand how we could restore part of the project to its pre-colonial state.”
Partnering with Hayball Architects, Oculus and HIP V. HYPE, the project will deliver a biophilic outcome that incorporates native flora and ‘re-wilds’ part of it to a pre-urbanised landscape.
In collaboration with the City of Port Phillip, DELWP and Fishermans Bend Taskforce, Gamuda Land will also deliver a new 3,000 sqm public park that will see a section of neighbouring Johnson Street permanently closed and transformed into open green space.
The architectural response by Hayball champions ecological design features like vertical greening that connects the park frontage with the building and private residents’ rooftop garden. Promoting the health and wellbeing of future residents has informed natural material selections, increased natural light in the development’s design and enhanced connections to nature.
A lush biophilic spine through the building’s 20 levels offers resident ‘hide out’ areas for work and recreation amongst green spaces. Cascading green walls will feature prominently throughout corridors, lobbies and terraces.
An eco-deck atop the building will feature lush green planting and resident amenities like a Japanese inspired onsen, urban farming beds and a meditation and wellness studio.
“It was important to us that the project made a significant contribution to enriching air quality and reducing heat island effect, delivering on Gamuda Land’s goal to reduce its CO2 emissions by 40 percent by 2030,” Ngan added.
“The project will also see over 6,000 native plants and trees planted, furthering our goal to plant an additional one million trees across Gamuda Land’s projects.”
Additional amenities within the project will include an atrium retail space that will introduce 14 specialty retailers.
A mix of one, two and three bedroom apartments will be priced from $490,000 up to $1,450,000, with a sales launch planned for late 2022. Construction is anticipated to commence in June 2023.
