AZX Group

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Burgeoning developer AZX Group's Melbourne presence continues to evolve with their latest project before State planning officers subject to recent revisions. The last parcel of land to be offered for sale surrounding Etihad Stadium, 685 La Trobe Street's reworked April 2016 plans show heavily activated frontages with two residential towers set above.

After securing the vacant site for a <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/property/azx-buys-docklands-site-20150728-gimakw">reported $31.1 million</a>, AZX Group are pursuing 629 apartments for the 4,411sqm site with Peddle Thorp Architects entrusted with the design.

AZX Group are expecting that the revised residential towers will replace an approved office scheme for the site. Designed by Bates Smart for then owner Charter Hall, the facility was to have offered <a href="http://www.flagshipgroup.com.au/projects/another-development/">35,000sqm of office accommodation in a project valued at $220 million.</a>

<h2>685 La Trobe Street development summary</h2>

<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/image17_4.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="685 La Trobe Street's northern elevation. Planning image: Peddle Thorp"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="386" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/image17_4.jpg?itok=O1SHsSMk" title="685 La Trobe Street's northern elevation. Planning image: Peddle Thorp" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>685 La Trobe Street's northern elevation. Planning image: Peddle Thorp</figcaption></figure><ul>
<li>Vacant site of 4,411sqm</li>
	<li>Dual towers with the taller at 74.5 metres</li>
	<li>629 apartments in total</li>
	<li>Tower 1: 140 x 1BR, 176 x 2BR, 3 x BR</li>
	<li>Tower 2: 59 x 1BR, 247 x 2BR, 4 x 3B </li>
	<li>Total retail NSA: 1,035sqm</li>
	<li>Provision for 373 bicycle bays and 103 car parking bays</li>
	<li>Project GFA: 62,614sqm</li>
</ul>
<h2>Public interface</h2>

<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/image18_8.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Concourse level. Planning image: Peddle Thorp"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="448" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/image18_8.jpg?itok=mlvMciP8" title="Concourse level. Planning image: Peddle Thorp" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Concourse level. Planning image: Peddle Thorp</figcaption></figure>685 La Trobe Street is heavily activated with retail to three frontages over multiple levels, owing to the sloping nature of the site and Etihad Stadium's elevated concourse. 

Services to the development will for the most be confined to the westerly aspect which fronts a service lane, whilst an obligatory art installation will wrap the south-west corner of the development. In total 9 retail spaces wrap the development; a far stronger level of activation than a handful of neighbouring project that front Etihad Stadium.

The space separating both towers is expected to be finished with paving and areas of lawn which is a far cry from the barren concourse that currently surrounds Etihad Stadium.

685 La Trobe Street 's emphasis on interacting with its surrounds follows on from the <a href="http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-04-29/ambitious-plan-underway-to-upgrade-etihad-stadium">AFL's mooted plans to redevelop Etihad Stadium</a>'s environs should it gain control of the stadium earlier than the slated 2025 date. 

Incidentally the neighbouring site controlled by local developer Salta Properties has also headed back to planning post receiving approval for 383 apartments within a single tower. A new design for the prime corner site is expected.

<h2>AZX growing at pace</h2>

The developer has five apartment projects in play with a sixth looming in the shape of the balance of the former CUB site in Carlton, for which initial sketches show a very substantial tower in the works.

685 La Trobe Street's 600 plus apartments aside,our additional residential projects would swell the developer's pipeline by roughly 1,500 dwellings. The initial stage of <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/projects/riverina-22-hopkins-street-footscray">Riverina</a> within Footscray's Joseph Road Precinct is under construction, leaving Bello on North Melbourne's Courtney Street as the project most likely to launch next.

AZX Group are very much indicative of the wave of Asian-backed property developers that have descended upon Melbourne in recent years.
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silvermb

AZX Group's Docklands development rounds out the Stadium Precinct

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Designed by The Buchan Group for burgeoning developer AZX Group, A'Beckett Residences as it has been dubbed seeks to occupy a 1,038sqm site at 183-189 A'Beckett Street in the rapidly growing CBD North Precinct. Rising 67-storeys for a height of 205.5 metres the proposed tower comprises 471 apartments with 102sqm of ground floor retail atop two basement levels.

The application like many other tall towers proposed for both Melbourne's CBD and Southbank was lodged prior to the introduction of Planning Scheme Amendment C262, and will therefore be considered under the previous rules.

<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/abeckett_residences_hero.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="A'Beckett Residences. Image courtesy The Buchan Group"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="1007" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/abeckett_residences_hero.jpg?itok=nWl98SnX" title="A'Beckett Residences. Image courtesy The Buchan Group" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>A'Beckett Residences. Image courtesy The Buchan Group</figcaption></figure><h2>Application summary</h2>

<ul>
<li>Application lodged June 2015.</li>
	<li>Existing building over the 1,038sqm site to be retained and incorporated.</li>
	<li>67-storeys, 205.5 metres to top of plant.</li>
	<li>471 apartments.</li>
	<li>203 x 1BR, 175 x 1BR+study, 92 x 2BR, 1 x 3BR.</li>
	<li>102 sqm of retail in one tenancy.</li>
	<li>Two basement levels with 168 resident storage cages, 36 storage lockers and 137 bike racks.</li>
	<li>44 car parks over five levels to the rear of the site.</li>
	<li>Resident amenity over levels 44 and 45.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Design basis</h2>

<blockquote>
During our design process, various forms were generated to explore potential envelopes for this site with an aim to create an iconic new tower for the City of Melbourne. The proposal is a direct response to the many constraints imposed on the site both inherent and desired.

As principal designers of the A'Beckett Residences proposal, The Buchan Group has been able to ensure the seamless integration of pedestrian realm, public realm, retail, ground floor plane activation and the proposed iconic built form and tall-tower typology.
<cite>The Buchan Group</cite>
</blockquote>

According to the Design and Context Report which was submitted as part of the planning process, Buchan's design for the proposed tower draws on the scale, materiality and context of the surrounding streetscape with the tower employing a very ordered facade, simple and restrained yet equally impressive at this scale. This tower is in stark contrast to some of the other fully glazed towers going up in the area.

The existing building on site was designed by Edgar Fielder Billson (a former associate of Walter Burley Griffin) during 1937 as a factory and office in the 'Moderne Style' with its curved form and strong horizontal emphasis. The building is currently not graded by Council but is under consideration for a B Grade heritage listing.

Together with the vertical nature of the tower and articulation of its facade, the two building forms create an interesting visual juxtaposition and composition of elements.

The strategy for heritage conservation and readaptation seeks to retain more than just the building's facade: other elements of building fabric such as existing slabs, openings and columns are retained. This along with the genesis of the tower's massing and form is illustrated in the diagram below:

<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/abeckett_massing_diagram.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Massing diagram. Image courtesy of The Buchan Group"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="282" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/abeckett_massing_diagram.jpg?itok=R73v_TDW" title="Massing diagram. Image courtesy of The Buchan Group" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Massing diagram. Image courtesy of The Buchan Group</figcaption></figure>The proposal as such is composed of three elements: a lower podium comprising the existing building fabric, a tapered upper podium to a height of 40 metres setback 1.5 metres from the street, and the tower proper, setback a further five metres. Part of the rationale for an upper podium is to conceal the adjoining City Tempo building's nondescript facade.

<blockquote>
The design has been influenced by a number of design devices. The use of robust materials, with a depth of character and texture, forms a main element.

The use of multiple tones of light grey, blue and green reflective glass reflect the city's fabric at upper levels. A hierarchy of solid masonry, and lightweight envelopes, reflect the diverse, and irregular grain of the streetscape and create picture windows framing the city's views from within each apartment.
<cite>The Buchan Group</cite>
</blockquote>

<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/abeckett_residences_building_fabric.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="A'Beckett Street frontage. Image courtesy of The Buchan Group"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="287" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/abeckett_residences_building_fabric.jpg?itok=CWO02kdQ" title="A'Beckett Street frontage. Image courtesy of The Buchan Group" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>A'Beckett Street frontage. Image courtesy of The Buchan Group</figcaption></figure><h2>A lukewarm reception</h2>

Initial design advice offered by DELWP shows that in the proposals initial form it would struggle to gain support. Key issues identified include setbacks to the eastern and southern boundary, retention of more than the facade of the existing onsite building, how the existing building interacts with the new tower above, treatment to blank elevations and ground floor circulation. In this regard changes to the design seem certain.

On a wider note 183-189 A'Beckett Street forms one of AZX Group's stable of projects dotted around inner Melbourne. Also in their keep are two sites formerly held by Grocon on the CUB Carlton site, a 411sqm development site at 685 La Trobe Street and another in Villiers Street North Melbourne.

Riverina Footscray is in the formative stages of construction while a more modest development of 21 apartments is also on AZX Group's radar in Brighton.

<h2>Project team</h2>

<ul>
<li>Developer and Development Manager: AZX Group (Ausralia Xing Seven Development Pty Ltd)</li>
	<li>Architecture / Interiors: The Buchan Group</li>
	<li>Planning Consultant: Urbis</li>
	<li>Conservation / Heritage Consultant: Bryce Raworth</li>
	<li>Traffic Assessment: Traffix Group</li>
	<li>Structural, Civil, Services, Facade, Wind, ESD and Acoustic Engineers: Aurecon</li>
	<li>Waste Management: Leigh Design</li>
	<li>Building Surveyor and DDA: PLP Building Surveyors and Consultants</li>
</ul>
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Laurence Dragomir

AZX Group initiate A'Beckett Residences: 183-189 A'Beckett Street, Melbourne

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Recently Urban.com.au <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/news/the-tannery-and-hopkins-street-launch-footscrays-joseph-road-precinct">broke the news</a> that <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/new-apartments/footscray-vic">Footscray's</a> Joseph Road Precinct will begin its transformation into an inner-city residential enclave with the release of Riverina Apartments. Located less than five kilometres from Melbourne's CBD, Riverina Apartments also presents as developer AZX Group's vanguard Australian development, with further projects planned along the Eastern Seaboard.

<a href="http://www.cbresi.com.au/about/peopleDetails.aspx?ProfileID=29">Nic Cuni</a> as Director of CBRE's Residential Projects was on hand to guide Urban.com.au through the now open display suite, providing an overview of <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/projects/riverina-22-hopkins-street-footscray">Riverina Apartments</a> which has seen the project's first stage already garner strong sales.

<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_2627.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Riverina's display suite model up close"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="387" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/img_2627.jpg?itok=DX0kXXW_" title="Riverina's display suite model up close" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Riverina's display suite model up close</figcaption></figure>Within close proximity to the <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/new-apartments/maribyrnong-vic">Maribyrnong</a> River, Nic Cuni explains that the <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/architects/peddle-thorp-architects">Peddle Thorp-designed</a> complex will be split into stages. Initially available for purchase are apartments within the podium and buildings D, C and E; all of which which front Hopkins Street.

Subsequent stages will see the dual 31 level residential towers delivered, creating a heightened level of living to Footscray with unfettered views to all directions. Overall Riverina Apartments will provide in excess of 950 new dwellings while also delivering Melbourne's inner West with a highly visible marker.

To date Riverina Apartments' strong early sales has seen a considerable number accounted for over the available buildings, with a mix of domestic and overseas buyers securing apartments at competitive prices. One, two and three bedroom apartments are available with an entry point of $255,000, while four bedroom penthouses crowning each tower as seen above are also available.

<blockquote>
CBRE have just released Riviera to our Victorian database, only to receive the biggest response ever fielded. So much so we expect to sell out of stage one soon after our grand opening during July.

The market has understood the value proposition that Riverina offers, with Melbourne's affordability issues in part addressed by releasing apartments from $255,000.
<cite>Nic Cuni</cite>
</blockquote>

<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/image239.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Representative kitchen and bedroom finishes"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="256" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/image239.jpg?itok=8SPhYOwO" title="Representative kitchen and bedroom finishes" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Representative kitchen and bedroom finishes</figcaption></figure>The display suite demonstrates the bright, open apartment format created by Peddle Thorp. Kitchens and bathrooms are simple, modern and convenient with an emphasis on functionality while bedrooms feature neutral tones.

Floor-to-ceiling windows and expansive living areas point toward the desire of the development team to create apartments that capture the maximum amount of light possible.

<blockquote>
We have addressed quality by using well known appliances and showcasing interiors designed by Peddle Thorp. Buyers get a unique opportunity to buy an exceptional apartment within five kilometres to the CBD from $255,000.

It's an opportunity to enjoy a high yielding investment that has huge growth potential and Riverina's mix of apartments will appeal to first home buyers, downsizers and the local area investor!
<cite>Nic Cuni</cite>
</blockquote>

A feature of Riverina Apartments will be an expansive internal courtyard which opens to Warde Street. Surrounded by hanging greenery, the courtyard and garden area headline project amenities which include rooftop entertainment and barbecue areas, rooftop swimming pool, sauna and spa, private dining/entertaining rooms and a gymnasium.

An activated ground level will see a slew of retail and entertainment options with the project maintaining frontage to four separate streets. Specialty and large-scale retailers will constitute the mix with a supermarket expected to underpin retail activities which stretch across the 9,500sqm 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/image237.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Riverina's penthouses with their distinctive exterior. Image courtesy CBRE"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="330" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/image237.jpg?itok=UtzAGhvH" title="Riverina's penthouses with their distinctive exterior. Image courtesy CBRE" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Riverina's penthouses with their distinctive exterior. Image courtesy CBRE</figcaption></figure>
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