Victoria has established itself as an innovative and creative apartment leader, winning 12 of the 23 inaugural National Apartment Awards despite a strong showing from projects in NSW, Queensland and Western Australia.
Winning projects included vertical aged care, permanent housing for women and children fleeing violence at home, a fully supported service for rough sleepers and the homeless and a sustainable apartment village built on a reclaimed industrial site.
Australian Apartment Advocacy (AAA) CEO and founder Samantha Reece says Victoria demonstrated the greatest depth and diversity of entries.
“Victoria is setting a high standard for sustainable and innovative projects including for Ageing in Place, Civic Leadership, Housing Diversity and Heritage and Culture,” Ms Reece says.
“There were some exceptional winners, including The Alba, by FK Australia and Australian Unity, a complex aged-care retrofit that has allowed aged-care high-rise in Melbourne’s CBD with independent and supported living through to palliative care in the one complex,” Ms Reece said.
“Viv’s Place, Australia’s first longer-term apartment facility for survivors of family violence, was designed by ARM Architecture and is managed by Launch Housing. It caters for 60 adults and 130 children and has a communal kitchen, dining, social facilities and wrap around support services.”
Victorian projects won the following categories:
AGEING IN PLACE
The Alba - FKA/Australian Unity
The Alba, in Melbourne’s CBD, pioneered vertical aged care, reimagining a 1970s office tower into a vibrant aged-care precinct with 95 residential aged-care suites and 60 assisted living apartments. Amenities include a private rooftop restaurant, cinema, library, rehabilitation gym, consultation rooms and so on. The Alba collaborated with its next door neighbour, Australian Unity’s retirement living facility, to create a shared foyer coffee shop where residents socialise and play board games.
CIVIC LEADERSHIP AND PIONEERING
Make Room - i2C/ City of Melbourne/Unison Community Housing
The City of Melbourne is repurposing a council-owned building at 602 Little Bourke Street, with a heritage overlay, to deliver 50 studio apartments with on-site support services. Make Room is housing for homeless and rough sleepers. The basement and ground floor is flexible for resident interaction and 24/7 social and health support services. An onsite social enterprise will create job and training opportunities. Community Housing Provider Unison is leasing the building for 20 years.
DIVERSITY IN HOUSING AND PIONEERING
Viv's Place - Launch Housing/ARM Architecture
Viv’s Place, named for Launch Housing’s first social worker Vivian McCutcheon, is part of an innovative build-to-rent housing program in Melbourne providing sanctuary and permanent housing for 60 women and 130 children escaping family violence and homelessness. The concept is based on Sugar Hill, run by Broadway Housing Communities in New York for 30 years. Viv’s Place has 60 apartments over seven levels. For inbuilt flexibility, half the apartments are dual-key units.
HERITAGE AND COMMUNITY CULTURE AWARD
Umarkoo Wayi – Ganbu Guljin - AHV/Breathe Architects
Umarkoo Wayi – Ganbu Guljin is Aboriginal Housing Victoria’s very first multi-residential venture. Incorporating the work of Indigenous artist Tahnee Edwards the building boasts colourful murals, bunjils and engravings reflective of the cultural origins of its residents. Breathe Architects sourced the bricks at no charge from Brickworks and secured donated white goods and worked with the project team from point of approval at no cost.
BEST REGIONAL
Nightingale Ballarat – Hygge Property and Breathe Architects
This is the first regional Nightingale project, creating a reference point for other councils wanting housing diversity that integrates with surrounding heritage buildings. The zero-gas project is powered by solar and 100 per cent GreenPower, winning an 8+ star NatHERS rating. Materials are robust, recycled, and locally sourced wherever possible. One fifth of the apartments were allocated to Housing Choices Australia to provide safe, secure housing to those most in need. There are no steps in the building, which is designed for residents to age in place.
INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY, PRECINCT REJUVENATION AND PIONEERING AWARD
Nightingale Village – Nightingale Housing
Nightingale Village transformed a dilapidated industrial site into a village of individually designed apartment buildings, recycling 90 per cent of the demolition waste. Nightingale Village has 203 homes across six buildings, with eight commercial tenancies at street level. The village is gas free and uses rooftop solar. Two rainwater tanks supply irrigation water for the whole precinct. A collaboration with community housing providers Housing Choices Australia and Women’s Property Initiatives allocated 27 homes to community housing residents who live alongside homeowners.
REFURBISHED APARTMENT
Park St – Milieu Property and Breathe Architects
A 1970’s 17-room motel retrofitted on a tight $1 million budget has retained quirky interior designs, converted parking into gardens and incorporated 100 per cent green power. This project demonstrates that bulldozing and rebuilding is not always the answer when it is possible to breathe new life into existing good bones.
SPECIAL COMMENDATION Flinders Lane - Shelley Roberts Architects
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