La Trobe University has unveiled a plan for the transformation of its 235-hectare campus at Bundoora in Melbourne’s north.
The University City of the Future plan would include new health and sport facilities, a research and innovation precinct, accommodation for 12,000 staff and students and a new “city centre” with a mix of commercial, retail and cultural facilities.
The planned research and innovation precinct at La Trobe University.
Image: La Trobe University
Some parts of the overall plan are already underway, with Jackson Clements Burrows Architects finalizing designs for a $90 million, 600-bed student accommodation building. Construction of the accommodation is slated for December.
The Victorian government has entered into a partnership with the university to fast-track the campus transformation, with the two parties jointly funding a $2 million scoping and feasibility study.
La Trobe University’s vice-chancellor, John Dewar, said the funding announcement represented a significant step forward. “[The campus transformation] will act as a catalyst for economic growth, innovation and jobs creation – particularly in the vital areas of health and well-being, digital and cyber innovation, and agriculture, food and fibre,” he said.
“We are turning our campus ‘inside out,’ welcoming our local communities to new and dynamic spaces, where community, industry, students and staff will work, live and learn.”
The planned health and wellbeing precinct at La Trobe University.
The project will entail a number of distinct development precincts. Among them will be a “research and innovation” precinct, focusing on agriculture, food and fibre, health and wellbeing and digital technologies and cybersecurity, and a “health and wellbeing” precinct with a new private hospital, aged care, childcare and “super clinic” facilities.
Also called for in the plan are new accommodation facilities for 12,000 residents and updated education facilities for 40,000 students.
The plan includes the finalization of the $150 million Sports Park facility, designed by Warren and Mahoney, and improvements to the campus’s “eco-corridor” – the bush and waterways on the campus – that the university says act “as a living laboratory for students, staff and the wider community.” Aurecon Australia is currently engaged as a consultant for improving the corridor.
Victorian industry and employment minister Ben Carroll officially launched the plan on 22 October. “The University City of the Future is a game changer for Melbourne’s north and has the potential to create 20,000 jobs and drive $5 billion in investment over the next ten years,” he said.
“Victoria has some of the best universities in the world – this development will help to cement that reputation and drive economic growth for our northern suburbs.”
La Trobe University’s “University City of the Future” plan.
In addition to the feasibility study, the university also announced it has selected Healthscope as the preferred operator for the planned private hospital, and that it would collaborate with RMIT University in creating a Joint Institute for the Future of Food at the campus.
Planning minister Richard Wynne also signed a planning amendment to allow for the health and research and innovation precincts.
