Samma Property green lit for Fender Katsalidis-designed waterfront Docklands apartments

Samma Property green lit for Fender Katsalidis-designed waterfront Docklands apartments
Render of the Lorimer Street development
Alison Warters January 23, 2023

Samma Property Group has been given approval for their waterfront Docklands development on a rare island site at 194 Lorimer Street, marking the inception of a city-wide footprint expansion. 

The $250 million project will rise 31-storeys on the four-frontage site, comprising 402 apartments boasting direct Yarra River views, along with views to the Melbourne CBD and Port Phillip Bay. 

The mixed-use site will offer 3000 sqm of community indoor and outdoor amenity, with a clear focus on fostering community connection and improving mental health and wellbeing, in addition to 115 sqm of space for food and beverage retailers and 850 sqm of community space. 

Samma Property green lit for Fender Katsalidis-designed waterfront Docklands apartments Render of the Lorimer Street development. Image supplied. 

Conceptualised alongside multi-award-winning architects, Fender Katsalidis, the non-traditional silhouette features two sculptural towers extending to the ground floor, drawing from nearby nautical inspiration that shapes the slender interlocking forms with a cantilevered beam reminiscent of the bridge of a ship.

Fender Katsalidis Partner, James Pearce said careful consideration has been given to the design of the podium in respect to the existing heritage fabric at the river’s edge, while the integration of the podium and tower forms provides a more dynamic experience of the building when viewed from the surrounding neighbourhood.

"The result is the creation of a new urban marker that will join a series of architectural moments dispersed along the City-Link Freeway, while the sculptural composition of the interlocking forms provides an engaging complexity that invites resolution," Pearce said.  

The historic Shed 21 will play an integral role in the development, with the heritage playing a part in the architectural design, while also being connected to the wider community through a public realm site-link. 

Tract has been at the helm of the landscape architecture and town planning, creating a design with all-electric infrastructure and a 7-star NaTHERS rating, as well as targeting a 5-star Green Star certification. 

Samma Property green lit for Fender Katsalidis-designed waterfront Docklands apartments Render of the Lorimer Street development. Image supplied. 

The impact-driven design goes beyond the amenities, with an on-site management team available to serve and support residents and an ongoing activity program penned, aimed at fostering connection and improving mental health and wellbeing.

Due to be built west of the Yarra’s Edge development area, adjacent to the Bolte Bridge, the development is designed to positively contribute to the vibrant mixed use precinct envisioned for the area.

The development will also benefit from $85 billion of infrastructure projects either recently completed or committed within the immediate vicinity, including Australia’s largest urban renewal project, Fishermans Bend, covering approximately 480 hectares in the heart of Melbourne.

Alison Warters

Alison Warters is a property journalist for Urban, based in Sydney. Alison is especially interested in the evolution of the New Build/Development space, when it comes to design innovation and sustainability.

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