Burbank advances plans for Werribee's Riverbend site

Burbank advances plans for Werribee's Riverbend site
Mark BaljakDecember 22, 2017

Burbank Group is in the process of making good the opportunity to bring urban regeneration to Werribee.

As part of Wyndham City Council's push to redevelop key sites around Werribee under a $250 million transformation, Burbank Group has taken to planning a scheme for what is currently an at-grade asphalt car park. The developer joins the Pelligra/Citinova partnership in claiming the right to develop three separate central Werribee sites: Riverbend, Cherry Street and Gateway.

Riverbend is the subject of Burbank's planning application, with the requested outcome the right to create 100 new apartments adjacent to the Werribee River.

3 Comben Drive application summary

Burbank advances plans for Werribee's Riverbend site
Rothelowman's generated renderings for 1 Comben Drive.
  • Site: Council owned public car park
  • Proposed: 10 level residential building at 34.57m in height
  • 100 apartments: 16 x 1BR, 81 x 2BR, 3 x 3BR
  • 2 retail tenancies: 175.6sqm & 192.5sqm 
  • 82 vehicles across ground, 1st & 2nd floor bays
  • Provision for 34 bicycles
  • Level 9 communal outdoor space of 116.6sqm

Project architect Rothelowman talks of the want “To create a vibrant retail laneway network through the middle of the Precinct centred on Barnes Place and Comben Drive, to connect the planned Riverbank Promenade with Station Place, the Werribee Train Station, Watton Street and Cherry Street” within the planning documents.

Under the Werribee City Centre Structure Plan higher density development will be encouraged throughout the Werribee City Centre.

Buildings of up to 20 levels were envisaged during the 2016 tri-site announcement, although the sought after 10 level outcome would still comfortably exceed the preferred precinct height limit. A taller tower may still be in the pipeline as 1 Comben Drive accounts for only a portion of the Riverbend at-grade car park site designated for redevelopment.

Burbank advances plans for Werribee's Riverbend site
Rising on Werribee River.

A multi-faceted business generally focusing on home building, Burbank Group has pushed further into Melbourne's apartment sphere over recent years. Mosaic Dandenong on Cheltenham Road represented the developer's first genuine push into apartments.

Further to 1 Comben Drive, Burbank Group is also working toward realising a high-rise project across 96-102 Franklin Street in Melbourne's CBD as well as future stages at their sizeable Cheltenham Road land tract.

Rothelowman carry on their website imagery of the latest potential stage of the Cheltenham Road development which sees both apartments and low-rise townhouses forming the dwelling mix.

Burbank advances plans for Werribee's Riverbend site
A Rothelowman scheme for Dandenong.

Mark Baljak

Mark Baljak was a co-founder of Urban.com.au. He passed away on Thursday 8th of November 2018 after a battle with cancer. He was 37. Mark was a keen traveller, having visited all six permanently-inhabited continents and had a love of craft beer. One of his biggest passions was observing the change that has occurred in Melbourne over the past two decades. In that time he built an enormous library of photos, all taken by him, which tracked the progress of construction on building sites from across metropolitan Melbourne.

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