Lendlease revisits Richmond's GTV9 site

Lendlease revisits Richmond's GTV9 site
Mark BaljakJanuary 25, 2018

Years after completing the initial stage of the GTV9 site redevelopment on Bendigo Street, Lendlease has raised the prospect of a larger scale outcome for the balance of its land holding.

City of Yarra is considering an application to amend the currently approved Development Plan dated 2012, which would see a higher-density precinct realised, with the focus on aged care, retirement living and affordable housing. Lendlease has enlisted Catholic Healthcare Limited and Women's Housing Limited as onsite operators once the project has been delivered.

The current planning maneuver overseen by Bates Smart focuses on seven separate land plots, with the project's two major buildings sited either side of Khartoum Street.

Lendlease revisits Richmond's GTV9 site
Central and South Precinct intended floor heights in red. Planning image: Bates Smart

According to City of Yarra, the amendments to the Development Plan proposed in the application include: 

  • An increase in height of built form from six to nine-storeys in the Central Precinct (north of Khartoum Street) and use of the building as a retirement village; 
  • A building for retirement living accommodation of up to four-storeys at the north-west of Bendigo and Khartoum Streets (Central Precinct); 
  • An aged care facility of up to six-storeys in the South Precinct (south of Khartoum Street); 
  • A building for affordable housing of up to three-storeys in the South Precinct to Stawell Street; and 
  • An increase in height of townhouses across Stawell Street, the extended Kennedy Avenue and at the south-east corner of Khartoum Street from two and three-storeys to three-storeys.

Just shy of 45,000 square metres of built form is envisaged, with 322 dwellings nominated as a target outcome.

Lendlease revisits Richmond's GTV9 site
Conceptual site massing images. Planning image: Bates Smart

Once the second stage is realised, Lendlease would have had the massive site under development for over a decade.

An indicative staging plan sees the last build stretching to 2021, a decade after demolition commenced onsite. Should the current Development Plan gain the nod promptly, construction could begin as early as next year on the townhouse component fronting Stawell Street, with subsequent buildings to follow.

The initial Hayball-designed Northern Precinct was completed in 2014. Built by Lendlease and Glenvill, it consists of private apartments and townhouses across four separate precincts.

Lendlease revisits Richmond's GTV9 site
Old and new combined for Studio 9 apartments in the development's initial stage

Lead image: Hayball

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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