Major $160 Million Public Housing-Based Development Likely to Proceed Near Melbourne Airport

THE VICTORIAN Government has appointed Australand as the preferred builder for one of the state’s largest public and private housing developments.

Australand plans to transform about 18 hectares in the north-west suburb of Westmeadows, near the Melbourne Airport, into a $160 million mixed-use village of apartments, townhouses, aged care accommodation and parks.

The Valley Park project spreads across a dozen Westmeadows streets, including the major Dimboola Road and Erinbank Crescent.
About 25 per cent of the 400 new dwellings earmarked for the project will be set aside for public housing, supporting the Federal Government’s plan to build 80,000 new affordable and social houses nationally by 2012.

Buildings within an existing low-rise The Mews public housing estate, which stands in the way of construction, will be demolished to make way for the much larger Westmeadows redevelopment.

The former Westmeadows Heights Primary School, Erinbank Secondary School, a sports oval and several tracts of parkland will also be replaced by medium-density housing.

Public housing tenants recently relocated from The Mews have been offered new houses within the new project.

The Valley Park proposal is expected to be approved in April, with construction set to start by July.

Australand is also working with the government and social housing providers in Melbourne’s inner north.

Low -rise 1960s public housing complexes in Rathdowne Street Carlton have recently been demolished and will make way for the $260 million, 740-unit Viva Carlton complex, which, like Valley Park and other proposals sprouting up around Victoria, will bring public and private housing residents together.