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In Focus


The Plan - In Focus

Putting together the building blocks in East Coburg

Artist’s impression: The Nation Building project at Nicholson Street, East Coburg in Melbourne. Artist’s impression: The Nation Building project
at Nicholson Street, East Coburg in Melbourne.

Completed apartments at the Unitised Builders factory ready to be taken to the construction site. Completed apartments at the Unitised Builders
factory ready to be taken to the construction site.

An artist’s impression of the city views from Nicholson Street, East Coburg. An artist’s impression of the city views
from Nicholson Street, East Coburg.

A new development in Melbourne’s north is taking shape…all the way across town in Brooklyn.

The Nation Building-Economic Stimulus Plan project on Nicholson Street in East Coburg is using a cutting-edge modular construction method to build 199 apartments, including 58 affordable rental homes, in half the time.

The apartments are constructed at the Unitised Builders factory, rolled onto trucks using castors and driven to the site.

Once on site they are stacked like Lego and bolted together. The end result is apartments built to the exact same standard as any other Australian home, but with much less waste and twice as fast.

The apartments, some of which are already completed at the factory, are environmentally sustainable, featuring energy efficient appliances and gas heating. The building is stepped to increase natural light and ventilation and features a common vegetable garden.

The site will be managed by Urban Communities, a registered not-for-profit organisation dedicated to developing a strong, integrated and mixed community will be home to a mix of social housing tenants, private owner-occupiers and National Rental Affordability Scheme tenants paying 20 per cent below market rent, and employ social enterprises to ensure a healthy community.

The development will be completed by the end of June 2011.

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