<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/sunland-group">Sunland Group</a> has officially lodged plans for its first Gold Coast apartment project since the departure of the Abedian family from the company three years ago, unveiling a new high-rise proposal for a prominent Broadbeach corner site on Old Burleigh Road.

The application was submitted by an entity directed by Tom Jamieson, stepson of longtime Sunland leader Soheil Abedian, and Riaz Rezvanipour, brother-in-law of Sahba Abedian, Soheil’s son.

Sunland acquired the 1,283 sqm site on the corner of Old Burleigh Road and Armrick Avenue for $9.5 million late last year and is now seeking approval for a <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/99-101-old-burleigh-road-broadbeach-qld-4218">42-storey tower with 81 apartments</a>.

<img alt="First look: Sunland Group returns to Broadbeach with new Old Burleigh Road tower plans" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="fea2946d-90ee-4cfc-babe-2a8ad5db2cb6" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/pers.png?VersionId=BV0fihJw31nDIQ8ozY_h3GbS8mxDyhnm" />

Designed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/contreras-earl-architecture">Contreras Earl Architecture</a>, the proposed tower at 99-101 Old Burleigh Road would deliver a predominantly larger-format apartment mix aimed at the owner-occupier market. Plans include 17 two-bedroom apartments, 55 three-bedroom apartments, and nine four-bedroom residences across 35 residential levels.

The development also incorporates three basement levels, four podium parking levels, two levels of communal recreation facilities, and rooftop plant and equipment. A total of 189 car spaces are proposed, significantly exceeding the 90 spaces required under the planning scheme.

The architecture adopts a sculpted, curvilinear form, with deep wraparound balconies and integrated landscaping intended to soften the tower’s vertical expression. The planning report states the building’s “slender footprint/form provides a complimentary yet varied built form within the local streetscape” and contributes to “a varied, yet ordered skyline.”

Contreras Earl noted in its Architectural Statement that from the early stages, the project addressed a fundamental challenge: how to accommodate the required residential yield while avoiding the conventional model of a tower sitting on a rigid, fully resolved parking podium.

“The most direct response would have been to consolidate parking into a singular, flat podium and extrude a repetitive tower above,” the statement said. “While efficient, this approach would result in a consolidated built form with limited engagement with the surrounding landscape and public realm.”

Instead, the conventional podium model was “deliberately rejected”. The architects described the base of the building as “a landscaped architectural condition where structure, planting and circulation are integrated”.

“Rather than presenting a continuous built mass, the base of the building is articulated through a series of concrete planter elements that organise the podium into a fragmented system,” the statement said. “This approach reduces the perceived bulk of the lower levels while establishing a more permeable interface with the streetscape and adjacent open space.”

<img alt="Sunland" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="923fad8d-c960-4527-8fbe-975cf1ddf88d" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-05-25%20at%2010.32.03%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=pngwb0hYOIUpq9vDw6F2EsOiVuHF3DiX" />

&nbsp;

The site sits within the High Density Residential Zone and inside the City of Gold Coast’s unrestricted “HX” building height area, where the planning framework anticipates intensified residential development tied to the expanding light rail corridor. The planning report notes the area is undergoing “transition toward more intense development forms” given its proximity to Broadbeach, Surfers Paradise, and high-frequency public transport infrastructure.

Positioned directly opposite Broadbeach Park and within walking distance of Florida Gardens light rail station, the development would sit among a rapidly evolving stretch of Old Burleigh Road that has become one of the Gold Coast’s most active apartment development corridors.

The application joins a growing pipeline of luxury residential projects reshaping Broadbeach, including nearby developments by 5Point Projects, Polycell, and Graya.

The planning report argues the project contributes toward the Gold Coast’s long-term housing targets under the South East Queensland Regional Plan, which forecasts the need for more than 100,000 additional high-rise dwellings across the city by 2046.

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The Abedian family departed Sunland Group in late 2023, ending a four-decade association with the company, and subsequently established the private development firm Abedian &amp; Co. The group is currently delivering <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/greenmount-residences-cnr-hill-street-and-marine-parade-coolangatta-qld-4225">Greenmount Residences</a> at Rainbow Bay and recently launched <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/18-mary-avenue-14-18-mary-avenue-broadbeach-qld-4218">18 Mary Avenue</a> in Broadbeach.
</section>

Joel Robinson

First look: Sunland Group returns to Broadbeach new apartment market with new Old Burleigh Road tower plans

The Minns Labor Government has established the new Bays West Delivery Authority to lead the development&nbsp;of the Bays West Precinct and Blackwattle Bay Precinct.&nbsp;

The Authority is charged with creating Sydney’s newest precinct, a thriving, connected, sustainable hub with White Bay Power Station as its cultural heart. Its vision is to build on the area’s natural, cultural and industrial history to shape a vibrant new neighbourhood.

The precinct will deliver up to 8,500 well-located homes, including a minimum of 10 per cent affordable and essential worker homes. Combine new housing with public open space, opening public access to the waterfront for the first time in more than 100 years, while retaining important deep-water facilities to support Sydney’s working harbour.

Located just minutes from the Sydney CBD and connected to a world-class metro, ferry, walking and cycling links, the Bays West precinct will rebalance housing growth towards well-serviced inner-city locations and help tackle the state’s housing crisis.

The Bays West Delivery Authority,&nbsp;an agency of the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, will report to the NSW Minister for Lands and Property who already has oversight of major precinct renewal projects including at Blackwattle Bay and Barangaroo.

As part of the broader Bays West transformation, the Minns Government recently announced that a proposal from Lendlease to redevelop part of the Bays West Precinct has progressed to Stage 2 of the NSW Government’s unsolicited proposals process.

<img alt="Sydney" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="2ed71eb9-d8e8-4fa7-b9d1-de4531dcf2f3" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-05-25%20at%209.42.31%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=IDryFIbped9SNDg72LEN_EecvhUsOPvp" />

The Minns Labor Government has also confirmed the Bays West precinct will have a new suburb name. This will be the first major suburb built in close proximity to Sydney’s CBD in decades and will encompass the area currently being referred to as Bays West, including Glebe Island and the White Bay Power Station. Served by a new Metro station just five minutes from the CBD, it will become one of the most populous suburbs in the Inner West and one of Sydney’s premier cultural destinations.

An early works program is taking shape, which&nbsp;includes the first stages of an international design competition.&nbsp;

The aim of the Bays West&nbsp;International&nbsp;Design Competition is to&nbsp;ensure design excellence is embedded in the project from the start. The competition will deliver an&nbsp;urban framework that defines the character, ambition and long-term identity of&nbsp;this&nbsp;former industrial precinct as it transitions to a vibrant, inclusive and sustainable residential&nbsp;neighbourhood.

The competition will be led by the Bays West Delivery Authority in partnership with Government Architect NSW.&nbsp;

It will launch with an invitation for a global Expressions of Interest, before moving to an invitation-only stage that will be assessed by a panel that&nbsp;will provide advice to Cabinet who will select a winner.

Premier of NSW, Chris Minns said the establishment of the new Authority is the first step in transforming the Bays West precinct into a vibrant, livable suburb minutes from the Sydney CBD and two stops from Hunter St Station on the Metro West line.

“The Authority will deliver well-located homes close to the heart of the city and integrate the new precinct with Blackwattle Bay and the new Sydney Fish Market.

“This is a generational opportunity to build a new suburb on the city’s edge and open the harbour foreshore to the public for the first time in a century.”&nbsp;

Minister for Lands and Property Steve Kamper said the new Bays West Delivery Authority established by the Minns Government will turbocharge the development of Sydney’s newest suburb.

“The Authority is working at a record pace to deliver an international design competition, planning pathways and a financial model so that this development benefits Sydney with well-designed homes in a central location, close to public transport, jobs, entertainment and essential services.

“If we want Sydney to stay liveable and affordable, we need to be bold about using underutilised government-owned land to deliver homes for the future while making sure essential working harbour functions can be accommodated.”

Bays West Delivery Authority established to "turbocharge" Sydney’s newest suburb

Around 400 additional homes could be built at Southwark Grounds on Port Road, lifting total site capacity from 1300 to around 1700 dwellings.

A recently approved code amendment would allow apartment towers of up to 14 storeys in some areas of Renewal SA’s redevelopment of the former West End Brewery.

Renewal SA Acting Chief Executive Shane Wingard said he welcomed the code amendment, with the increase in heights and homes making a positive impact on the supply of high-quality, well-connected housing close to the city.

“By going higher across some parts of Southwark Grounds, we are adding a substantial number of very well-located homes with little impact on project delivery time or planned open space,” Mr Wingard said.

Since the project officially launched in 2025, Mr Wingard said more than 12,000 enquiries had been received about living at Southwark Grounds.

“The very strong early interest we’ve seen since homes were first released in the precinct reinforces our plans to create more housing opportunities,” he said.

The Southwark Grounds code amendment was launched in December last year, with community engagement undertaken over five weeks from January.

It proposed increasing maximum building heights from eight to 14 storeys on the eastern section of Southwark Grounds, and to 12 storeys across the remainder of the site, with minimum building heights ranging from two to four storeys.

The code amendment was implemented through an Early Commencement policy in late January, allowing developers to quickly explore the viability of increased height and housing yield while other planning processes continue.

One of the first developers delivering apartment sites have already finalised redesigns to increase the number of apartments following the code amendment.

Samaras’ development adjacent to the future Colonel Light Park is now planning to deliver 125 apartments across 11 storeys, significantly greater than original plans of around 50 apartments across four storeys.

The developer is also exploring the potential for additional affordable housing outcomes.

Most of the apartments at Southwark Grounds will be delivered within a master-planned precinct on a large parcel of land on the eastern portion of the site, covering around two-thirds of its 8.4 hectares.

Wingard said detailed precinct planning over the coming months may identify further opportunities to increase yield further that could see total apartment numbers at Southwark Grounds, exceed this number.

Affordable homes at Southwark Grounds will also see a net increase, with Renewal SA maintaining its commitment to a minimum of 20 per cent affordable housing across the development.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Civil works have begun across the site, with construction under way on the first new roads surrounding a townhouse precinct in the south‑west corner of Southwark Grounds. This includes Renewal SA’s 17 Founder’s Row homes, which are on track for completion by Christmas.

“We expect to have people living at Southwark Grounds by the end of the year, so delivering roads and public spaces for those residents is among our highest priorities.”

Construction of 40 townhouses off Anderson Street, known as West Village and being delivered by Contour, is forecast to begin in mid‑2026. Kolabb’s Anderson Lane development will follow shortly after, delivering a further 26 townhouses.

Southwark Grounds is a state government‑led urban renewal project now set to deliver around 1,700 homes over the next decade.

Homes will be supported by a supermarket, a range of retail and hospitality offerings anchored by a revitalised Walkerville Brew Tower, a childcare centre, car parking and well‑connected public spaces.

400 new homes planned for Adelaide's former West End Brewery site

Brisbane developer&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/cavcorp">Cavcorp</a> has lodged plans for a new mixed-use residential development at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/55-wyandra-street-teneriffe-qld-4005">55 Wyandra Street</a>, Teneriffe, anchored by an 85-metre public laneway designed to reconnect the suburb’s riverfront with the Gasworks precinct.

The buildings, known as Teneriffe House and Teneriffe Lane, would replace the existing Queensland Cotton head office site with a 15-storey residential tower transitioning to eight storeys toward Helen Street. The project has been designed by Plazibat Architects and lodged as a code assessable development application for 93 apartments across a 3,401 sqm mixed-use site within the Newstead and Teneriffe Waterfront neighbourhood plan.

Central to the scheme is the transformation of an existing service easement into a publicly accessible cross-block connection linking Wyandra and Helen Streets. Cavcorp says the new laneway will act as both a pedestrian shortcut and a landscaped civic space between the Teneriffe Riverwalk, ferry terminal, and Gasworks precinct.

<img alt="First Look: Cavcorp unveils Teneriffe House and Teneriffe Lane plans for landmark wellness tower in Teneriffe" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="26e7f058-b065-4de8-b13d-a2b8cb64dfcc" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/bldg.png?VersionId=sELS0ZKYi361oYipUa1BIKfe_.DLZoFV" />

“The revised proposal delivers a legacy public-realm cross-block link, permanently secured for community use, transforming an existing private easement into a safe, high-quality pedestrian connection between the Teneriffe heritage riverwalk and the Gasworks–Long Island precinct,” the planning report states.

The laneway will sit beneath a large subtropical loggia integrated into the podium levels of the development. The design incorporates deep landscaping, water gardens, lobby spaces, business lounges, and ground-floor apartments to create what Cavcorp describes as a climate-responsive “urban verandah.”

The tower itself has been designed as a slender form with recessed floorplates and curved translucent corners inspired by contemporary Japanese architecture. The building height aligns with the Commercial Road precinct controls, which permit towers up to 15 storeys within proximity to Longland Street.

<img alt="First Look: Cavcorp unveils Teneriffe House and Teneriffe Lane plans for landmark wellness tower in Teneriffe" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="a8a17d40-43b6-4718-b3fd-67676fcbb485" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/pers%202_1.png?VersionId=i3VwDtp5AmL_8InW7w4qRbDFEpb744Jt" />

The project will comprise a mix of larger-format apartments aimed at owner-occupiers, downsizers, and families. The proposed apartment mix includes 11 loggia apartments across the lower levels, 50 four-bedroom Sky-Terrace apartments from levels three to seven, and 32 Sky-Pool Homes occupying the upper tower levels. The Sky-Pool Homes will feature private thermal plunge pools integrated into oversized balconies.

According to the application, the apartments are intended to reinterpret the scale and character of Teneriffe’s woolstore conversions and Queensland homes within a vertical residential format.

“The sky-pool homes build on Cavcorp’s previous projects and introduce a distinct apartment typology to Teneriffe, informed by both local and international precedent and responding to an identified market demand for enhanced safety, space and amenity,” the planning submission notes.

A major focus of the proposal is its five-level wellness and lifestyle offering, extending from the basement through to the rooftop.

Amenities proposed include a rooftop Swim &amp; Racquet Club with a 25-metre Olympic lap pool and tennis court, coworking spaces and libraries, golf simulators, wine storage, concierge facilities, business lounges, pet wash areas, and rooftop longevity-focused wellness spaces with spas, outdoor fitness zones, and landscaped terraces.

<img alt="First Look: Cavcorp unveils Teneriffe House and Teneriffe Lane plans for landmark wellness tower in Teneriffe" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="944b352c-49b9-4247-a4c6-5967b4b69fda" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/amenity.png?VersionId=Ed_qKjAtMwFT.5gfl3jiA9QwdWxSMsaX" />

All parking will be concealed within basement levels accessed from Wyandra and Helen Streets. Cavcorp says the deep-basement engineering approach allows the entire ground plane to prioritise landscaping, pedestrian movement, and active frontage rather than vehicle infrastructure.

The development continues Cavcorp’s concentration in Newstead and Teneriffe, where the Brisbane developer has delivered a number of apartment projects including Lucent, Le Bain, and Luminare, as well as the Long Island Wellness Precinct nearby. Several of those projects have received national design and architecture awards, including recognition under Brisbane’s “Buildings that Breathe” program.

Cavcorp unveils wellness-focused Teneriffe House and Teneriffe Lane apartment buildings

Focus Group Investments has lodged plans for a new apartment development at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/64-70-hanover-street-fitzroy-vic-3065">64–70 Hanover Street</a> in Fitzroy, seeking to utilise the Victorian Government’s recently introduced Great Design Fast Track pathway to accelerate approvals for the project.

The proposal is among the latest developments to emerge through the state-led initiative, which was established to fast-track well-designed residential projects in activity centres and transport-connected inner-city locations. The pathway allows qualifying developments that meet elevated design and housing benchmarks to bypass traditional council planning timeframes and instead be assessed directly by the Department of Transport and Planning.

Designed by SJB, the development will comprise a mix of apartments above activated lower levels, with a strong focus on architectural articulation, landscaping, and communal amenity. The design response seeks to balance the industrial character of Richmond’s former warehouse precincts with a more contemporary residential form.

<img alt="First look: Focus Group Investments taps Victoria’s Great Design Fast Track for Richmond apartments" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="abea51cc-d85b-479e-9aef-a589f3b37ca7" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/ground.png?VersionId=e1Kf8EyPWwyiVumtqQ4rM5S4GpOR3CCz" />

Proposed are 63 new dwellings, a wide ranging mix of studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments, and townhouses and duplexes. They will be spread across a part-three, part-eight storey building.

The Planning and Urban Context Report by Tract says the development is of an "exemplary architectural standard" and has been carefully crafted by SJB Architects.

"Dwellings&nbsp;will benefit from excellent access to natural light, cross-ventilation opportunities and extensive communal space," the report noted.

The architectural material highlights the project’s integration of landscaped elements and communal spaces throughout the building. The proposal also incorporates sustainability initiatives aligned with the Victorian Government’s push for higher-performing apartment developments under the fast-track program.

The Great Design Fast Track was unveiled by the Victorian Government in 2024 as part of a broader housing supply strategy aimed at accelerating the delivery of new homes. Projects assessed through the pathway must demonstrate high-quality architecture, sustainability outcomes, and housing diversity while being located close to public transport and existing infrastructure.

<img alt="First look: Focus Group Investments taps Victoria’s Great Design Fast Track for Richmond apartments" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="afdbe834-8dc4-4a77-a943-ba07bc927348" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/site_11.png?VersionId=0J657j.TaChAZfp93wqJYBTqSsnREJx2" />

Focus Group, founder and led by Paul De Lutiis, is increasingly active across Melbourne’s inner suburbs, targeting well-connected urban renewal locations suited to medium and higher-density residential development. The Fitzroy proposal continues that strategy, leveraging the area’s strong transport links, established retail amenity, and proximity to the CBD.

Fitzroy has been one of the most popular spots for developers and buyers in recent years. The likes of PACE Development Group, SMA Projects, Crema Group and Chapter Group, currently selling projects in the suburb.

First look: Focus Group Investments taps Victoria’s Great Design Fast Track for Fitzroy apartments

Melbourne

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Swiss watchmaker Longines has a struck a $750,000-a-year leasing deal to occupy 256 Collins Street, Melbourne.
It will occupy a narrow, four-storey 1950s building adjacent to luxury the mall St Collins Lane.
The Swiss watchmaker will have it as its flagship Australian store.
Longines, part of the Swatch Group, signed a 10-year lease to occupy 148 square metres of ground retail space and 138 sq m of basement space.
It was negotiated with the Li family, who have owned the building since 2001 when they paid $3.68 million. 
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The space became vacant following the collapse of retailer Marcs in early 2017.
Initially Longines turned down the space due to the store frontage not meeting the brand's global requirements.
In response the building landlord and architecture firm Meiter 3 drafted designs that unlocked the store's frontage potential and showed the watchmaker what was possible.
The 1950s heritage building had significant limitations, however plans were approved. The store is expected to open in October following the restoration work.
Other luxury brands Coach and Tag Heuer and Burberry are in the neighbourhood.
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The leasing deal was negotiated by Zelman Ainsworth and Tan Thach of CBRE.
Ainsworth said there are more opportunities than ever for landlords to work with retailers to reposition their properties and stay relevant.  
“There are endless opportunities for landlords to reposition their real estate to ensure their properties suit a changing retail market. 
"Today, retail stores must provide brands with the platform and exposure they need to remain competitive on a global scale and engaged with their customer base. 
"Ultimately if the shop on offer is one dimensional with no flexibility to adapt to the changing rmarket - it will be difficult for retailers to see any value,” Mr Ainsworth said. 
“People are panicking, thinking bricks and mortar is a thing of the past and retail rents will diminish. 
"However, we are of the view that retail is changing for the better and there is only upside for landlords. And while online enhances the retail experience, it all starts in the bricks and mortar store.”   
“Retailers are spending a lot of time and money to ensure they are embracing technology within their stores and incorporating online to give their customers the best possible experience.”
 
 
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j.ballantyne1990-6AQqhLzZaK

Watchmaker Longines takes Collins Street lease

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Melbourne has been attracting most of the population growth headlines, justifiably, but many of the outstanding growth areas of Australia are regional centres.
The population numbers confirm my view that there’s too much emphasis on capital cities and not enough on regional areas.
We have numerous regional centres which are larger than some of our state and territory capital cities. 
The Gold Coast-Tweed Heads and Newcastle-Maitland urban areas are both larger than the national capital, Canberra. 
The Central Coast, the Sunshine Coast, Wollongong and Geelong are all significantly bigger than Hobart; while Townsville, Cairns and Toowoomba are all larger cities than Darwin.
A recent analysis of the 50 largest urban areas of Australia by “id the population experts” shows which cities grew the most last year and over the past five years. I’d like to focus in particular on the top 20 urban areas.
In terms of growth in 2017, Geelong is the national growth star with a 2.7% increase, following by nearby Melbourne on 2.6%.
Next come the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast, which both grew 2.5%. Brisbane grew 2%, so the unavoidable conclusion is that Australia has two major centres of exceptional population growth – the Melbourne-Geelong region and South-East Queensland.
In terms of five-year growth, the top six growth centres are Melbourne (13.5%), the Sunshine Coast (12.7%), Geelong (12.3%), the Gold Coast (11.4%), Darwin (10.2%) and Sydney (10.1%).
All of those urban centres, apart from Darwin (which has fallen into a bit of slump in recent years), had significant growth in 2017.
Other locations to record strong growth in both 2017 and the past five years include Ballarat (the 18th largest urban area in Australia) and Bendigo (the 19th largest).
Looking at centres in the 50 largest urban areas but not in the top 20, the two standout growth areas are Melton and Warragul-Drouin.
Melton, out in the far west of the Melbourne metropolitan area, grew 5.3% in 2017 and 26.6% in the past five years.
Warragul-Drouin, in the Gippsland region east of Melbourne, increased 3.4% in 2017 and 16.7% in the past five years.
Other ABS information shows that many of these regional areas are gaining population from people moving from nearby capital cities. The greatest beneficiary of this trend last year was the Gold Coast, followed by the Sunshine Coast.
Others to gain from refugees from the city include regional areas close to Melbourne, including Latrobe-Gippsland, Geelong, Bendigo and Ballarat. 
So there’s an undeniable pattern to the population growth achievers of Australia. Victoria is a stand-out, both Melbourne as the leading capital city and numerous regional centres which are surging ahead, including Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and Warragul-Drouin.
Beyond Victoria, it’s all about South-East Queensland, with Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast all achieving consistently high growth.
If we change the focus and concentrate on Local Government Areas rather than continuous urban areas, there’s a slightly different focus, although Melbourne remains the star.
In terms of percentage population growth in 2017, the top 10 LGAs in Australia, according to “id the population experts”, include six municipalities in the Melbourne region, two in Sydney and two in Perth.
From this perspective, the leading population growth LGA last year was Camden in the far south-west of Sydney, which there is ample land for new housing development. The Camden LGA grew 8.4% in 2017.
In the Perth region, the LGAs of Serpentine-Jarrahdale (up 6.5%) and Kwinana (up 4.6%) ranked No.3 and No.7 among the nation’s municipalities for population growth rates in 2017.
Terry Ryder is the founder of hotspotting.com.au
<a href="https://mailto:ryder@hotspotting.com.au">ryder@hotspotting.com.au</a>
twitter.com/hotspotting
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terryryder-YECXbqmri2

Too much emphasis on capital city population growth and not on regional: Hotspotting's Terry Ryder

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Time for a quick stocktake.  As of the 14th of May, there were 1590 Melbourne projects on the project database with a total 145,694 dwellings contained within them.  

This represents an average of 91 units per project across metropolitan Melbourne.

In two and a half years the number of projects in Melbourne with 4 or less floors has doubled, and then some.  Back in November 2015, there were 208 projects with a floor count or 4 or less with a sum total of just over 7,000 dwellings.

Fast forward to today and there are 486 projects which have a total of just under 14,000 dwellings.  This represents a reduction in the average size of a project in 2015 with 33 apartments per project to 28 apartments per project in 2018.

The number of projects has more than doubled but the total number of dwellings is on 100% growth - in 2015 I only looked at up to 4 levels, however in hindsight I should have filtered out up to 3 levels as well because this average size reduction, I suspect, is linked to more and more projects that have been added to the database in areas which are zoned general residential (up to 3 levels in height).

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public//pictures/article-images/inner-v-outer.png" rel="gallery-all" title="The number of projects and dwellings in inner Melbourne versus everywhere else"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="430" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files//styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/inner-v-outer.png?itok=hm6L0kqZ" title="The number of projects and dwellings in inner Melbourne versus everywhere else" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>The number of projects and dwellings in inner Melbourne versus everywhere else</figcaption></figure>This lack of '<a href="/news/the-goldilocks-zone-well-represented-in-new-additions-to-the-project-database">Goldilocks zone</a>' type development in the middle and outer ring of Melbourne is often bemoaned by commentators yet 363 of the 486 up-to-4-level projects are outside the local government areas that are deemed inner city by Plan Melbourne.

The City of Melbourne, City of Yarra, City of Port Phillip are all part of the inner region as defined by Plan Melbourne.

Similarly, regardless of how many floors a project has, there are now 1143 projects outside the Plan Melbourne-defined inner city area with 68,386 dwellings across all of them.

While there is justifiably questions over what represents inner-Melbourne, using the regions from Plan Melbourne conform to local government areas - which is intrinsically linked to the development industry as the councils are the authorities, in most cases, who assess then either approve or reject projects in the overall pipeline.

For those interested in the numbers which relate to different floor heights across Melbourne, if we use 10 floors as an arbitrary cut off there are 461 projects  with 10 or more floors that include 99,874 dwellings right across metropolitan Melbourne.

Similarly, the number of projects which have between 5 and 9 floors weighs in at 633 and includes 32,149 dwellings.

Lead image credit: <a href="/new-apartments/the-queensbridge-building-southbank-90-queensbridge-street-southbank">88 Melbourne</a>.
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Alastair Taylor

Stocktake: 1590 Melbourne projects on the project database

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Historically, Melbourne properties of $3 million and above have been classified as prestige. 
Recently, the ultra-prestige price for detached housing has increased to properties above $5 million and up to $15 million to $25 million, following the increasing number of properties falling between the $3 million and $4 million mark. 
Similarly, any townhouse or apartment above $3 million is labelled as prestige.
HTW, the valuation firm, says Melbourne has four main prestige areas, comprising parts of the Stonnington, Boroondara, Bayside and Port Phillip City Councils.
The main prestige suburbs in the City of Stonnington are Toorak, South Yarra, Armadale, Malvern and Malvern East, located in Melbourne’s inner south- eastern suburbs alongside the Yarra River and a short distance to Melbourne’s CBD.
Kew, Hawthorn, Hawthorn East, Camberwell, Balwyn, Balwyn North and Canterbury make up the City of Boroondara’s prestige market. Approximately ve kilometres east of the Melbourne CBD, the area is primarily residential in nature, with a number of renowned private schools such as Scotch College Hawthorn, Fintona’s Girls School Balwyn and Xavier College Kew.
Almost two-thirds of Boroondara consists of water courses and parklands such as the Yarra River and Yarra Bend Park.
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Bayside and Port Phillip City Councils run along the north-east coastline of Port Phillip Bay. Most prestige properties are seen in Brighton, Middle Park and Albert Park, which are primarily residential suburbs with occupants attracted to the inner city lifestyle as well as the luxurious beach surroundings.
The prestige apartment market is evident in East Melbourne, St Kilda Road, Melbourne and St Kilda. Some addresses of note include: 150 Clarendon Street, East Melbourne; 60-66 Clarendon Street, East Melbourne; 51 Spring Street, Melbourne; and 576-578 St Kilda Road, St Kilda.
High net-worth individuals are the buyers driving these sectors. 
Similarly, developers drive prestige sales, where the current improvements add little value and the site is suitable for potential multi-unit or single dwelling development.
The inclusions high net-worth individuals seek are modern kitchens and bathrooms including stone benchtops, designer joinery and tapware, and oor to ceiling tiles in bathrooms. 
Other sought out inclusions are quality oor coverings such as timber ooring (parquetry or American Oak), travertine tiles and luxurious carpets, typically large gross building areas, basement car spaces, self-cleaning designer swimming pools, championship tennis courts, and landscaped properties.
Popular Melbourne based architect, Nicholas Day, has crafted multiple prestige properties throughout Melbourne. Other prestige architects include Phillip Mannerheim, Bruce Henderson and landscape architect Jack Merlo. Visioneer Builders is an award winning company specialising in the construction of prestige properties. These renowned property experts attract buyers who drive these sectors.
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The Stonnington, particularly Toorak, market, Boroondara and Bayside markets have revealed good median house price growth in 2017. 
The current cycle has been generally firm for approximately six years, with the last softening occurring in mid-2012 (realestate.com.au). 
For instance, the Toorak median house price as at 9 April 2018 was $4.4 million, which has doubled since December 2016 and seen a growth of 30.9% over a year. According to Domain Group chief economist Dr Andrew Wilson, overall prestige prices in Melbourne itself rose by 11.6%.
The Reserve Bank of Australia’s rst meeting for 2018 agged the possibility of interest rate rises later in the year on the basis of the strengthening economy. 
Notwithstanding this, the commencement of the 2018 auction period in February revealed moderate results with auctions well contested in general and clearance rates at 70%. The current market appears to be in a steadying phase with a balance between buyer demand and vendor expectations.
HTW note premium, A grade property continues to command good demand from purchasers.
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The Melbourne prestige market looks to be continuing on from its 2017 growth in the short to medium term outlook. 
Prestige buyers are seeking great properties closer to the CBD. 
John Bongiorno of Melbourne’s Marshall White was cited in the HTW.
 “I see a big trend that will continue over the next decade of inner suburb Melbourne in particular becoming more and more bullet-proof," the veteran agent noted.
"With the development of infrastructure and congestion on the roads, people are getting fed up with waiting times in traf c and want to live, increasingly, within an eight- to 10-kilometre radius of CBDs. That’s where the best investments will be, too.” (domain.com.au).
In the long term view, the Autumn 2018 Herron Todd White report suggests, there is caution, as the prestige market could be reaching its peak.
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Caution in Melbourne's trophy home market as peak nears

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A Dallas home in the North if Melbourne has been sold by mortgagees for $564,000.
It was sold by Hanifi Ozkoca from Professionals on May 7.
<a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-house-vic-dallas-128070190" target="_blank">Situated at 8 Corinella Crescent</a>, Dallas, the three bedroom house home comes with three bedrooms, 'L' shaped lounge and dining room, and bright modern kitchen. 
Set on a 668 sqm block, it is near Dallas Shopping Center, Ilim College, Hume Valley School, and Coolaroo Rail Station. 
It was last traded for $400,000 in 2010.
The suburb's median house price sits on $434,500, according to CoreLogic. 
 
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Dallas three bedroom house sold by mortgagee 

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Spring Street has announced a new wave of tram stop upgrades which will see $19 million spent on upgrading stops in both the north and south of the city's network.

6 stops between Victoria Parade and Kerr Street along Nicholson Street in Carlton/Fitzroy will be upgraded with centre island platforms.  The #96 East Brunswick - St Kilda Beach route is now 100% operated by low-floor E-class trams.

Special attention will be given to the tram stop opposite Melbourne Museum and the Royal Exhibition building to enable all passengers between the stop and the Carlton Gardens safely and easily.

The Minister for Public Transport Jacinta Allan said that Melbourne had a fleet of 163 low floor trams and "more than 420 raised stops on the network and we will continue to introduce new trams and stops to make our network more accessible ."  Work on the northern section of the #96 route will begin later in the year.

From mid-2019 onwards works to improve interchange between trains at Flagstaff station and William / La Trobe street trams will kick off and the William Street stops at the corner of Bourke &amp; William Street will be upgrade to match the accessible stops in Bourke Street.

The #58 West Coburg - Toorak route runs past the Royal Children's, Royal Women's and Royal Melbourne Hospitals and began seeing D-class low-floor trams operate some services in 2017.  The older Z-Class and B-Class non-low floor trams, also operate on the #58.

Balaclava station will also see new accessible stops created on Carlisle Street to improve accessibility at the interchange with the #3 tram and Sandringham line trains and the Bundoora RMIT stop on the #86 will also be upgraded.

According to a Spring Street media release, 63 next generation low-floor E-Class trams are now operating on the network with another 17 to be manufactured at Bombardier's facility in Dandenong.

The State Government has also announced the free tram zone's geographic reach will be extended temporarily to help with moving people to major events while various construction blitzs are underway.

On the weekends from the 2nd of June to the 17th of June, while the construction blitz previously announced for the Dandenong line is underway, the free tram zone will be extended to the various stops on Wellington Parade adjacent to the MCG.

Buses will be replacing trains between Caulfield and Westall as works on the level crossing removal projects in the area are finalised. Caulfield junction will see major signalling work completed during the shutdown period.

The entire Gippsland V/Line train service will be replaced with Coaches.

The temporary extension will be in operation for the NRL State of Origin match to be played on Wednesday 6th of June and the Queen's birthday match of Collingwood and Melbourne at the MCG.

The State Government has rolled out a new website where users can enter their postcode and be provided with a map &amp; summary of all transport network disruptions. 

 

See <a href="https://bigbuild.vic.gov.au">bigbuild.vic.gov.au</a> for more information.
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Number of accessible trams stops to rise across Melbourne's tram network 

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Young southern brown bandicoots (Isoodon obesulus obesulus), an endangered marsupial species living in outer Melbourne.
There are more and more of us on Earth, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-worlds-urban-population-is-growing-so-how-can-cities-plan-for-migrants-49931" target="_blank">increasingly</a> we’re choosing to live in cities. This is a problem for wildlife: urbanisation is one of the greatest <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/281/1780/20133330" target="_blank">threats to biodiversity</a>. Sprawling construction to accommodate people completely removes or modifies the homes of many other species.
But although we need to do all we can to mitigate these effects and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-018-0504-8?code=389cb14c-d4b6-4c87-8bec-225e586635f6&amp;error=cookies_not_supported" target="_blank">their causes</a>, cities are far from biodiversity wastelands. In fact, cities are home to large numbers of species, many of which are <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/geb.12404" target="_blank">threatened</a>.
One such example is the iconic but endangered southern brown bandicoot. <a href="https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1Wyjo1R%7Ee75Gk" target="_blank">New research</a> has found these shy animals thriving in peri-urban areas (the interface between cities and more rural areas) on the outskirts of Melbourne.
<h2>Novel ecosystems</h2>
Through our effects on the environment, humans are increasingly creating “<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1466-822X.2006.00212.x" target="_blank">novel ecosystems</a>”: areas composed of new combinations of species and/or new and modified environmental conditions. In these areas there are <a href="https://theconversation.com/biodiversity-can-flourish-on-an-urban-planet-18723" target="_blank">winners and losers</a>. How we perceive and manage such ecosystems could have a big influence on conserving species more broadly, and helping to address <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/114/30/E6089" target="_blank">Earth’s extinction crisis</a>.
<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320717321262" target="_blank">We studied</a> these issues by examining the ecology of the endangered <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=68050" target="_blank">southern brown bandicoot</a> in southeast Melbourne. Specifically, we compared bandicoot abundance and body condition between novel sites, made up of peri-urban areas, and more natural remnant sites at the <a href="https://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/visit-cranbourne" target="_blank">Royal Botanic Gardens at Cranbourne</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quail_Island_(Victoria)" target="_blank">Quail Island Nature Conservation Reserve</a>, which more closely resemble original bandicoot habitat.
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216741/original/file-20180429-135848-8f9i5r.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
Peri-urban habitat of the southern brown bandicoot. 
Our goal was to see whether novel sites could support resident bandicoots. Crucially, could peri-urban areas allow bandicoots to breed, recruit (attract new migrating individuals) and survive well enough for populations to persist?
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216739/original/file-20180429-135803-edhxm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
The endangered southern brown bandicoot (Isoodon obesulus obesulus) Hayley Davis
<h2>Don’t judge habitats by their appearance</h2>
Contrary to what the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2008.00936.x" target="_blank">Human Threat Hypothesis</a> (and logic) might predict, we found more bandicoots at novel sites (66 individuals recorded over 1722 trap-nights) than remnant sites (26 individuals recorded over 1384 trap-nights). And bandicoots were most abundant at the novel site with the most urbanised surroundings. The condition of females was similar between novel and remnant sites.
Most bandicoots at novel sites were resident (meaning they were observed at the same location multiple times thoughout the study). At these same sites we recorded successful breeding, recruitment of young adults, and survival of mature adults.
Our results challenge conventional conservation thinking. Where bandicoots did best is also where known predators such as foxes and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SIVirQ8Iyw" target="_blank">feral cats</a> are present and abundant, as opposed to the nature reserves from which they are largely absent. Remnant areas also have more intact native vegetation, whereas bandicoots in urban areas nested in roadsides full of invasive blackberry, a weed often targeted for removal.
Bandicoots like thick vegetation, but they appear not to care which plant species they use – as long as cover is sufficient. Blackberry bushes may protect bandicoots from predators, and also be a source of food through the insects they attract.
On the topic of food and just how adaptable bandicoots are, locals within our study region reported them dining on pet and domestic animal food from backyards.
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216738/original/file-20180429-135851-16ncoy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
How we choose to live alongside native wildlife in our cities, such as this bandicoot, could have a big effect on biodiversity conservation globally. Sarah Maclagan
<h2>Conservation opportunities in cities</h2>
A growing body of evidence suggests that even heavily modified environments can support viable populations of native plants and animals, and we should endeavour to manage these areas more sympathetically for the benefit of more species. This does not mean that all species will thrive in cities and heavily modified environments – there will always be a need for <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/land/nrs" target="_blank">conservation reserves</a> – but it throws the wilderness-versus-city dichotomy into question.
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95423/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">We need greater awareness of the nature we already <a href="https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/the-threatened-species-in-our-urban-jungle" target="_blank">share our cities</a> with. Deliberate encouragement such as greener building and urban design that <a href="https://ensia.com/features/nature-cities/" target="_blank">encourages wildlife to return and flourish</a> would substantially benefit humans and other species alike. We are a part of and dependent upon nature, and as such should celebrate and seek to re-establish these vital connections.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/euan-ritchie-735" target="_blank">Euan Ritchie</a>, Associate Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life &amp; Environmental Sciences, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757" target="_blank">Deakin University</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/sarah-maclagan-292267" target="_blank">Sarah Maclagan</a>, PhD candidate, Centre for Integrative Ecology, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757" target="_blank">Deakin University</a>
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/rockin-the-suburbs-bandicoots-live-among-us-in-melbourne-95423" target="_blank">original article</a>.
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Bandicoots live among us in Melbourne

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Over the March 2018 quarter, Melbourne clearance rates fell across six of the nine sub-regions when compared to the previous quarter, while auction activity was lower over the same period.
Clearance rates ranged from 73.5 per cent across the North West, to 60.4 per cent across the inner East, with the largest fall seen across the West, according to CoreLogic.
In terms of auction volumes, CoreLogic noted Melbourne’s Inner region was the busiest spot for auctions this quarter with 1,743 homes taken to auction, followed by the West (1,392) and Inner South (1,249) sub-regions.
Overall, Melbourne’s clearance rate has seen little change over the quarter, increasing by just 0.3 per cent, despite hosting 6,280 fewer auctions than December 2017, however year-on-year, auction activity has increased by 824 auctions, while the clearance rate has fallen 10 per cent.
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2018/4/18/melbourne%20auction%20.jpg" alt="">
 
A South Yarra two bedroom apartment sold at auction for $725,000 (pictured below) in February.
<a href="https://www.domain.com.au/real-estate-agent/mark-edwards-1362758/" data-reactid="391"></a>
<a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-unit-vic-south+yarra-127471830" target="_blank">Situated at 4/110 Caroline St</a>, the apartment comprises two large bedrooms, designer kitchen, and central bathroom with laundry facilities. 
This property has security entrance and an entrance foyer plus carport on title.
It is close to the Yarra River, Botanical gardens and city.
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2018/4/18/south%20yarra.jpg" alt="" style="caret-color: #000000; color: #000000; font-family: -webkit-standard;">
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Melbourne March quarter auction success rate down in six of nine sub-regions: CoreLogic

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<h2>Comment</h2>

With the dizzying array of infrastructure projects happening around central Melbourne and many new projects focused on Melbourne's West, you could be forgiven for forgetting about the South East - well, the long-term planning for transport infrastructure at least.

The Regional Rail Link, Melbourne Airport Rail Link, new &amp; faster services to Geelong, maybe Melbourne Metro 2 at some point down the track (pardon the pun) - the array of projects Melbourne's overall westward march when it comes to greenfield and increasingly brownfield development.

We have two tiers of railway service in Victoria - one which is focused on Melbourne, metro, and one that is focused on connecting regional areas, V/Line. 

We've been on a journey to gradually separate these two service layers, physically through different sets of tracks for each, and in no place is this more obvious than in Melbourne's West where the Regional Rail Link has added dedicated tracks from the City through to Sunshine and then around the back of Werribee to connect with the Geelong line.

That separation that has been achieved is strained and is at threat of being unraveled as the Melton line is set to be electrified in the near future which would mean, if there were no extra tracks added, we'd have come full circle. 

Likewise, the Geelong services operating on the Regional Rail Link are doing a large amount of moving suburbanites - the state and federal budget commitments to studying how to 'speed up' Geelong services has an information deficit so we can only surmise that this will mean that corridor might be quadruplicated or an entirely new fast rail corridor for Geelong services is devised and built.

<h2>South-East Melbourne isn't going away any time soon</h2>

While so much focus is on the west, there's one two-track train line in the South East that is seeing major improvements which will unlock passenger carrying capacity but won't achieve the same speed / journey time transformation the railway lines in Melbourne's west look destined to maintain and improve upon.

The Melbourne Metro tunnel project, level crossing removal programme in the area, the new trains and signaling system will squeeze a lot more capacity on the two tracks for metro/V/Line and freight services which run from Caulfield to Pakenham via Dandenong, however V/Line services will still be stuck behind metro trains in peak times.

Consider this: the City of Casey and the Shire of Cardinia, the last remaining greenbelt growth areas in the south-east, have a combined population of 430,000.  That's the equivalent of the population of Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo combined.

In Plan Melbourne, approximately 100,000 new housing units are projected to be built in the Southern Region, which is almost exclusively within the urban growth boundary in both the City of Casey and Shire of Cardinia.  A further 180,000 residential dwellings are projected to be built in established areas which encompass the entire southern region which spans from the Bay to Pakenham and all of the Mornington Peninsula.

Journeys to the city from stations beyond Dandenong start at 47 minutes (from Hallam) and 49 minutes (from Lynbrook) with journeys from remaining stations further out increasing from there.

Not everyone who lives beyond Dandenong works in the city - not by a long shot - but Spring Street wouldn't be upgrading the existing line now with more stopping all stations services if they didn't expect that to grow.

Throw in the planning work on Monash and Dandenong South's national employment clusters, which aim to concentrate and grow more employment in these two specific regions (and similarly they are both serviced by the two-track railway in question), and you have a recipe for increased need for rapid &amp; frequent rail services in Melbourne's South East.

<h2>Let's not forget about the long-term needs of the South East and Gippsland</h2>

In this year's state budget, money would be allocated to study how to speed up Geelong services.  The fastest timetabled journey from Geelong to Southern Cross (80km via the regional rail link) is 1 hour (6:53 from Geelong, arrives 7:53 at Southern Cross - doesn't stop in the outer suburban areas of Melbourne's West).  

The fastest journey from Pakenham (60km from Melbourne) on a metro service is 1 hour 11 minutes (Pakenham to Parliament in morning weekday peak as per existing timetable).

What would 'speeding up' Geelong services involve?  We'll have to wait and see as there's no apparent logic being followed from any publicly available transport plan however I'd surmise it would involve building the second track pair in the regional rail link corridor for Geelong V/Line services, leaving the existing track pair to be electrified and have Werribee line services extended after the third side of the West Werribee triangle junction is added.

Sunshine to the Deer Park junction will likely need quadruplication because the State Government has all but confirmed the Melton line will be electrified and having four tracks in this section, two for regional and two for metro.

If a terminating platform at the new Sunshine transit hub the state government has begun spruiking was built, that would allow the Werribee line to get back to the job of serving people in metropolitan areas and V/Line can get back to its job of serving regional areas.

How would we 'speed up' Gippsland services, Pakenham services and provide capacity for freight trains to run at any time of the day, such as to the long-mooted Port rail shuttle terminal in Lynbrook? 

By effectively doing a regional rail link in the east - two more tracks from the city to at least Dandenong.

While not wanting to lessen the emphasis on benefiting regional passengers with faster journeys, any new rail infrastructure in Melbourne's South-East should at least involve services which benefit outer metropolitan areas as well as provide the capacity to shift trucks from the Port of Melbourne to the distribution centres in the south east off the roads - like what could happen with port rail shuttles.

If we apply equal weight to those three goals (and keep them in mind when assessing both formally and informally the benefits/costs), the scope and type of new rail infrastructure that would need to be built in order to facilitate those three goals narrows and is fairly clear: track capable of relatively fast speeds (100kph versus the 80kph top speed of the existing track, the faster the better) from the city to Dandenong, minimal new stations/platforms and especially in the inner-city (between Caulfield and the city), tunneling.

A casual reminder: the original East-West Eddington study devised an entirely new track pair from South Kensington to Caulfield - the 'hard' (tunnelling) part that would have been completed in two phases (Phase 1 - South Kensington to Domain, Phase 2 - Domain to Caulfield).  The previous Liberal government bastardised that concept into a much shorter tunnel from North Melbourne via Southern Cross to Montague, Domain and then surfacing at South Yarra.

The Metro tunnel that is now under construction is effectively Eddington Phase 1 with the shortened connection to existing tracks just south of South Yarra which will orphan a track pair between the City and South Yarra.

Addressing Western Melbourne's imbalance in infrastructure is rightfully in vogue, however the regional areas to the east and the large amount of new people who will live in the outer south-east, either on the fringe or in established areas is likely to be larger than all the western regional cities combined.

Is it right to 'speed up' Geelong services when there's no long-term plans to undo the short-termism on the Dandenong corridor?

Lead image credit: <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/FlindersStreetStation-clocks.jpg/1280px-FlindersStreetStation-clocks.jpg">Wikipedia</a>.
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Let's not forget Gippsland and Melbourne's South East in long term rail infrastructure plans

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The next squadron of mid-sized apartment projects are closing in on a construction start if current build tenders are any indication.

With large-scale apartment projects in somewhat of a lull, small and mid-sized apartment projects have stepped in to absorb current demand. The varied locations of these projects at tender is also set to reinforce the continued proliferation of apartment developments to all corners of Melbourne.

First though a trio of projects that are being retendered due to the demise of contractor Project Group. Having gone to the wall during March, the builder has left a number of apartment projects and their respective developers in a bind.

Curve on Essendon North's Keilor Road was set to begin piling during March, whilst the builds on both Herbert King and Merri Green were in progress.

After a short hiatus the newly selected builders will seemingly have the apartment projects back on track in the weeks to come.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/image79_10.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Former projects under the control of Project Group"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="480" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/image79_10.jpg?itok=K3E76zlC" title="Former projects under the control of Project Group" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Former projects under the control of Project Group</figcaption></figure>The remaining nine projects are dotted across Melbourne.

Burbank Group's Edge One in Werribee is at construction tender, with 100 apartments slated for the 10 level building. Apartments.com.au <a href="/news/burbank-advances-plans-for-werribees-riverbend-site">covered the planning application</a> at the turn of the year.

Also on Melbourne's periphery is Gibson Property Corporation's latest apartment release within Mason Point. Set for a public release shortly, the project's tender is for delivery of the final stage within the mixed-use precinct consisting of a six storey build; 55 apartments above multiple retail spaces at ground level.

Swinging to Melbourne's South East and two further projects have progressed to construction tender.

Mercuri at 8 Elliott Avenue Carnegie is poised to join the throng of apartment projects under construction in the immediate area whilst Balfour Development Group is ready to advance Malvern &amp; York. That project consists of 16 luxury apartments across 3 levels, and much like Mercuri it finds itself in the middle of much higher-density construction activity.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/image88_7.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Mason Point, Malvern &amp; York and The Rochester are closing to"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="285" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/image88_7.jpg?itok=R0CV-WGv" title="Mason Point, Malvern &amp; York and The Rochester are closing to" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Mason Point, Malvern &amp; York and The Rochester are close to beginning</figcaption></figure>The balance of projects are within inner city suburbs; Brunwick, Fitzroy, Abbotsford and North Melbourne are all set to see additional construction in the near future.

Breese Apartments in Brunswick was <a href="/news/emphasis-on-sustainable-design-for-milieus-latest-in-brunswick">highlighted earlier in the week</a> whilst 22-28 Courtney Street's sales campaign has seen it also advance to a build tender.

The remaining three projects all front Johnston Street. GURNER's The Spanish Club and The Rochester are both dedicated apartment developments in Fitzroy whilst 344 Johnston Street in Abbotsford is also at tender. The mixed-use scheme for the site was during August last year and looks to be edging closer to reality.
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