Burwood Brickworks: Frasers Property to open environmentally friendly centre in December
It might not be Melbourne’s biggest shopping centre but with a farm on the roof and 250 citrus trees suspended from the side of the building, Brickworks in Burwood will easily be the greenest. Find out what else is planned.
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A shopping centre so unique — and so green and environmentally friendly — is set to open in Burwood East next month
Burwood Brickworks will not claim any prizes for its size, but less than four weeks out from its launch, it is on track to claim the title of the most sustainable shopping centre in the world.
The Frasers Property development has been crafted to give back to the environment — it will generate more energy than it will consume, it will collect, treat and reuse water, and 20 per cent of the site will be dedicated to agricultural use.
In an Australian-first, a 2000sq m farm will be located on its rooftop to service an in-house restaurant-bar, cafe and eatery, while 250 trees will be planted to cover the northern side of
the shopping centre, and fruit trees will line each row of the carpark.
The mission for the centre is to fulfil the requirements of the Living, Building Challenge, the most advanced measure of sustainability, which less than 30 building have obtained globally.
Frasers Property Living Building Challenge manager Stephen Choi said the centre had been designed for the comfort of shoppers and the environment, with building materials chosen so their scent wouldn’t impact the air quality.
“People like fresh air, and they like daylight, and at a typical shopping centre you don’t get either,” he said.
A sawtooth style roof will fill the main foyer with daylight, while skylights in the eateries’ kitchens will provide staff with natural light as they work.
Head of architecture Roger Nelson said premium Readings Cinema had been laid out differently to normal cinemas so the only dark spaces were the theatres.
“It’s a very simple thing that’s often forgotten in the quest of development to make everything more efficient,” he said.
As well as a Readings Cinema, which will be the company’s first six-screen Victorian Titan Luxe theatre, the centre’s 13,000sq m space will host huge Woolworths and Dan Murphy’s stores, plus a 120-place childcare centre and 40 speciality stores.
The retailers are set to include Ben & Jerry’s second Victorian store, Cannings Butchers, Hot Hot Pot, Ichiro Izakaya Bar, Ladies Lair, Rosa Mexican, iHub and MyPlace Massage and Foot Spa.
Frasers senior development manager Jack Davis said all retailers would be limited in their use of electric power, and would all participate in monthly meetings to discuss continuously improving the centre’s sustainability methods.
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The centre has been designed to pay tribute to its origins, with old bricks from the Brickworks factory, which formerly occupied the site, used in the facade.
A 2500sq m indigenous art installation by Mandy Nicholson is already on display on the roof of main foyer to recognise the traditional owners of the land.
Burwood Brickworks, at 78 Middleborough Rd, Burwood East, will open on Friday, December 6 with three days of family activities, offers and live entertainment.
More info: burwoodbrickworks.shopping