Deakin, La Trobe, Monash, ACU: How Victoria’s university campuses have changed

In the past decade, billions have been spent upgrading universities around the state. See how much your campus has changed.

Victoria has more than 50 university campuses scattered throughout the state, all of differing sizes and purposes.

Throughout the past decade universities in Victoria have seen huge growth, with billions being spent on upgrading and building new facilities.

The pandemic saw universities adapt to new learning environments and adjust their spaces accordingly.

Campuses in both city and regional areas have changed in the past 10 years. We take a look at the major changes made across some of Victoria’s biggest universities.

The aerial imagery is from Australian location intelligence company Nearmap.

The company provides government organisations, architectural, construction and engineering firms, and other companies, with easy, instant access to high resolution aerial imagery, city-scale 3D content, artificial intelligence data sets, and geospatial tools to assist with urban planning, monitoring and development projects in Australia, New Zealand, and North America.

AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY

The Australian Catholic University has spent at least $17m upgrading its Ballarat campus.

According to a spokeswoman, $12m was spent on the St Brigid’s Health Sciences Building.

“It is the first building in the city of Ballarat to achieve a 5-Star Green Star rating and demonstrates ACU’s commitment to sustainable development of all its campuses,” she said.

“The building has state-of-the-art anatomy wet labs and specialist teaching labs and is the home of the Bachelor of Physiotherapy course offered by ACU’s national School of Physiotherapy.”

Meanwhile, $5m was spent to upgrade the St Catherine of Sienna Building, which combines four heritage houses “with heritage frontage retained on Ripon Street and a modern facade fronting onto the campus”.

“(It was) awarded first prize in the Adaptive Reuse of a Heritage Place category at the prestigious National Trust Ballarat Branch Heritage Awards in 2017,” the spokeswoman said of the building used for offices and collaboratives spaces for staff and students in the School of Education.

The university has also renovated the Mair St houses.

01. Catherine of Sierra Centre

02. St Brigid’s Health Sciences Building

03. Learning spaces — tutorial and lecture rooms

04. Emergency assembly area

05. Renovations of two existing Mair St houses, used for the Jim-baa-yer Indigenous Higher Education Unit and the properties, facility and security offices

01. Daniel Mannix Building

02. Philippa Brazill RSM Lecture Theatre

03. The Mary Glowrey Building

DEAKIN UNIVERSITY

Deakin University has made continued investments in its infrastructure over the past decade in order to keep up with growth.

Infrastructure and property executive director Kevin Murphy said the investments had been made to “optimise” economic, social, academic and environmental outcomes.

“Investment provides opportunities in education and research for the benefit of the communities we serve, locally, regionally and nationally,” he said.

“We are especially focused on creating a fully accessible environment for our current and future population.”

The Burwood Campus continues to be transformed through upgrading existing building stock and creating new buildings.

The last building completed at Burwood was the Deakin Law School Building which was designed to help transition the campus to a “modern and innovation learning environment with leading edge sustainability features”.

At the Geelong Waurn Ponds Campus, a focus has been the Geelong Future Economy Precinct.

“It is an important area of partnership with SMEs and communities where we are deploying our combined capital, innovation expertise and training capabilities, leading commercialisation, and creating local jobs, building on Victoria’s global reputation now and into the future,” Mr Murphy said.

At the Geelong Waterfront Campus, the university has refurbished facilities to support course offerings, and providing purpose-built student accommodation options.

01. Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment; and Faculty of Arts and Education

02. Exercise and Nutrition Science department.

03. The Deakin Software and Technology Innovation Laboratory

04. The Learning Space

01. Deakin Commercial Precinct

02. Brougham House, which houses the School of Architecture and Built Environment workshop

03. A larger carpark

01. School of medicine, engineering, information technology and life and environmental sciences

02. Institute for Intelligent Systems Research and Innovation

03. Carbon Revolution and Manufutures buildings

04. Elite Regional Sports Precinct

05. Student Accommodation

06. Kids Plus Foundation

07. Residential college

08. Residential college

09. Faculty of Health

FEDERATION UNIVERSITY

The Federation University Berwick campus only started operating in 2017 and they are currently leasing the site from Monash University.

At the Ballarat site, the image shows the School of Mines Ballarat (SMB) and Federation TAFE sites.

The new buildings in the comparison photo are located on Grant Street which is the Federation TAFE site.

01. Manufacturing and Engineering Skills Centre for the engineering, mechanical engineering and metal fabrication faculties; also includes Fed College

02. Shed

03. The Brewery Complex, for the Ballarat Technology Park – Central

LA TROBE UNIVERSITY

La Trobe University has spent billions of dollars in the past decade upgrading infrastructure across their many Victorian campuses.

In Bendigo the construction of new library facilities and a new engineering and technology building, including the Bendigo Tech School and facilities such as a mechatronics lab, Internet of Things lab, water lab and materials lab was completed in 2020 and was a part of the $50m campus redevelopment.

A Rural Health School was also built on the Bendigo campus at a cost of $17.7m and included nursing and paramedicine simulation labs, expansion of dental facilities ($3.6m), and a wet anatomy lab ($600,000).

Accommodation was also increased to keep up with demand and a 286 bed accommodation building was constructed, costing $31.9m.

Over the past decade the Bendigo campus has seen the installation of almost 2000 rooftop solar panels.

The campus is expected to be carbon neutral by the end of 2022, as part of the La Trobe’s Net Zero program.

01. La Trobe Rural Health School

02. Engineering and Technology

03. Change rooms

04. Library Student Union, including ASK La Trobe Help Zone (Level 2), Anthrozoology

Lab (Ground Floor), Retail Food Outlets (Level 1), Exercise Science Lab (Ground Floor), Heyward Library (Level 2), La Trobe Student Association (Level 1) & Security (Level 1)

05. Nancy Long Dining Hall

The La Trobe University Shepparton Campus was completed in 2010 with a total price tag of $9m.

Since then it has added solar panels, LED lighting and other energy saving devices to help the campus be carbon neutral by 2021.

The campus is a 2000 sqm, two-storey building that includes teaching, study and communal meeting spaces, a clinical learning unit with advanced teaching technologies, library and cafe.

01. Shepparton Campus Building

02. BBQ Outdoor area

03 & 04. Shepparton Campus Portable 1

Demand for La Trobe University’s Albury Wodonga campus has risen in the last decade leading them to construct a $3.4m student accommodation building with 28 beds.

This was completed in 2012.

Biomedical Science teaching laboratories were built in the lower level of an existing building, at a cost of $2.5m.

New freshwater tanks and greenhouse were installed for research

Just like the other campuses 1650 new solar panels have been installed, including solar carports covering almost 30 car spaces.

The campus is expected to be carbon neutral by the end of 2022 as part of La Trobe‘s Net Zero program.

01. Solar parking covers

02. Solar panels

03. Teaching Annexe

04. Outdoor research facility

05. Student residence

MONASH UNIVERSITY

Since welcoming its first students 61 years ago, Monash University has become the largest university in Australia.

It is now home to more than 67,000 students studying across Victoria and more than 16,500 employees.

Monash’s Technology Precinct at Clayton is the largest Victorian employment hub outside Melbourne’s CBD.

Monash’s campuses and precincts have continued to develop and grow over the past decade.

“The Monash Masterplan for our Australian campuses was adopted in 2011 to define a vision and framework for the curated development and renewal of the campuses for the following decades,” a university spokesperson said.

“The Masterplan ensures the university is creating world-leading environments that support growth aspirations and stimulate education, research and enterprise.”

Monash has established the Victorian Heart Hospital and attracted organisations such as the Australian Synchrotron.

Moderna’s soon-to-be-built manufacturing facility will join the Monash Technology Precinct.

“Monash University must continue to provide world-leading facilities for our students, staff and the broader community, in order to maintain higher education as an important economic driver for our state,” the spokesperson said.

01. The Woodside Building for Technology and Design

02. Turner Hall residential college

03. Briggs Hall and Jackomos Hall residential colleges

04. Synthetic Sports Fields

05. Victorian Heart Hospital construction site

06. Victorian Heart Hospital construction site

07. Learning and Teaching Building

08. Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences Faculty Teaching

09. Biomedical Learning and Teaching Building

10. Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences offices and teaching buildings

11. Green Chemical Futures building

12. New Horizons building

13. Campbell Hall residential college

14. Holman Hall residential college

15. Logan Hall residential college

01. Monash Peninsula Activity and Recreation Centre and Monash Sport

02. Gillies Hall residential college

RMIT

01. Athletics Track and Soccer Field

02. Football fields

03. Lecture theatre

04. Walert House residential building

SWINBURNE UNIVERSITY

01. Advanced manufacturing and design centre

02. Advanced technology centre

01. Building WK

02. Extension of WB building

VICTORIA UNIVERSITY

Victoria University’s campuses in Footscray, St Albans and Sunshine have seen change over the past 10 years.

However, the university did not respond to requests for comment.

MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY

The University of Melbourne’s Parkville and Werribee campuses have seen change over the past 10 years.

However, the university did not respond to requests for comment.