A smoke stack, which includes a protruding ‘shroud’ will be located next to three Bulleen schools

A 68m ventilation tunnel — part of the North East Link — is set to dominate the landscape around three private schools.

A 68m futuristic metal slug expelling car fumes will dominate the landscape outside three private school campuses in Bulleen.

Street level views of the ventilation tunnel, which is a central feature of the North East Link southern extension on Bulleen Rd, can be revealed for the first time.

The smoke stack, which includes a protruding “shroud” will be located next to the redesigned Veneto Club and directly opposite the Marcellin College main entrance.

It is also opposite the Trinity Grammar playing fields and a few hundred metres from the Carey Grammar sports ground.

The protruding ‘shroud’ opposite Marcellin College and Trinity Grammar playing fields.

The area, which is still covered in trees, is currently the site of the Bolin Bolin billabong and Yarra Flats.

The $16bn North East Link runs between Watsonia and Bulleen and links existing freeways.

New images of the stark smoke stack, which has been inspired by traditional Wurundjeri eel traps, are contained in the Marcellin College master plan dated August 2022.

The stack will be covered in metal cladding, programmable LED lights, photovoltaic panels and textured concrete with an oxide finish. At street level a concrete entrance wall will be covered with timber battens.

A design of the new entrance to Marcellin College opposite the smoke stack.

Marcellin College wants to undertake $7.3m in upgrades of its Bulleen campus, partly in response to the new freeway on its doorstep.

The master plan details the school’s intention to incorporate three properties it owns on Sandra St, with numbers 13 and 15 demolished and number 21 to be retained.

The school also wants to erect an internally illuminated 12m high wall sign on Marist House and redesign its Sandra Rd fence with a metal fin rising 1.8m high.

Marcellin principal Marco Di Cesare said the exact impact on the school of the North East Link is yet to determined.

“They can’t yet tell us exactly what it will look like, but we know it’s really going to affect us,” he said.

He said the North East Link Project group had been very good at keeping the school informed.

The giant smoke stack will be covered in metal cladding.

North East Link CEO Duncan Elliott said the project will “fix the traffic problems on Bulleen Road – taking 14,700 cars and trucks off Bulleen Road every day, removing a bottleneck that stops parents and children getting in and out of schools safely.

“We have been working very closely with the schools for a number of years now and we appreciate the way they’ve worked with us to fix Bulleen Road.

“Once complete, they’ll have dedicated safe access to their schools controlled by traffic lights, bike and walking paths they’ve never had before and a green bridge over Bulleen Road linking the school and sporting precinct together,” he said.

Boroondara Council and Carey Grammar have previously expressed concern about the negative impacts of the project.