Architects behind Melbourne’s new-look public housing towers have fended off criticism of their design, outlining their ambition to present a new standard in apartment design in Melbourne.
The state government last month released designs of the new apartment buildings that will replace two vacant 17-storey red-brick towers built on the corner of Elgin and Nicholson streets in Carlton in the 1960s – the first two public housing towers to be demolished and rebuilt under Labor’s sweeping plan to raze and redevelop 44 towers across the city.
Liz Seuseu is associate principal at Architectus.Credit: Chris Hopkins
Architectus, the firm appointed to design the new towers, pushed back on the criticism from a Melbourne University academic in The Age last week that the replacements were disappointing because he believed they looked largely the same but would be made with inferior materials.
“We’re delivering public housing and more public housing, but we’re not delivering poor quality,” said associate principal Liz Seuseu, who is leading the project.
After the criticism, the firm released updated renders to The Age that show more detail than the initial images.
Seuseu said the government’s brief and budget were tight, but the firm had squeezed in as much best-practice design as possible while increasing the number of apartments from 196 to 248.
A new artist’s render of the replacement red-brick Elgin Towers in Carlton.Credit: Architectus
The new apartments will be larger than those in the old towers, with eight per level. Most units will have two facades to maximise light and cross ventilation, with just one per level facing only due south. Balconies were designed to provide light in the winter but shade in the summer, and there would be communal terraces on each level, Seuseu said.
The new designs have a mix of apartment sizes on each level, and Seuseu said there would also be a community hall on the ground floor that could be booked out for dinners, barbecues and parties.
“We’re really interested in how architecture can actually facilitate opportunities for people to build community around them,” she said.
Apartments in the new Elgin public housing towers
- Studios: 5
- One-bedroom: 130 (including six disability-friendly)
- Two-bedroom: 69 (including six disability-friendly)
- Three-bedroom: 28
- Four-bedroom: 10
- Five-bedroom: 6
Total: 248
The new towers will not have any basement car parking – which means the new buildings can be constructed more quickly, and engineers are investigating if some of the existing foundations can be re-used. Without storage cages in a car park, the apartments would instead have generous storage options, Seuseu said.
“We recognise that we have the opportunity to potentially shift the narrative around living in public housing in a vertical tower.”
The updated artist’s render from Architectus of the replacement red-brick Elgin Towers public housing.Credit: Architectus
The new 16- and 18-storey towers will be made with a mixture of prefabricated concrete panels and bricks.
Public housing tenant Hamdi Ali, 51, lived in the red-brick towers between 2007 and 2022 with his wife and six children in a three-bedroom apartment. He advocated during consultation for larger apartments for families like his – which ultimately led to the inclusion of 10 four-bedroom apartments and six five-bedroom options.
Ali’s family were moved to a three-bedroom house nearby when the sewerage failed in the building in 2022. He said they were settled in their house now so wouldn’t look to moving back to the rebuilt towers, but knew of other families from the East African community who wanted to.
“We’re settled because it’s a separate house – but I definitely would have moved back [otherwise]. It looks quite nice,” he said.
The fate of the public housing towers has been contentious for different reasons: the plan precludes any kind of retrofitting options, which some experts claim would be cheaper and less disruptive; it requires moving thousands of people elsewhere during construction while the social housing waiting list grows; and the current public housing will be replaced with a mix of community housing – run by agencies, rather than government – and private housing on public land.
The red-brick towers are unique because they are the only two towers of the 44 towers that the state has guaranteed will remain public housing, and the project has received federal money from the Albanese government’s $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator fund.
The state government has continuously said it would cost an estimated $2.3 billion over the next 20 years just to maintain the towers in their current condition, but has refused to release any costings for the redevelopment plans as a comparison point.
The state government is fighting a class action brought by tenants in three of the next buildings set for demolition in North Melbourne and Flemington, but has this month started calling for input on replacement designs for those buildings involved in the lawsuit: 33 Alfred Street, North Melbourne, and 12 Holland Street in Flemington. Two high-rises in Richmond (259 Malvern Road and 139 Highett Road) will be next in line, with tenants starting to be relocated.
Lead plaintiff Barry Berih (centre) with public housing tenants outside the Supreme Court in October.Credit: Jason South
This week, the Supreme Court heard arguments from state government lawyers as to why it should keep cabinet documents, including costings for the high-rise project, private. The judge’s decision is pending.
Seuseu said she welcomed debate around her firm’s designs and encouraged people to give formal feedback on the Elgin designs before consultation closed on Wednesday.
“We’re really aware that we are the first cab off the rank, we feel a huge responsibility for setting expectations for the next ones,” said Seuseu. “We want to hear all this debate and conversation, and see that now before more [high-rise] projects are briefed, and more projects begin.”
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