It’s the first glimpse of Melbourne’s future public-housing tower designs. Here’s what architects say
The planned redesign of two public housing towers in Melbourne’s inner north has been criticised by experts, including one who says they look just like the existing buildings, but with worse materials.
The state government has released images 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.
They offer the first glimpse of what public housing could look like across Melbourne under Labor’s plan to demolish and rebuild 44 high-rise towers across the city. The redevelopments will replace the current public housing with a mix of community housing – run by agencies rather than government – and private housing.
But some architectural experts are disappointed by the designs, including Rory Hyde, of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne.
“I did a bit of a double-take, thinking, ‘Is this new?’ It looks so similar – same kind of colours, exactly the same footprint, same height,” he said
“But then looking closely, I felt like the materials are not as good as the current building, and there just felt a sort of lack of generosity in the whole endeavour.”
Rory Hyde, of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne, at the red-brick public housing towers.Credit: Joe Armao
The new 16- and 18-storey towers will be made with a mixture of prefabricated concrete panels and bricks. The number of apartments will increase from 183 to 248.
Hyde said he felt “despair” over the new designs and believed the red bricks made the existing buildings more visually appealing.
“It feels like a big step backwards,” he said. “[Brick] has got an approachable scale. It doesn’t feel like you’re just being housed in a kind of factory-made thing. It feels a bit more crafted and has associations with a home.
“The best examples of new social housing in the UK, for instance, they’re building them in brick because of the quality, because of the pride in it.”
The government has spruiked the new buildings – which will have apartments with up to five bedrooms – for their improved accessibility, reverse-cycle heating and cooling, individual laundries, double-glazed windows and modern kitchens. The estates will also include community spaces, a kitchen garden and communal terrace.
The state government and Homes Victoria argue that all 44 towers are past their “useful life” and must come down because it isn’t possible to do upgrades such as widening doorways to bring them up to the latest disability standards.
But Hyde questioned this, arguing it would be cheaper, less wasteful and quicker to gut the internal buildings and refurbish them from the inside, adding insulation, double glazing and other required upgrades.
The designer of the red-brick towers, Peter McIntyre, agreed.
“The existing frames and brick work are solid and in sound condition,” said McIntyre, who is now 97 and still working as an architect.
The towers, which have been uninhabited since 2022 when a sewerage system failed, are slated for demolition in the new year and the replacement towers are scheduled to open in 2028.
Hyde described the plan as “a wheel spin”.
“A lot of building, a lot of energy, a lot of effort, a lot of displacement ... to basically end up where you started,” he said.
A January 2022 Homes Victoria document released in parliament this year cited expert advice that the red-brick towers would “remain structurally sound for another 50 years” and that the sewerage failure offered an opportunity to overhaul the estate.
The document recommends the case for development rather than refurbishment, but does not include costings. The cost of the entire high-rise redevelopment program has not been made public.
The analysis states the buildings could be retrofitted to make apartments compliant to modern light and size standards, but not ceiling heights, and that it would result in a net loss of bedrooms.
The most common style of Melbourne’s high-rise housing commission flats; factory pre-cast concrete panels with no balconies.Credit: Julian Kingma
The state government is seeking community feedback on the new designs.
The Carlton red-brick towers are unlike the other 42 towers slated for demolition – they are not as tall, don’t have concrete panels and have balconies.
They are also unusual because the state – in partnership with the federal government – has committed to keeping all dwellings on the site as public housing stock.
The rest of the towers will triple in apartment density, allowing for 30,000 residents, but the amount of social housing available will increase by only 10 per cent.
That the majority of the estates will be a form of private housing is a point of criticism from the Greens and even some in Labor ranks.
In making the announcement, Housing Minister Harriet Shing said: “While others try to block, we’ll continue to build more homes across Victoria that are bright, modern, secure, connected and accessible.”
Meanwhile, the trial over a class action lawsuit involving 479 households from three public housing towers in Flemington and North Melbourne, which was due to finish in October, will now run into 2025 because of a push to release cabinet documents detailing the justification for the mass redevelopment plan. A decision will be made on the documents next week.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.