University of Tasmania releases shipping container complex plan

The University of Tasmania has released plans for a village of student accommodation made from shipping containers that could be on its Sandy Bay campus for five years.

An image from the development application showing the proposed extra accommodation blocks, centre, at the university. Picture: UTAS/MORRISON AND BREYTENBACH ARCHITECTS

THE University of Tasmania has released plans for a student accommodation village made from shipping containers that could be on its Sandy Bay campus for five years.

A development application lodged with the Hobart City Council reveals the containers would be arranged in four blocks, each with their own enclosed walkways, on land behind the heritage-listed Christ College.

The plans allowed for 150 bedrooms with ensuite facilities and a microwave each, as well as communal common rooms and laundry facilities.

Two of the accommodation blocks would offer courtyards and some of the containers would be stacked to two storeys.

Hobart firm Morrison & Breytenbach Architects designed the plans, which showed one block of accommodation would surround the existing squash court and run through a car park.

The development would remove about 36 car spaces from the precinct but allow for the installation of two accessible parking spots, three motorbike spaces and a storage facility for 10 bicycles. Residents would be offered permit parking at the Old Commerce Building, meaning the proposal would lead to a net gain of 41 spaces, according to Midson Traffic.

The designs indicated some landscaping would be required to level out the land.

All Urban Planning’s planning assessment submitted to the council said the UTAS proposal was a response to a “critical housing rental shortage in Hobart”.

“UTAS Sandy Bay will capitalise on and promote its unique natural setting, with views of the Derwent River and Mt Wellington in all new and refurbished buildings and grounds where the opportunity exists,” All Urban Planning said.

“These buildings will be sympathetic to the landscape setting and fit into the landscape. Development close to the various adjacent residential zones will have regard to the amenity of residential properties in their siting, height and bulk.”

The university would lease about 60 containers from Royal Wolf on a monthly basis. Royal Wolf told the Mercury the containers would be shifted from Queensland to Hobart in time for semester one this year.

The university last month announced that it had bought Fountainside Hotel in the CBD to house students struggling to find affordable accommodation in Hobart’s tight rental market.

Fountainside would house about 100 students and the shipping containers about 180.

The university would also expand its MidCity Apartments and the Theatre Royal Hotel to help meet demand.

The Hobart City Council advertised UTAS’s development application for the temporary buildings on Thursday, with the public comment period closing on January 24.