Buxton Construction recently completed an apartment development
in Marlborough Street Balaclava for HousingFirst, an awardwinning,
regulated not-for-profit organisation providing social and
affordable housing for more than 1,600 people across Melbourne.
The development is a partnership between the City of Port Phillip,
the Victorian Government and HousingFirst which saw the site
transformed into a contemporary housing complex to meet the
needs of a cross-section of society.
Marlborough Street is a $24.25 million, six-level project comprising
46 high quality one, two and three-bedroom dwellings over a
basement public car park with space for 39 vehicles.
Designed by Baldasso Cortese, the apartments are available to
people from the Victorian Housing Register including those with a
disability.
The stepped facade showcases modern masonry techniques
– featuring a combination of brick and exposed concrete pillars –
facing Balaclava station. The building’s immediate proximity to the
station required considerable attention to acoustics by the design
team.
In line with current design practices, a range of sustainability
features such as naturally ventilated corridors, integrated
solar shading and a significant number of cross-ventilated
dual aspect apartments are included in the building.
The complex has a landscaped rooftop area for residents’ use while
the ground floor foyer boasts a large feature area map of the St
Kilda/Balaclava region on the wall and a social enterprise space.
At the official opening of the complex, held the week leading up
to Easter, the Commonwealth and Victorian Ministers for Health
expressed their appreciation of the work put in by the team who
delivered the project saying it had proven to be a successful
partnership between three tiers of government, the development
and the architectural and construction teams.
