Living in the city is key to a vibrant hub
PROJECT LIVING 3220 WILL EXPLORE THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOUSING IN CENTRAL GEELONG TO CREATE A NEW COMMUNITY IN THE CITY’S HEART, WRITES DR JONATHAN DALY
RECENT growth forecasts for Central Geelong’s residential population are estimating an increase from 2000 to more than 12,000 residents in the next 30 years.
However, there are signs this may occur sooner, somewhat unexpectedly, due to the Covid pandemic.
The ability to work from home has already seen thousands of people abandon Melbourne for Geelong in search of work-life balance and the envious lifestyle this region offers. Housing demand has never been higher.
At the same time, working from home has created some significant challenges for the economy of Central Geelong, particularly for the retail and hospitality sectors that have been so reliant on trade with CBD workers. But the growing demand for living in the city’s heart actually offers a more sustainable future for businesses.
A growing residential population in Central Geelong will create new customers, not just during working hours, but throughout the day and night, weekdays and weekends.
The critical question is, how can we accommodate this growing demand for homes in the heart of Geelong?
Living 3220 is a project that will be delivered through the Revitalising
Central Geelong partnership between the City of Greater Geelong and the Victorian government.
It draws on the success of Postcode 3000, a project delivered in the 1990s to bring back a residential population to the centre of Melbourne.
Like Melbourne, Geelong historically had a community at its CBD heart.
Living 3220, therefore, aims to help re-establish a new community in the city centre, which will see it transform from a
Central Business District back into a place where people live, work, shop and play.
Living 3220 was initially conceived as a way to unlock some of the potential housing opportunities that exist with unused or under-utilised floor space above commercial and retail properties in Central Geelong.
However, “shop-top living” has limited capacity and the project now has a new and expanded ambition – one that will see it evolve into a residential strategy for the city.
As well as exploring opportunities for the adaptive reuse of some existing buildings, we will explore the wider potential of Central Geelong by looking at the capacity for, and feasibility of, three other typologies, all at different scales of development.
The first is called “top-up”, which is an extension of the adaptive reuse approach, where additional floors can be added to existing buildings.
This could include adding residential on the top of shopping centres.
The second is known as “incremental infill”, where medium-density housing can be developed on existing small to medium sized sites, which can include other uses on the ground floor.
Finally, there is larger-scale redevelopment, typically associated with the transformation of large sites, such as surface-level car parks and even blocks.
Exploring the capacity and feasibility of all scales of development for housing in Central Geelong will enable us to attract new investment and deliver the
LIVING 3220 AIMS TO HELP RE-ESTABLISH A NEW COMMUNITY IN THE CITY CENTRE, WHICH WILL SEE IT TRANSFORM … BACK INTO A PLACE WHERE PEOPLE LIVE, WORK, SHOP AND PLAY
residential population that will support the creation of a new community at the heart of our city. We will be able to assist in delivering greater housing diversity and affordability.
Living 3220 will help us provide the housing we need without compromising the character and distinctiveness of this great regional city.