Monash University’s major Caulfield campus development has been strangled by the funding squeeze, as a lack of financing cripples construction on its $300 million project.

Construction on Monash Village stalled when developer Equiset, part of the Grollo Group, failed to secure the necessary funding to keep work flowing. Monash University yesterday cancelled the deal it made with the developer three years’ ago, exiting under a sunset clause in the contract.

“The current global financial crisis has placed significant, and ultimately insurmountable, constraints on the commercial feasibility of components of the approved project,” Monash said in a statement.

Monash still owns the land it would have sold to Equiset under the now-defunct deal that would have seen the university buying the finished buildings back from the developer.

The university is considering alternatives for the development, with the campus operating as usual in the meantime.

Designed by NHArchitecture with urban design in conjunction with Altoon and Porter, Monash Village in Caulfield would have included 436 student apartments, two office buildings, a shopping centre and an underground carpark.

The new Law faculty building by BVN Architecture would have been a multi-level complex with state-of-the-art teaching and research facilities, the centre of which would have been a major new library. The faculty would have formed an integral part of a revitalised Caulfield campus.

The project was fast-tracked by Victorian planning minister Justin Madden in April, as reported by Architecture & Design, in a bid to create jobs. The development of the Caulfield campus was slated to create 1,000 jobs, the minister predicted.

The project, which has been in design consultation for seven years, would have helped the university to integrate with the community, would have been completed by December 2011.

Gemma Battenbough

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