Construction work has officially commenced at the building site of the upcoming student accommodation project at La Trobe University’s Melbourne campus.

Designed by JCB Architects, the new $100-million student accommodation complex will offer 624 beds across two buildings. The accommodation will comprise of single, four, five and six-bed apartments, including 13 accessible units, common amenities spaces and landscaping that joins the two buildings together. The facility will be open to students beginning their studies in the second semester of 2020 (July).

The new student accommodation represents the largest single project investment in La Trobe University’s 50-year history.

La Trobe University vice-chancellor, professor John Dewar described the project as a key element of their $5 billion University City of the Future plan. On completion, their state-of-the-art accommodation facilities will enable a total of 2,150 students to live and study at the University’s Melbourne campus.

The new student accommodation buildings will include a range of environmentally sustainable features, underlining La Trobe’s commitment to sustainable practices and maintaining their Green Star Communities accreditation.

The mass engineered timber construction project – the largest of its kind in Victoria – will utilise cross-laminated timber (CLT). The arc-shaped buildings have been designed to respond to the existing environment at the campus, allowing most of the existing trees to be preserved.

Designed to 5 Star Green Star building requirements, the project will employ accelerated construction techniques such as pod bathrooms, prefabricated concrete and CLT to fast-track construction and minimise impact and noise on site.

About 500 direct and indirect jobs are estimated to be generated over the life of the project.