NEW YORK: The forty-ninth entry for the seniors housing Global Award for 2015 has been received.
Melbourne’s central business district apartments have been converted from a car park.
“About 95 per cent of the built form you will see in 2050 is already built,” said Carolyn Viney, chief executive of developer and builder Grocon.
“So if we are talking about sustainable development, some of it has to involve not knocking stuff down and starting again, but working with what’s already there.”
Grocon opened the QV centre, on the site of the old Queen Victoria Women’s Hospital, in 2003. It included big apartment towers – and with them lots of car parking.
But the spaces on the top floor of an eight-level parking lot were not used.
So the construction giant tried something interesting with this “found space”.
Working with Breathe Architecture, Grocon converted the parking into living spaces.
The project was to showcase what can be done with a largely disused space in a good location…
