Bellfield Baugruppe – April 2020 Participant Expression of Interest
An opportunity has arisen to create a new citizen-led development in Bellfield.
Property Collectives is collaborating with Cohousing Banyule & Cohousing Australia, to understand whether there is enough community interest to come together and buy part of the land Banyule City Council is selling as part of the "Bellfield Project".
The best way to ensure the housing built meets the needs of the community, is for the future residents to develop their own houses. A baugruppe (German for building group/collective) is a type of citizen-led housing that:
- delivers housing at cost
- embeds participatory design and decision-making into the development process and
- is a common model for many cohousing projects through out northern Europe
So over the coming weeks we are looking for any interested participants to:
- Complete our expression of interest/survey by Friday May 1st. Click here to complete.
- Book into an information session via Zoom on Thursday May 7th @ 5.30pm. Click here to book.
Banyule Council is redeveloping the former Banksia La Trobe Secondary School site located at 230-232 Banksia Street, the existing Bellfield Community centre and community garden, and the adjacent sites at 96, 98 and 100 Oriel Road. Known as the "Bellfield Project" Council is planning to deliver a new Community Hub, relocated Community Garden and an integrated housing redevelopment, which includes both market and social housing.
MGS Architects have developed the Bellfield Urban Design Guidelines which provide an in depth overview of the vision for the precinct. The Design Guidelines call for more affordable and diverse forms of housing and encourages an element of deliberative development which Property Collectives and Cohousing Banyule are uniquely well placed to deliver.
Banyule City Council will be selling lots for market housing within the “Bellfield Project” following approval of Planning Scheme Amendment C153. The sales will be via a multistage process expected to commence with an Expression of Interest Process (EoI) in May 2020 and conclude early 2021.
The final vision and scope of our bid will be shaped by the participants who commit to the project over the coming months. If successful, the land purchase would occur in early 2021 and target completion of the project would be late 2023-mid 2024.
Core members of the collective (foundation participants) who are the earliest to commit to the project will have the greatest influence over how the project develops.
We envisage that at a minimum this project will feature:
- a truly participatory design process
- a mix of apartment and townhouse typologies
- a mixture of dwelling sizes
- highly environmentally efficient buildings
- communal spaces with a particular focus on green spaces
- opportunities for social connection, collaboration and resource sharing
To register your interest and support this citizen-led development, the first step is to complete our Expression of Interest/Survey. Click here to complete.
For a little inspiration on what this project could be, check out our Victoria St Collective project at the Westwyck Eco-village in West Brunswick.
MGS Architects - Urban Design Guideline masterplan concept
Buiksloterham Zelfbouw Amsterdam - a self build project in Buiksloterham, Amsterdam: Images courtesy Katherine Sundermann