Main Drive Kew

Overview

The site occupies no less than 27 hectares in the highly sought-after Studley Park precinct, just ten minutes from Melbourne CBD.

The area was previously occupied by a former hospital. The nature of this task required the consideration of a range of heritage, community, planning, consultation, design and landscape factors. Just the sort of challenge we relish.

We went to great lengths to create 281 new homes sympathetic to the botanical nature of the site, ensuring that the community housing integrated seamlessly and was indistinguishable from other homes in the new neighbourhood – supporting both inclusion and diversity.

Three of the historic buildings at the heart of the site were retained and restored. As an older suburb, Kew has a rich population of mature trees. By incorporating 1,000 of them into the development, we’ve created the sense the site has been long established, despite the contemporary nature of the homes.

Parkland design was an integral part of the job, including a new spine park connection linking the greater suburb of Kew to the Studley Park/Yarra Bend River precinct. What’s more, there are only two developments in Victoria that use cutting edge green technology to produce Raingardens. Main Drive Kew is one of them and this community also benefits from other water sensitive urban design initiatives.