Victoria’s largest mass timber project reaches completion

Construction on one of Victoria’s largest mass timber projects has been completed, as La Trobe University unveils the new student accommodation at its Bundoora campus.

Designed by Jackson Clements Burrows Architects and constructed by Multiplex, the accommodation utilises cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glulam beams and columns.

The project has achieved a 5 Star Green Star Design rating and is targeting a 5 Star Green Star As-Built rating, with the modular façade’s thermal envelope dramatically improving energy efficiency.

The use of CLT has the capacity to halve the embodied carbon in the building relative to a concrete structure. CLT is also a non-toxic, fire-resistant, renewable resource, and has a long life-cycle. 

Multiplex Regional Managing Director, Graham Cottam, says it’s wonderful to see La Trobe encourage sustainability on its campus.

“We are thrilled to complete this innovative student accommodation for La Trobe University and pave the way for future sustainable design and construction,” he says.

The project is a part of the university’s $5 billion plan to transform its Bundoora campus into a University City of the Future.

The first accommodation to be built on campus since the 1970s, it features 624 student accommodation beds across two separate six-level buildings, linked by common amenities and landscaping.

According to Multiplex, about 1,223 people worked onsite throughout construction, and more than 2,700 individual mass timber elements were used. 

Multiplex also recently completed Monash University’s Gillies Hall accommodation in Frankston; which was Australia’s first mid-rise, mass timber, passive house student accommodation building.