Built has broken ground on the second and final stage of its Civic Place project at Liverpool.
The stage includes a 17-storey tower hosting a vertical campus and a nine-storey co-living facility.
Dubbed Helix Hub, 11 storeys of the tower will be occupied by the University of Wollongong while five storeys will be life-sciences-enabled workspace. The campus will occupy 17,300sq m of the Built precinct. The tower is due to be completed in 2028.
The Civic Hub precinct has already been recognised when the Yellamundie Library designed by fjcstudio was shortlisted in the 2024 Public Library of the Year Award by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions.
Built development director Jono Cottee told The Urban Developer that it was a “pretty bold architectural statement for Liverpool, but people have really embraced it”.
The precinct is expected to act as a stimulus to development, as well as jobs and access to higher education.
Member for Hughes David Moncrieff said Liverpool’s population was expected to rise from 251,000 to 348,000 by 2044.
“When I started university I couldn’t drive … I used to walk an hour and a half to uni every day, and caught the bus home,” Moncrieff said.
“Having a university in these places changes the nature of what these civic spaces look like, what jobs come and what our economy looks like.”
University of Wollongong vice-chancellor Prof Max Lu said there had been a 134 per cent increase in completed applications for the Liverpool Campus compared with this time last year.
“We’re not just creating a building. It’s a hub for knowledge and innovation and opportunity, that will serve south-west Sydney for generations to come,” he said.
Cottee told The Urban Developer that the project “anchors and ... defines the CBD, so that infill development can happen organically over time”.
“There’s lots of DAs sitting around here, ready to go, in both residential and commercial. So the more that critical mass happens out here, the better for those kinds of projects as well,” he said.
Built’s model as an integrated developer and contractor helped the company achieve a long-term vision, according to Cottee, while precinct-development lessons learnt from contracting experience on Parramatta Square were also applied.
Flexibility on both ends of the deal structure were also key, particularly when getting through the Covid years.
“These city-shaping projects take time for a reason, because there are lots of stakeholders at play. But you have to congratulate the Liverpool City Council for having the common vision” Cottee said.
“A council that understands the economics of development, and what it takes to get things going was really key. We’ve had the flexibility to work with potential tenants like the University of Wollongong, without having to put ourselves in a box.”
The flexibility and capability to sidegrade out of commercial into educational or lab space helped keep momentum rolling. Understanding and designing the floors, risers and lifts appropriately (as well as electrification for labs that use Bunsen burners) could provide better outcomes, Cottee said.
“You can retrofit an existing building, but you’re going to be compromising as the end user. So having specifically designed PC2 [Physical Containment] to enable space just really gives you that option to attract the best possible life sciences tenants.”
Lu said that being next door to campus could be a boon for students: “Students can roll out of bed and almost straight into classes.”
“I would recommend that they take the time to have a quick coffee first. At least on exam days.”
