Melbourne to get a new suburb

Melbourne to get a new suburbA new 1400-hectare suburb, Mt Atkinson, will be developed in Melbourne’s west with a focus on building a community for families and creating new jobs.Located 20 kilometres from Melbourne’s CBD, the precinct is situated in Melbourne’s Western Growth Corridor, an area identified by the Victorian Government as fundamental to delivering housing and employment to accommodate Melbourne’s current and future population.The project was launched last week by Perri Projects. The managing director of Perri Projects and Mt Atkinson Holdings (MAH), David Scalzo, said Mt Atkinson is “a well-connected, infrastructure-ready new suburb” and a “much-needed new address for Melbourne which will integrate housing with employment, transport and a town centre close to Melbourne’s CBD”.Mt Atkinson will be linked to existing infrastructure and transport, including the Western Freeway, Hopkins Road, Greigs Road and the Melton railway line. MAH is also seeking a partnership with government to deliver the Hopkins Road railway station in the early stages of the project.Scalzo said Mt Atkinson is meant to be “a truly self-sustainable ‘walkable’ suburb where residents have direct access to employment, transport and services without being car dependent”.The Metropolitan Planning Authority (MPA) has identified the project as one of significance based on its scale, infrastructure-readiness and the early integration of education, sports and community services being delivered by the developers.Perri Projects is working closely with the MPA to finalise a Precinct Structure Plan (PSP) to guide delivery of Mt Atkinson. A draft concept plan has been prepared by the MPA for inclusion in the PSP, which is expected to be released for community consultation in early 2015.The first stage of the project will kick off in 2015 with village housing, community infrastructure and town centre development.MAH has established partnerships with educational, community and sports groups, to provide services and build recreational facilities, including a $10-million partnership with leading community service and education provider Edmund Rice to deliver a school and community program.”This is an innovative and progressive approach to development,” Scalzo said.”We are putting the social infrastructure in place early because we understand how important these services are to a cohesive, vibrant and livable community.”According to a KPMG assessment, over the next 30 years Mt Atkinson will deliver:employment for more than 37,000 local people and support an additional 35,000 jobs (total employment of 72,000)2800 construction jobs per year for 30 yearsresidential housing for at least 20,000 peoplesocial, community and recreational infrastructure for people in the Western Growth Corridor, andeconomic activity that will contribute $8.3 billion gross state product annually.