The largest mass engineered timber construction of its kind in Victoria

Designed by JCB Architects, La Trobe University’s Student Accommodation includes single, four, five and six-bed apartments, including 13 accessible units, and shared amenities spaces with landscaping joining the two buildings together. The building design comprises innovative, sustainable and environmental features, with most of the existing trees preserved in the design of the buildings.

Delivering the project within a busy operating university campus required rigorous scheduling, and the use of mass timber helped to fast-track construction, minimising the length of time the learning environment was impacted. 

Much of the construction was prefabricated off-site to ensure an efficient and noise-free construction period for current staff and students. Innovative construction techniques included the use of pod bathrooms and prefabricated concrete, making the construction on campus as efficient as possible. Meanwhile, the use of mass timber has the capacity to halve the embodied carbon in the building relative to a concrete structure.