Australian “Education City”

A showcase for modern, sustainable living

With expansive parks, shaded boulevards, green plazas, blue sky spaces, waterways and lakes, the project embodies the 20-minute neighbourhood philosophy where everything is a comfortable stroll away from home, encouraging and enabling a healthy and active lifestyle for residents.

Sustainability goals for each city include:

Rapid delivery

Australian Education City will set the benchmark for future major project delivery in Australia.Funded by international investment and supported by an assembly of local and global project partners, Australian Education City will deliver the critical mass of each precinct within an unprecedented timeframes. Their rapid delivery approach will drive several billion dollars of infrastructure delivery throughout each precinct within the first few years, and will see the education campus and associated facilities completed and welcoming the first student cohort within 7 years of super-lot selection.

Inspiration

At the core of the masterplan is a vision for a liveable and sustainable city, combining the key ingredients of mixed use, density, connectivity, high quality public realm, local character and adaptability. To help create an amazing future for these precincts, it embraces the best of what is seen around the world, including Eindhoven in the Netherlands, Biopolis in Singapore, Hammarby Sjöstad in Sweden, and Masdar City in the United Arab Emirates

Residential

The masterplan’s signature reflects choice, liveability, sustainability and community inclusiveness. Based on the concept of a 20-minute walkable neighbourhood, Australian Education City provides connectivity and accessibility to a range of transport modalities and lifestyle choices for everyone. The precinct includes up to ~2,850,000m2 of residential GFA for ~26,500 dwelling new low, medium and high density dwellings to cater for up to ~67,000 new residents. From waterfront properties to quiet tree lined streets, the residential developments will provide access to high quality community sporting facilities and assets, and a vibrant arts and entertainment precinct.

Along with commercial, education and R&D areas of the Innovation District, residents will benefit from the next generation of Smart Cities technology. Australian Education City will use big data analytics to help the ICT system to learn from its residents and businesses, thereby improving how city infrastructure responds to the demands of its end-users, together with improving quality of life through efficiency of services to meet the city’s needs.

City centre

Australian Education City includes its own commercial centre at a scale and massing of several city blocks which is integrated into a broader city framework. The commercial centre is complimented by a vibrant lakeside entertainment area of restaurants and cafes, theatres and galleries, and performing arts centres to attract key corporate entities as anchor tenants.

Convenient high-frequency transport systems have been designed to provide both residents and employees with efficient circulation throughout the Innovation District, together with segregated shaded boulevards to accommodate pedestrians and cyclists.

Education campus

Education is one of several components of Australian Education City. The masterplan is centred around the creation of an inspirational education hub which combines world-class university campuses and education pathways for over 50,000 students. The education component comprises of pathways from early learning centres to high schools, through to vocational institutions and universities.

Australian Education City will be the first collaborative university campus in Australia which unites a leading domestic university with institutions from China and the United Kingdom. Our precinct provides a platform for each university to offer best-of-breed courses through collaboration.

To facilitate international collaboration and student engagement, they have partnered with EIC Group, one of the world’s largest student placement groups, to undertake a crucial role in bringing diversity to their international student body in each of Australian Education City’s locations.

R&D hub

Australian Education City will be the genesis for developing Innovation Districts throughout Australia which integrates pioneering R&D with education and commercialisation.

AEC Innovation Districts will concentrate on established fields of research excellence such as biomedical research, clean-tech, agri-food sciences, advanced manufacturing, and Information & Communications Technologies.

The proposal is to partner with experienced global science park operators in the development of Innovation Districts. The depth and scale of these operators’ expertise will underpin the development and growth of these Innovation Districts through the attraction of quality tenants that facilitates engagement for Australian businesses in the next phase of their growth.

AEC has Memorandums of Understanding to partner with global companies such as IBM, Honeywell, and Cisco who will establish industry-led innovation within the flagship location.

Sustainable employment

Each precinct will create significant volumes of long-term employment.

Australian Education City is designed as an economic platform which is estimated to create up to 100,000 jobs for Victoria upon completion and over 20,000 jobs within 5 years of construction commencing.

These jobs, together with the inward flow of capital to commercialise R&D outputs, will drive employment across industries and labour markets both in Victoria and across Australia.

Future Build

The ‘Global Village’ discussed in the 60’s and 70’s of last century is upon us. To meet the demands and expectations of those billions more people who will inhabit our planet within the next 20 to 30 years requires increasing collaboration, as well as vision. From design through construction to occupation and beyond new products, methods and materials are already being produced. They must all share a central concern for sustainability – what it is, what it means in practice, and what steps must be taken to achieve it.

Since timber is the only truly sustainable renewable building material on earth, we believe that wood and its derivatives will play an increasingly important role in the future of building. It is also superior to many other materials in several ways, for example by providing:-

• Long Term Durability, resisting heat, frost, corrosion and pollution.
• ​Inbuilt Thermal Insulation, able to be used without additional insulation
• Very Flexible Use, facilitating all forms of Design & Build•
• ​Incredible Strength, with engineered timbers rivalling steel and concrete
• Improved Building Credentials,

As long standing Chartered Building Consultants (CIOBC) and Chartered Surveyors (RICS), our approach to pre-fabrication is to deliver the high quality homes that architects and their clients want at prices they can afford using timber wherever it can practically deliver these benefits to our clients.