Lourdes Family & Children's Hub
Council is proposing to build a Family & Children's Hub on the Lourdes site in St Heliers Street, Abbotsford.
The hub is proposed to include a children's service with up to 92 places for the provision of education and care, a maternal child health service, and a community meeting space.
The hub is a priority project for Council due to an enduring local demand for more long day care child places.
In April/May 2012, Council sought feedback from the community about a proposed design concept for the Hub. Submissions from community members were due by Wednesday 16 May. Please find below more information - and images of - the proposed design concept.
Suters architects developed the proposed design concept with input from a Design Reference Group involving Ward Councillors, local residents and representatives of local community organisations. Here is more information about the Design Reference Group.
Next steps
Council will be considering all of the submissions it received about the proposed design concept at its meeting at the Fitzroy Town Hall (201 Napier Street) on Tuesday 22 May, from 6.30pm. Please attend this meeting if you would like to speak to your submission or hear other people’s submissions.
After Council has considered the submissions, it is then expected to decide on its next steps regarding the Lourdes project at its meeting at the Richmond Town Hall (333 Bridge Road) on Tuesday 5 June, from 6.30pm. At that meeting, Council will decide whether to endorse a final design concept, which may or may not involve making changes to the proposed concept.
Based on the proposed design concept, the Hub project is estimated to cost $6.95 million. In Council’s Proposed 2012/2013 Budget, about $500,000 has been allocated to progress the project, including undertaking detailed design work.
Here is some background information about the Lourdes Family & Children's Hub project.
Proposed design concept
The proposed concept provides for:
- A single-storey facility with six child care rooms, all of which would open onto a rear north-facing outdoor play area. The maternal child health area and community room would be located towards the front of the building.
- The building to be set back by a minimum of 2.5 metres from the St Heliers Street boundary. This would continue to give priority to the nearby Heritage-listed buildings.
- A breaking up of the building’s massing to respect the size and positioning of the convent buildings directly opposite. The maximum height of the Hub would be 6.7 metres. This would respect the Chapel building opposite which is 13.7 metres high. The remaining component of the Hub would be between 4.8 and 4.2 metres, compared with the St Euphrasia building which has a height of 12 metres. Existing views from the Johnston Street Bridge of the Convent’s spires would be maintained.
- The creation of a new driveway in St Heliers street to the west of the Hub building, providing two lane access to a 16-space car park. A drop off zone would also be provided.
- The use of many different building materials transitioning from solid masonry (responding to the Convent buildings) to timber (responding to the outbuildings of the Collingwood Children’s Farm). The St Heliers street frontage would deliberately display a transitional material form from robust masonry through to glass through to timber. A green wall would be created on the building’s eastern boundary.
- The building would meet either a five or six star Green Building Council of Australia rating.
PDF versions of the above images and a ground floor plan are provided in these attachments:
Lourdes design concept - image one.pdf (886.63 KB)
Lourdes design concept - image two.pdf (790.39 KB)
Lourdes design concept - image three.pdf (964.92 KB)
Lourdes ground floor plan.pdf (283.38 KB)
Design Reference Group
In August 2011, Council established a Design Reference Group (DRG) to provide advice to Council on the schematic design of the hub.
The DRG has met four times since August 2011 to consider the following key issues:
- How the proposed design responds to current and anticipated needs of children and their families.
- How the proposed design responds to urban design, heritage and associated urban planning matters, including traffic and parking.
Members of the DRG have provided feedback about some of these key features of the design concept, including suggesting that the maximum height of the building be reduced to below six metres and expressing concern about congestion in the car park. This feedback from the DRG will be considered by Council as part of its overall consideration of community comments on the design concept.
All three Langridge ward councillors sit on the DRG, as well as the following representatives from the community.
John Murphy
- Member of CARA (Collingwood and Abbotsford Residents Association)
- Parent and member of informal Local Young Father’s Group and local traffic group
Alison Knott
- Eight years experience in policy development for family and children services in the City of Melbourne
- Member of City of Yarra Playgroup and Mother’s Group
Melissa Eastwood
- Parent of young child living in Abbotsford
- Worked in early childhood sector for over ten years
Virginia Dods
- Member of CARA
- Vice President of Abbotsford Primary School Council
- Abbotsford resident and parent of young children
Alexandra Hill
- National Trust of Australia (Victoria) Heritage Programs Advocate
- Local resident
Anna Lindstad
- Founding member of former Abbotsford Convent Coalition
- 20 years experience in architectural practice
Marc Bernstein
- Director of Melbourne Design Studios with interest in social, ecological and urban design aspects of architecture
- Abbotsford resident and parent of young children
The organisational members of the Design Reference Group include:
- Collingwood Children's Farm (represented by Alex Walker)
- Abbotsford Convent Foundation (represented by Maggie Maguire or Andrew Evans)
- University of Melbourne Early Learning Centre (represented by Janice Deans)
- KU Children's Services (represented by Jacinta Barnes)
Background
In 2010, Council made several decisions about the proposed Hub including:
- appointing KU Children’s Services – Australia’s largest not-for-profit child care provider – to operate the children's service
- abandoning proposals to include affordable housing and supported group accommodation (i.e. a younger persons nursing home) on the site. This was in response to community concern about the intensity of development in the precinct, and traffic and parking issues.
The project was then put on hold while Council undertook a traffic and parking study in the area. You can find out more about this study and other efforts to improve parking and traffic in the precinct on this Abbotsford Convent Precinct Traffic Study webpage.
In July 2011, Council decided to re-commence planning for the Lourdes Hub. At the same meeting, Council resolved that the Lourdes site remained its preferred site for the Hub.
Further information
Alyson Furey
Project Administrator - Family, Youth & Children's Services
9205 5286
Alyson.Furey@yarracity.vic.gov.au
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