Villas, independent living units and serviced apartments for retirees
Brighton Classic Residences are an extensive development of almost 400 garden villas, independent living units and serviced apartments. The project is focused around a large central building, which incorporates a restaurant, club lounge, library, swimming pool, gymnasium and workshops. The site originally accommodated a large factory and an associated administrative building.
Billard Leece masterplanned and developed the site to accommodate the range of accommodation now constructed. The masterplan considered the surrounding neighbourhood and planned the development to suit the requirements of the proposed inhabitants.
Evaluation of the site determined that some elements could be retained. These included the office building, which was redeveloped, part of the factory slab, which was used as the base of the apartments and numerous established trees.
The project, (final stage is now under construction), was masterplanned so that it could be constructed in seven stages. Planning approval was obtained for an envelope rather than for a detailed layout and this had the advantage of enabling each stage to be modified to suit market demand. More particularly the ratio of 1, 2 & 3 bedroom apartments was able to be varied as the development proceeded.
This project was the winner of the best retirement facility in Victoria for 2001 and received an Energy Smart Award in 2000 from the Sustainable Energy Authority. Each apartment has been designed to be adaptable in the future to enable the residents to age in place.
