Plenary to reshape La Trobe Uni’s $5b campus master plan
La Trobe University has appointed Plenary to help it reimagine and then implement a $5 billion master plan of its sprawling campus in Melbourne’s growth-corridor northern suburb of Bundoora.
La Trobe first outlined its University City of the Future plan in 2018, and it is already developing assets such as a 624-bed student accommodation facility. It has a sports park that will house the Matildas national women’s soccer team, and a research and innovation precinct.
Long term plan: La Trobe University has appointed Plenary Group to redesign the masterplan for its sprawling 235-hectare campus in Melbourne’s north.
But the pandemic gave the transformation project a greater importance and prompted the university to bring on Plenary as a development partner at an earlier stage to reimagine it, said Mary Lacson, La Trobe’s director of property and economic development.
“Two and a half years into the pandemic we can look at how to make a more vibrant place that is resilient financially, socially and environmentally,” Ms Lacson told The Australian Financial Review.
“What Plenary put forward was quite a different approach around how to grow the university. We would look at things the community can benefit from.”
More than ten parties made submissions in the initial expressions of interest phase and Plenary, which first paired with the university in 2013 as development partner on its $288 million AgriBio research and development facility, beat a Macquarie-Lendlease team in the final round.
The 10-to-20-year redevelopment project aims to create education facilities for more than 40,000 students and become an economic and social hub in Melbourne’s north featuring sports amenities and research facilities, a health and wellbeing hub and new commercial, retail and residential developments.
“We see opportunities in student housing and commercial,” Plenary chief executive David Lamming said.
Inside out: The university wants to make the campus into a community centre that combines facilities for living, learning and socialising.
“These might look to relocate research and innovation within the existing teaching facilities, unlocking existing residential opportunities and to co-locate some living solutions adjacent to aged care and hospital aspects of the precinct.”
Ms Lacson said different assets would require a range of funding from several sources, and ownership would also vary.
“Some assets we would want to stay involved in,” she said. “Some Plenary will want to stay involved in.”
Universities did not qualify for the federal government’s JobKeeper support payments in 2020 and were also hit hard by the loss of revenue from foreign students, who have only started returning this year. It is making them even more dependent on real estate holdings – many sold assets to keep themselves going during the pandemic – for financial sustainability.
“I can imagine universities in general need to be looking at all sources and all income-generating opportunities,” Mr Lamming said.
Having such a large landholding is an advantage that newer, suburban-based institutions such as La Trobe – founded in 1964 as Victoria’s third university – have over city-based universities such as the Group of Eight, which includes the University of Sydney and the University of Melbourne.
For Plenary, traditionally an investor and developer in infrastructure projects, the deal was secured in large part by members of the four-person deal origination team of George Rolfe, Tom Roche, Jon Kavali and Zac Freeburn it poached from rival John Holland last year,
“It’s our first major pure property project,” Mr Lamming said. “It is right on strategy for us to build and enhance and leverage what we do in public infrastructure into the property space.”
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