PUBLIC housing tenants in the high-rise tower in Gordon St may soon be living in an environmentally sustainable, state-of-the-art building as a result of a State Government-sponsored competition to redesign the ageing site.
The 13-storey tower will be refurbished using a design submitted to the Tower Turnaround competition by BKK Architects and Peter Elliott Pty Ltd Architecture and Urban Design.
The entry included plans for improved wall insulation, thermally efficient double-glazed window units and bay windows, as well as electricity-generating wind turbines, which would be mounted on the roof.
Rainwater would also be collected and used in the communal laundry. And the existing, award-winning community garden will remain.
Work at the site is expected to begin by the end of 2010.
Footscray MP Marsha Thomson said it was “great that Footscray has been involved in the first stages of this innovative approach to improving public housing”.
“Through competitions like Tower Turnaround … the Victorian Government is providing cutting-edge design, environmentally friendly housing to hundreds of public housing tenants,” she said.
