A project exploring new types of housing solutions for Shepparton is being produced in a collaboration between the Committee for Greater Shepparton and the University of Melbourne.
A team of academics from the university’s architecture, building and planning faculty will lead a strategic design brief for C4GS.
It will draw on local engagement and follow global best practice to provide a prospectus of integrated approaches for new housing types in Shepparton.
C4GS chief executive Linda Nieuwenhuizen said with Shepparton’s population growing at a steady rate, there was an urgent need to explore more effective housing solutions.
“Data from the 2021 Census shows Greater Shepparton’s population will reach 70,000 residents this year and surpass 80,000 residents by 2030,” she said.
“We’re seeing a shift in the family make-up — while a third of households were couples with kids 20 years ago, the number of couples without kids and sole-occupiers have increased dramatically in recent years and with them, the need for housing for different lifestyles.”
Shepparton has attracted an influx of professional and seasonal workers, students and families, all with different housing, infrastructure, amenity and service needs.
The design brief project will use a ‘design lab’ format, connecting Shepparton to the wide range of relevant expertise across the university, led by Professor Alan Pert, Professor Dan Hill and Associate Professor Rory Hyde.
Professor Hill said they hoped to also address broader questions facing Shepparton, such as car dependency, energy, flooding and environmental challenges, public spaces, new forms of living and working, and the city’s relationship to the river and the region.
“These challenges are all connected, and we are excited to be working with Shepparton on charting the way forward,” he said
Associate Professor Hyde said there was a mismatch between the housing available and the housing that was needed in Shepparton.
“Specifically, there’s a lack of different types of housing in the centre, connected to new services and new kinds of work,” he said.