Change of plans for Gungahlin site as rising costs, builder shortage forces owner's hand

Canberra firm Core Developments plans to build 126 residential units on a block in Gungahlin, where previously a private training college had proposed a mixed-use project.

Canberra Business and Technology College, operated by Akhilesh Arora and Rakesh Bhutani, bought the CZ5 zoned 4836 square metre block at the eastern end of The Valley Avenue (Block 12 Section 249) in 2021 for $4.2 million through its operating company EVYA Group Pty Ltd.

It has sold the site to Core Developments and is awaiting settlement.

In 2022, the college lodged a DA for a three-building complex of 75 units, 48 serviced apartments and 63 hotel rooms to provide accommodation for students.

But Mr Bhutani said the business was in the process of offloading five ACT sites and taking its new investment out of Canberra, blaming the high cost of construction and a lack of support from government.

He said the cost of one project had risen more than 50 per cent and he had lost confidence in the Canberra construction industry in the wake of a string of company failures involving some of the ACT’s most established builders.

Mr Bhutani said development approvals were also taking too long, and there was a shortage of trades and builders in Canberra.

The college had been hit hard by the cap on international students, and in this year alone, it had lost about a quarter of its business. Overseas students make up 40 per cent of enrolments.

“Migration is a big agenda,” Mr Bhutani said. “No more students coming here to Canberra at all.”

“The local government and Federal Government, none of them are supporting us at all, especially private providers. They do not support at all.”

The college had planned to expand, lodging a development application in 2022 for a new Gungahlin campus on the corner of Gungahlin Place and Camilleri Way (Block 4, Section 246), which it bought for $5.1 million. But this would also not go ahead despite being approved earlier this year.

Mr Bhutani said he would now look to NSW, where construction costs and land prices are lower.

This new DA from Core Developments is for a $44 million project of two six-storey buildings with an open central courtyard and two levels of basement parking.

It will offer a mix of unit types – 79 one-bedroom units and 37 two-bedrooms with six three-bedrooms and four studios. Apartment sizes range from 42 sqm to 85 sqm with floor-to-floor heights of 3.1 metres.

The upper levels of the proposed buildings are recessed to four levels to integrate better with the neighbouring two to three-storey terraces.

The gap between the two buildings ranges from 13.8 metres to 19.1 metres, in which gardens, shrubs and trees will be planted and seats installed.

Overall, a quarter of the site will be available for deep soil planting, while aiming for 30 per cent canopy coverage.

Plantings will include 70 trees, some of which will screen the property from neighbours, 130 shrubs, a variety of accent planting, ground covers and climbers.

Pedestrians and cyclists will enter and leave the courtyard via the shared path along the verge.

The two basement levels offer 155 vehicle parking spaces, as well as 13 bicycle spaces and four dedicated motorcycle spaces. Access is via a driveway from The Valley Avenue at the eastern edge of the block.

Visitor bicycle parking is located along the northern edge of the site, facing the street, while there is secure bicycle storage for residents within the courtyard.

The DA says the buildings have been oriented to maximise units’ exposure to sunlight. In winter, 69 per cent of the dwellings will receive more than three hours of sunlight, while 91 per cent of the entire development will receive two hours of sunshine. No dwellings will receive zero sunlight.

The site sits 300 metres from a light rail stop and about a kilometre from the Town Centre.

Comments close on the DA on 21 January 2025.

Original Article published by Ian Bushnell on Riotact.