Victims of Fiji’s tropical cyclone Winston are receiving an unexpected helping hand in the form of furniture thanks to a student accommodation complex opening in Footscray.
Victoria University’s new 12-storey apartment complex, which opened on Friday, has created more than 500 extra student accommodation places.
UniLodge@VU, located opposite VU’s Footscray Park campus, replaces the outdated 400-student Maribyrnong Student Village on Williamson Road.
VU is donating furniture from the former student village to cyclone victims in Fiji. Tropical cyclone Winston swept through Fiji on February 20, killing more than 40 people and affecting at least 350,000 others.
The new building is the result of a partnership between VU and international philanthropists John and Marcy McCall MacBain.
It forms part of the 10-year Footscray University Town project involving VU and Maribyrnong council. The UniLodge@VU apartments range from private studios to six-bedroom accommodation.
A spokeswoman said the complex replaced the 11-hectare Maribyrnong village that VU decommissioned earlier this year.
“The university is currently exploring options for use of that site,” she said.
“The university will be advertising for expressions of interest for the temporary use of some of the site’s administration buildings.”
VU facilities engineer Ravinesh Lal suggested sending the village furniture to his troubled homeland, where he has family and friends. Four hundred beds and 400 desks and chairs were loaded last weekend with the help of colleagues, family, friends and a local rugby team.
