By Benjamin Millar
They’ve popped up as bars, cafes and even swimming pools – now Footscray could be home to Australia’s first multi-storey hotel built entirely from shipping containers.
The 215-room, six-storey hotel has been flagged for a vacant 6900-square-metre site directly south of Footscray railway station.
If given the green light, the development will anchor a new precinct also featuring shops, offices and arts and crafts workshops, all constructed from empty shipping containers.
The entire project will use 416 containers to create five distinct blocks wrapped around a heritage-significant Moreton Bay Fig Tree.
The six-storey main block will contains retail at ground level with a 215-room hotel above.
Two-storey blocks will contain 35 office tenancies, 18 art and craft workshops, 1200 square metres of retail space and 45 square metres of food and drink.
Another block will hold 52 self-storage units.
Town planning consultants Urbis have lodged the application for 3 McNab Avenue on behalf of GPDG Pty Ltd, a company directed by developer George Ters.
The development will be in place for up to 15 years, then dismantled to make way for a more permanent use of the site.
Shipping containers have been incorporated into a growing number of boutique hotels across the globe and utilised within the construction process of more traditional structures.
But the Footscray proposal would be the first stacked container project of this scale anywhere in the world.
The retail element is loosely based on projects such as Pop Brixton and Boxpark in London Shoreditch, and a shopping mall recreated in Christchurch after the devastating 2011 earthquakes.
The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) will determine the application on behalf of planning minister Richard Wynne, assessing the relevant planning controls and potential impacts on the local environment and community.
The proposal has not been publicly advertised as it is exempt from notice and review, however DELWP has sought feedback on the proposal from Maribyrnong Council.
A report by the council’s Urban Planning manager Steven Lionakis notes the budget hotel will be the first large-scale hotel in central Footscray.
Mr Lionakis notes the prominent site has been vacant for a number of years and has been “a sub-optimal use of this strategic Footscray site”.
The council is tentatively backing the proposal, subject to conditions including refined designs and the use of higher quality materials and finishes.
Its support is also conditional on the shipping containers being removed within 15 years and the developer eventually providing the community uses that were promised when the state government sold the public land in 2017.
The state had earlier partnered with Grocon to develop the 14-storey State Trustees building on public land, the first of what was supposed to be a three-stage $350 million project incorporating a childcare centre, community kitchen and an artist’s residence.
The project, announced in 2010 and due to have been finished in 2014, was supposed to include 250 student dwellings, 240 apartments and 110 affordable housing units, as well as a gym and community hub with gallery space and community garden.
