Ascot Vale Housing Commission

27 December 2024

Came across these photos and at first thought must be the UK somewhere, but no that’s the Showgrounds, and it’s the quite large Ascot Vale Housing Commission estate in 1956. It’s got about 65 long rectangular 3 storey walkups, plus some smaller ones. Shows how they were determined not to have any formality, just plonk them in open space, though the end result is pleasant enough. This is the estate where there was some controversy when a redevelopment was first announced in 2022, with Office Projects proposing refurbishment rather than replacement as cheaper and less disruptive (pic 9). Deaf ears. Turns out they’ve only just done a small section on Dunlop Ave, bottom of pic 3, finished earlier this year, replacing about 6 blocks / 80 flats with 100, designed by @hayball_arch (last pic), looks nice enough (but too much black), and still a fair amount of green space. And instead of the usual equal amount built by developers for sale, someone has funded another 100 flats on the site as ‘affordable’, which I’ve finally found out means you’re on a pretty low income eg. a single earning $30-70,000. Anyone can apply and I imagine competition is fierce, and they might also prefer ‘key workers’ like nurses. This new estate is all managed by Evolve Housing, a not for profit from NSW, rather than Homes Victoria (the latest name for the Housing Commission).

Update : the parts of the estate built first, with the nicest blocks, closest to epsom road, are actually heritage listed.