Demolition is continuing at the former AFP site in Weston where Village Building Company is planning to build up to 250 townhouses. Photo: Ian Bushnell.
Village Building Company is planning to build up to 250 townhouses on the former Australian Federal Police site in Weston for which it paid more than $30 million in a competitive tender.
Village exchanged contracts about two weeks ago for the almost six-hectare site, where demolition of buildings has been under way for some time at the behest of the previous owner, NEB Holdings.
Village’s General manager of Marketing and Communications Kate Freeman said the company planned to build a mix of two, three and four bedroom townhouses, starting in price from about $530,000.
While Village had identified strong demand for detached housing in the ACT, the company believed this site was more conducive to a townhouse-style urban development.
“We’re very keen to make sure we’re putting very livable products in there. We’re anticipating our target audience to be primarily downsizers, and also young families, who are obviously attracted to the amenity of the area in Weston,” Ms Freeman said.
She said it was envisaged that the townhouses would have a small garden or courtyard, and the site have common areas and green spaces.
Village will partner with Canberra-based architects Cox Architecture to deliver the project.
Ms Freeman said it had been a relatively quick sale without a development application so Village was not as far down the planning road as it had been for other projects.
It was now going through planning processes and preparing for a round of community consultation.
“I know there has been some concern around some of the facilities and amenity there that were utilised by a number of clubs previously. We’ll be looking to understand what the concerns and what the needs of those people might be moving forward,” she said.
“We will want to make sure that we have got a good read and what the reaction to that will be.”
Demolition, including the removal of asbestos, is expected to be completed by March, with Village looking at a release in the second quarter of next year.
Construction is due to start in early 2019 and estimated to take three years to complete, with the first of the project’s four stages finished by the end of 2019.
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