Twice the park, twice the life. After the success of Ferrars & York, HIP V. HYPE is delighted to launch expressions of interest for high performance parkside apartments in Melbourne’s inner north, ParkLife 2, with architecture by Austin Maynard Architects.

Located at 427 Albert Street in Brunswick, with Clifton Park directly on its doorstep, the project represents the inaugural collaboration between HIP V. HYPE and Austin Maynard Architects.

For Liam Wallis, Founder of HIP V. HYPE, ParkLife 2 represents an opportunity to build on learnings from delivering and living at Ferrars & York to seek to create HIP V. HYPE’s best project to date.

“To date, my partner Katya and I have lived in three projects enabled by HIP V. HYPE. We live and breather our projects and actively capture learnings to refine our process in a search for iterative improvement. Our aim is to deliver the very highest quality homes that foster community and connection whilst treading lightly on our environment,” says Wallis.

The project at 427 Albert Street will be the latest for HIP V. HYPE, following their highly acclaimed 22-carbon neutral apartment project, Ferrars & York, in South Melbourne.

The surrounding parkland, and the eucalyptus species that grow there, offer a natural palette from which Austin Maynard Architects have drawn inspiration.

“This is the most unique site in Brunswick. It is a misshapen oddity, an island in the green spine of Brunswick parkland, secluded in greenery,” says Andrew Maynard, Founder of Austin Maynard Architects.

“It gently embraces Clifton Park and looks out across Gilpin Park to the city. It has an abundance of character and is the anchor to the precinct. It deserves a landmark project that celebrates its singularity, quirks and the natural environment that surrounds it.”

The proposed design for ParkLife 2 is a love child of Ferrars & York and Austin Maynard Architects’ multi-award-winning design of ParkLife in Nightingale Village, also located in Brunswick adjacent to Bulleke-bek Park.

In November 2024, Ferrars & York received Australia’s top award for multiple residential architecture, receiving the Frederick Romberg Award at the 2024 National Architecture Awards in Adelaide.

This achievement crowns an impressive list of accolades for the South Melbourne based project, including category winner at the 2024 Victorian Architecture Awards, ‘Best of the Best’ at the 2023 Sustainability Awards, ‘Design Champion’ at the Better Futures Melbourne Design Awards, and multiple wins across the 2023 Sustainability Awards, 2023 Design Matters Awards, 2023 The Urban Developer Awards and 2022 Good Design Awards.

Davison Collaborative, North Street, Nightingale 1.0, HIP V. HYPE’s headquarters the Barkly Street Collective, and most recently, the Better Building Exchange, add to a list of boutique-scale projects previously delivered by HIP V. HYPE in Brunswick; projects exploring sustainability, affordability, high quality design, connection and capacity building.

The shared vision of HIP V. HYPE and Austin Maynard Architects is to build on the successful delivery and active learnings from past projects to optimise the design of ParkLife 2, outperforming previous benchmarks in sustainability and design.

Nestled into Brunswick’s green spine, ParkLife 2 embraces immediate proximity to Clifton and Gilpin Parks, with park views from all apartments across the building’s proposed eight levels, city views to the building’s south and direct park access to Clifton Park to the north.

The proposed design includes 61 apartments, encompassing 1-, 2-, and 3-bedrooms. The configuration will allow for apartments to be amalgamated enabling flexibility for different family structures over time.

ParkLife 2 targets a minimum average NatHERS rating of at least 8.5 stars out of 10, with the building enabled for all-electric, fossil fuel-free operations. An 8.5-star apartment uses approximately 40% less heating and cooling energy than a minimum compliance 7-star apartment.

ParkLife 2 will adopt HIP V. HYPE’s Low Impact Living approach to building design, construction and use, to create apartments that are more comfortable, have cleaner/fresher air, cost less to operate and are a joy to live in.

HIP V. HYPE will be able to enjoy the building’s incredible location for years to come, with ParkLife 2 set to be the home of HIP V. HYPE’s new headquarters, establishing a Collective space at ground level for their Projects and Sustainability teams.

ParkLife 2 will be available to purchase mid 2025 with move-in currently forecast for mid 2027.

Images: ParkLife 2 is set to be a love child of ParkLife by Austin Maynard Architects ((L) Tom Ross) and Ferrars & York enabled by HIP V. HYPE ((R) Tess Kelly).