Before commencing his consulting career, Dominic Arcaro was the Chief Development Officer at Places Victoria (now Development Victoria). While at Places Victoria, Dominic was the senior executive responsible for the visioning, planning, business case, community engagement and delivery of the Nicholson in East Coburg.

The task

  • To create a commercially replicable mixed tenure, mixed use development of 199 apartment and 2,000 sqm of retail on a former tram depot site
  • To do so using Unitised Building’s innovative factory based modular construction techniques for the building and Urban Communities Limited’s the unique on-site place management system of Urban Communities Limited (now Unison Community Housing) for its residents

The responsibilities

  • Formulation and implementation of the strategy and the partnerships to deliver the Nicholson
  • Leading the creation of the feasibility and business case justifying VicUrban’s first venture into the delivery of built form and taking full development risk on a project
  • Leading the submission to the State and Federal Governments for the inclusion of 58 apartments in the Nation Building Social Housing Initiative and 31 apartments in the National Rental Affordability Scheme
  • Leading the teams responsible for the planning, marketing, sales and construction management of the Nicholson

Where it’s at

  • Project completed with all apartments sold/occupied
  • Unison Community Housing occupying ground floor retail tenancy and operating as the Place Manager encompassing Owners Corporation management, tenancy management and liaison between the Nicholson, its residents and the wider East Coburg community
  • Retail shops being leased with IGA occupying 1000 sqm

What’s been achieved

  • 58 social housing apartments,owned by HomeGround (now Launch Housing), 31 National Rental Affordability Scheme apartments and 110 apartments sold to the private market in a commercially replicable manner
  • 60% owner occupiers in the 110 private apartments versus an industry average of 10-15%
  • Environmental initiatives including: Grey water recycling system, average 6 star thermal rating on the apartments, electric share car scheme
  • Proof that the modular/Hickory construction technique works with construction time reduced by more than 12 months
  • Winner of the UDIA (Victoria) Judges’ Award – overall outstanding development (December 2011)