Bring your own chairs;
Alice, Louise, Lorna and Rod try out the
shared garden area in their first week at WestWyck
WestWyck aims to create 'community' within and to be an active part of the community around it. Many people expressing interest about living at WestWyck or buying into the new dwellings are attracted by the thought of living in a connected but not claustrophobic way to others. We are all escapees from the alienating impact of 21st century urban living.
A new community of 'owners' is forming as people purchase dwellings being constructed on the site. These people join those already living at WestWyck and those who feel an involvement through their previous contribution to the project.
WestWyck Wiki (password protected).
The design layout encourages interaction within the development. Each residence opens on to a curved landscaped pathway linking communal spaces like the shared outdoor recreational areas, the productive garden, the bicycle storage facility, clothes drying area and the grassed carpark. Sharing resources and sharing support needs are vital elements of traditional communities and WestWyck aspires to be a place of sharing. WestWyck is even investigating the possibility of becoming a base for a carsharing system!
Already there is a body of people that feel part of the WestWyck community. Since 1993 many communal households have formed and re-formed in the northern WestWyck classrooms.
Artists and activists, students and professionals, employed and unemployed, travellers and others requiring temporary accommodation, unionists and small business people, retirees and job market entrants have all been part of WestWyck households of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
Hannah and Derek made the transition from household members to proud owners of #7 with Derek being the builder. And now, their own household has doubled with the addition of beautiful twins Ella and Maisie. There is no way those kids will be anything other than serious bike riders!
Like Kunie and Ivan, Felicity has Common Ground connections and when she moved in late in 2007 the strong ties between the two communities were further strengthened. Early in 2008 we all headed up to Common Ground to celebrate Felicity’s 40th birthday and visit Kunie and Richard and gorgeous baby Tai.
The current northern household membership includes original members Lorna Pitt and Mike Hill, cheese-making wunderkind, Richard Thomas, former builder, once enthusiastic cricketer and traveller and now hard-working lawyer, Brent Lodding, the peripatetic Anna Sinn, a committed ‘communalist', our talented and experimental Spanish cook from the mountainous north of Spain, Ivan Robless and Felicity, who works with a drug and alcohol counselling and support service.’
The project design, its infrastructure and its protective covenant will provide the framework for the organic growth of this new community. Community decision-making through the body corporate will guide the future direction and management of the WestWyck community and its shared areas and facilities. The body corporate is growing all the time, and changing. Michael Cann was elected as its first secretary and Kate Nash agreed to chair the meetings. At the first official meeting Michael had us all putting pen to paper trying to describe the sort of community we hoped to be living in and how we were going to be able to achieve that. In May 2008, Michael was re-elected Secretary and Marty Sammon was elected into the important role of Treasurer. That meeting agreed to appoint an agent to assist us with the management of our affairs.
And there are more changes. Jessie Macintyre was the second person to buy an apartment. Then Aaron moved in and not too much later they held their wedding party at WestWyck! Soon WestWyck proudly claimed Rory as one of the WestWyck babies. And now they have moved on, selling their beautiful apartment to Fiona and Will. Jessie's life at WestWyck represents a whole life cycle taking place. And Fiona has already put her hand up to play a lead role in getting the veggie garden set up!
Hannah and Derek have added to the numbers by producing the beautiful twins, Maisie and Ella. This has taken our numbers through the roof and provided great pleasure to a fine collection of grandparents and has proved to everyone else just how thick the WestWyck walls are because no-one hears a thing! If you would like to meet the twins in their first days in hospital please try this link.
As well as those early residents and the first purchasers, those people who built the dwellings and the landscape and those who have provided the technical advice that has allowed the concept to grow into a reality feel a distinct and integral part of the WestWyck community. Their involvement has entailed strong personal commitment. First builder Greg Tainsh was an integral of WestWyck for almost seven years.
Greg won recognition for his painstaking attention to quality and detail as he led the rebuild of five of WestWyck apartments being constructed within the former school building. Greg's team referred to him as the "millimetre perfect man" and he continued to find innovative solutions to all the difficulties that confront a builder working within a building that has been around for one hundred years.
WestWyck aspired to provide a place of learning employment for the building team and in return has benefited from the strong commitment and clever ideas of the builders and team of consultants associated with the project. The building team has extended its skills through on-job training and support, attending courses and by being exposed to the work of project consultants such as the landscape artist.
WestWyck engaged Alfonso Guglielmi of the CDM Building Group to construct the five Hunter Street townhouses. Alfonso is a construction engineer from a building family with nearly a decade of project management experience prior to establishing his own construction company. He was supported by fellow engineer Michael Anastasiou whose patience and humour and attention to detail almost made up for his poor choice of football team.
CDM are innovators who had previously worked with WestWyck project managers, Construction Queen. After finishing the WestWyck job to a high standard and nearly on time and within budget, Alfonso wryly volunteered that he would be a tenderer for Stage Two if it came around at a suitable time. For their part, WestWyck would certainly like to work with CDM again.
For further information on CDM's credentials and details on recently completed architectural and environmental projects, simply contact Alfonso on Tel: 9818 4628 or Mob: 0413 158 220.
WestWyck aims to be an active part of the broader community, influencing sustainability outcomes, being involved in local environmental activity, participating in Council decision-making and being part of environmental campaigns.
WestWyck has supported the local economy by using local trades people and sourcing local products, making use of and sustaining the local infrastructure, contributing positively to the immediate neighbourhood and enhancing the aesthetic appeal of the area.
Many of the tradespeople are also based in the area. Brian Nemer of Nemer Kitchens and Shopfitters has a factory directly opposite WestWyck in Victoria St. Brian and family responded with enthusiasm to the WestWyck environmental brief and has provided high-quality kitchens, bathrooms and much of the cabinetwork for the project.
WestWyck was thrilled to be included in the ‘More to Moreland’ Map which highlights key features of the Moreland municipality.The ‘More to Moreland’ Map is an excellent municipal support which gives advice on such areas as: European Settlement; Recreation and Retail Therapy; More Bargains; Parks and Open Spaces; and so on … … …
Copies are available from the Moreland Citizens Services in Bell St Coburg.
You are invited to make contact with WestWyck. WestWyck keeps a list of people interested in the project.
WestWyck aims to assist others to undertake similar ventures. Lorna and Mike are quite well connected to other similar projects and are always keen to learn of ventures and to link the WestWyck website to initiatives in sustainable built environment.
You might wish to be part of a tour of the project. When the current building activity is completed Lorna and Mike intend to run regular tours and you could contact them to see if they are able to accommodate you. It is intended to charge a fee for these visits.
WestWyck is on the West Brunswick hilltop, looking south to the City Centre across Royal Park and west down on to the Moonee Ponds Creek and the Moonee Valley Racetrack, a ten-minute walk away. It is seven kilometres from the Melbourne Town Hall and twenty minutes from the Melbourne Airport at most times of the day. It is situated in a designated urban village and has many local facilities on its doorstep.
The WestWyck building, itself listed on the National Estate, is situated in the Moreland City Council's Hunter St Heritage Area. The area contains a mix of single-fronted Victorian terrace homes, larger hilltop Edwardian houses, some intact Californian Bungalows and some more modern infill housing.
The Melville-Victoria urban village includes a gymnasium, churches, a maternal and child health centre, doctors and other health practitioners, a post office and newsagent and a variety of local shops and businesses. Numerous public transport options are within easy walking distance from WestWyck. There is wonderful access to two major tram routes, two handy east-west bus routes and one train line. The Route 55 tram through Royal Park and past the Zoo must rate as one of Melbourne's most scenic.
Within easy access are three local primary schools and one secondary college, several passive and active recreational parks and sporting facilities and the Moonee Ponds Creek with its bike path. A slightly longer walk opens up the Sydney Rd shopping strip, the well-known Brunswick Baths and the Brunswick Library. There is an impressive selection of commuter bike routes (on and off road) to the city and access to urban recreational bike paths too.
Click here for a printable version with extra details
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