The Age | 17 June 2013
The former women’s hospital site. Photo: Melanie Faith Dove
A sprawling former hospital site in Carlton has been sold by the state government to Melbourne University for $37 million and is to be transformed into a ”living laboratory” for sustainability research as part of the university’s new precinct called Carlton Connect.
Lord mayor Robert Doyle said a new ”university town” is emerging from RMIT in the CBD to Melbourne University in Carlton and Parkville – “like a Boston … like a Harvard cluster” – which would have a transformative effect on the city.
He said the new research area will add to the successful Parkville and Carlton medical research cluster.
It is a very powerful extension of Melbourne as knowledge city. Not just in terms of student learning but in terms of employment as a knowledge centre for research, attracting the brightest and the best.
The new campus will bring together students and experts from across the university to collaborate on sustainability research, with perhaps more than 2000 people eventually working there.
