CAN DEVELOPMENT
CARRY PUBLIC VALUE?
Don Bosco has served Brunswick since 1939: a 30-room hostel for young men and a rare free third place where children, young people and families can gather, play and belong.
When the site was placed on the market, the Saving Don Bosco action group needed more than an argument against sale. It needed credible ways to keep the hostel and youth facilities inside whatever came next.
LOOM prepared an independent pro bono advisory for the Saving Don Bosco action group, for submission to Merri-bek City Council. The work proposed two parallel investigations before any binding sale: a State and community-housing pathway, and a private-development pathway carrying a defined community package. Neither path assumed a purchase, permit, funding commitment or planning outcome.
The architectural work made the trade-off visible. One illustrative feasibility concept placed housing above and behind the retained Sydney Road frontage, with youth facilities at street level. It tested—without promising—whether additional developable floor area could help carry the public benefit.
The central point was not height for its own sake. Any development uplift had to be tested against heritage, planning and feasibility, while the community outcome had to be defined precisely: space, access, ownership, operating costs, delivery dates, funding, safeguards and a failure plan.
This remains an ongoing project. The images are propositions, not a measured design, heritage assessment, planning application, approval or proof of feasibility.
