At Trinity College, we’re constantly working to ensure our students and staff have access to the highest standard of teaching and living facilities, so we have a number of exciting campus improvement projects underway.
In 2018, our board adopted a campus development framework (PDF 11MB) devised by MGS Architects to guide Trinity College’s campus upgrade projects over the next 25 years. The framework aligns to our strategic plan and will ensure we’re equipped to meet the evolving needs of the Trinity community well into the future.
The following major projects are underway at Trinity College.
Project 100
Project 100 is currently Trinity College’s most significant capital works project. The project involves construction of a new residential building on our Parkville campus that will accommodate up to 100 students. This means we’ll be able to give even more students the opportunity to join our thriving student community and alumni network. The building will also accommodate four tutors and includes a large apartment for a senior Residential College staff member.
The new building, shown in the concept image below, will include state-of-the-art facilities, including a student study/common area, a gym, music and art rooms, office space and a Junior Common Room, and a two-storey pavilion will connect to the first level. The building will be surrounded by lawns and shaded courtyards, where students can relax or study.
In line with Trinity College’s sustainability commitment, the new building will be heated and cooled using geothermal energy, will have a solar array and will harvest and reuse rainwater for the gardens and to flush toilets.
The building will be ready to receive our first intake of residential students at the start of the 2020 academic year.
These videos showcase the building's concept and construction.
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Dining Hall Expansion
To accommodate our growing student body as a result of Project 100, we are expanding our beautiful Dining Hall and adjacent café and servery. Once complete, the Dining Hall will be able to seat up to 400 people. The project will include construction of a basement kitchen and will have improved visual and physical connections with the adjoining Vatican lawn and Project 100.
Maintaining the Dining Hall’s historic atmosphere will be a key consideration of the expansion project to ensure one of our most treasured areas of Trinity College’s main campus is preserved.
The sketch designs for this project have been endorsed by the Trinity College Board, with construction due to commence in 2021. We plan to open the new Dining Hall at the start of the 2022 academic year to celebrate Trinity College’s 150th anniversary.
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Elizabeth St campus
Our Foundation Studies program is currently taught from the program’s flagship Gateway Building on our Parkville campus, along with a number of smaller campuses in Carlton. While this has worked well for us, we feel our international students will reap greater benefit if we consolidate the smaller campuses into a comprehensive second campus.
Therefore, we’ve signed an agreement to lease six floors in a new building to be constructed on Elizabeth Street, close to the Melbourne CBD and University of Melbourne. It will be just a 10-minute walk or a short tram ride between the two Trinity College campuses.
Our new Elizabeth Street campus, shown in the concept image below, will be purpose built to give our international students the best possible learning experience. The building will include extensive formal and informal teaching spaces, a library, student common areas, kitchen facilities, and indoor and outdoor activity spaces. A retail precinct will also be constructed as part of the site’s overall development.
The developer, PDG, is contracted to hand over the levels to Trinity by early 2021. Trinity College will commence building fit-out from December 2020 and the new campus is due to open to students mid-2021.
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Other campus development projects that we’ve undertaken at Trinity College in recent years include:
- construction of the Gateway Building, a state-of-the-art teaching and learning space primarily used by our Foundation Studies students and also used by Residential College students for tutorials
- within the Gateway Building, construction of a space to showcase rotating exhibitions, the Professor Sir Joseph Burke Gallery
- significant landscaping, tree planting and lawn resurfacing using drought-tolerant plants and grass
- installation of 800,000 litres of in-ground water tanks to store harvested rainwater, which is used for watering the gardens and grounds, and flushing toilets in several buildings
- refurbishment of all student rooms, bathrooms, laundries, tutor apartments and corridors in our residential buildings using ecologically sustainable design initiatives
- addition of a new Theological School wing and renovation of the adjoining Old Warden’s Lodge (OWL)
- installation of two new substations on the Parkville campus, as well as other infrastructure improvements
- upgrade and extension of the Behan car park
- temperature and humidity-controlled collection storage
- installation of a humidifier in the Chapel to protect the organ
- extensive signage upgrades.