A new mixed-use commercial development on the fringe of Melbourne’s CBD has reimagined the post-COVID-19 working environment.

Situated in the heart of Richmond, Industry Lanes was conceived by Salta Properties and Abacus Property Group in collaboration with leading Australian architecture and design firm Architectus.

Salta Properties managing director Sam Tarasco said Industry Lanes was designed with the needs and desires of post COVID-19 employees top of mind.

“Work culture was changed forever in Melbourne during the extensive lockdown in 2020, employees who are used to working from home are now seeking better designed workspaces that spark creativity, promote productivity and have easy access to key amenities,” he said.

“Today, there is not so much a work life balance as simply life and the work environment needs to be a natural and comfortable extension of an individual’s lifestyle.

“Many people have become accustomed to the convenience of working from home, but they miss the companionship and creative energy generated in a dynamic workplace.”

The mixed-use commercial development is three kilometres from Melbourne’s CBD and offers a range of futuristic working environments, catering to larger tenants and smaller business owners.

The site has a net lettable area of 18,000sqm, which includes 1,346sqm for retailers, 490sqm end of trip facilities, plus 160 carpark spaces, all targeting a 5 Star Green Star rating.

Conveniently positioned on Church Street, Industry Lanes offers childcare facilities, is close to public transport and urban green spaces, with Barkley Gardens and the Yarra River only minutes away.

Architectus principal Matthew Smith said Industry Lanes has been designed to be a next generation workplace which takes inspiration from the rich neighbourhood character and urban amenity of Richmond.

“Industry Lanes will be the vertical integration of a new workplace community. We’ve designed a precinct that enhances connectivity within the neighbourhood, drawing people through the site between Church Street and Brighton Street. An open and inviting frontage reinvigorates Shamrock Street and increases activity at ground level,” he said.

“The people experience at Industry lanes has been curated from the public realm through to workplace environments. Careful consideration of proportion at the ground interface and layering of texture and materiality transitions the scale and visual impact of the overall project, resulting in an approachable, interconnected and communal precinct.

“To imagine the future workplace at Industry Lanes is to visualise the future of work in a globalised, automated and technological world, and how this evolving precinct, through its destinations and places, will engage a broad spectrum of future users including workers, clients, visitors and the wider community.

“There is a green, vibrant, permeable and enlivened workplace community to the commercial towers – one which connects seamlessly to the local community and natural environment, and where the overlapping boundaries of workplace and lifestyle are integrated and frictionless,” Mr Smith concluded.

Industry Lanes will be a new world commercial workplace environment that realises opportunities in the future of work, integrating flexibility, wellbeing, diversity, connectedness and community reach.

It will be a technology infused urban centre, integrating a rejuvenated natural environment with connection to the Church Street neighbourhood.