ECU’s Mt Lawley campus to host up to 1100 homes but won’t come online until 2030

About 1000 homes are slated to be built on the retired ECU Mt Lawley campus but the site won’t be ready until after the end of the decade.

With ECU having completed the move to its new CBD campus, the existing Mt Lawley grounds no longer host students and will go to government hands at the end of 2026.

On Tuesday, Housing Minister John Carey announced parts of the campus would be demolished and turned into housing, while some existing buildings would be kept as part of a creative industry hub.

Between 900 and 100 homes are expected to be built as both terraced and higher density arrangements, with an unspecified proportion to be social and affordable housing.

But Mr Carey admitted the homes would not start to come online until 2030.

“This is a long-term project so obviously we have a lot of renewal programs under way, but you’ve got to start,” he said.

“I do believe that the timeframe is a reasonable one, it does reflect the potential challenges on the site.

“We’re not getting this site until the end of the year, so I think 2030 is a reasonable projection but it will go beyond that.

“I need to make it very clear, this is a 10 to 15-year renewal program.”

The student accommodation area will also be looked at to turn into wider housing.

Also included in the project is a new primary school and public open spaces make up 15 per cent of the overall design.

The old WAAPA building, administration building and library will all play a role in a new creative hub.

Making use of existing rehearsal rooms and facilities, the space will aim to bring creative industries together with an emphasis on performance and dance.

The government will own the buildings and lease out spaces to private companies and not-for-profits.

Creative Industries Minister Simone McGurk said she had high hopes for the space but work would still be done to ensure upgrades were worth the spend.

“What we’ll work through over the next 12 months is what the demand looks like and how we make sure that any sort of refurbishments or improvements we need to make, are fit for purpose,” she said.

“We do get feedback that particularly with rehearsal and performance space, for dance in particular, you need a certain quality of facilities, and we have those here.”