Located on busy Queens Parade in Clifton Hill, Melbourne the 10-level vertical high-density design of the TLC Integrated Health Care Hub won international praise at the Over 50s Global Housing Awards in 2016 by taking out ‘The Most Innovative Aged Care Housing Design Globally’.

The care hub will feature a TLC café, gym, physiotherapy, primary health care and pathology services in addition to residential ageing in place for up to 123 residents requiring a range of care services.

TLC Clifton Views is Australia’s first 10-storey high-rise aged care and integrated primary health care facility and it involved particular design challenges. “The BCA prescribes fire safety regulations concerning Class 9c aged care facilities currently set to a 25m maximum height. Clifton Views went beyond that and considerable efforts were made by working collaboratively with our fire engineering consultant, the Metropolitan Fire Brigade and the CSIRO adapting building regulations to work with our design which produced a case study example for future high-rise aged care projects to follow” said Neil Christensen, Director of Care.

Baldasso Cortese were careful in selecting the building’s fabric, wanting to ensure that all safety measures were met. A precast concrete frame was selected with bluestone cladding panels on the podium. The upper storeys feature exposed precast elements with carefully placed vertical louvres as an outer skin to create a balanced counterpoint to the building’s façade.