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WeAreLiving Preston Is Officially Open: Kapitol Completes 18-Storey High-Rise Build-to-Rent Tower
We’re proud to mark the official opening of WeAreLiving Preston at 6–34 High Street, Preston. An 18-storey build-to-rent tower delivered for Barings and Aware Super, this is our largest build-to-rent project completed to date, and a milestone we’re proud of.
The development delivers 292 new homes to Melbourne’s north, comprising 285 studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments as well as seven two- and three-bedroom townhouses. Alongside the homes, the project includes retail and resident amenities designed by Rothelowman, with the completed building now managed by WeAreLiving.
What We Built
WeAreLiving Preston features 285 apartments, 7 townhouses, a 24-hour gym, sauna, steamroom and cold plunge, dog wash and dog run, rooftop terrace with barbecues, co-working space, meeting rooms, lounge with fireplace and TV, and 269 car spots including spaces for electric vehicles. The all-electric building holds a 7-star NatHERS rating, with an embedded energy network and double glazing throughout.
Delivering a building of this quality, at this scale, alongside activated retail and a full amenities programme, all within a live urban environment, required rigorous coordination across every phase of construction.
How We Approached the Build
One of the challenges on this project was excavating three levels of basement to a depth of 15 metres in a constrained urban environment, with VicRoads, Yarra Trams, council footpaths and overhead power lines all in close proximity. Rather than work around public loading zones and authority permits, our team engineered a top-down slab solution; a thickened, heavily reinforced concrete platform built above the excavation to serve as our own internal loading area. This kept all loading activity within our work zone, removed the need for external authority permits, eliminated any impact on public access, and allowed excavation to proceed efficiently to basement three. The engineering detail required was considerable, particularly the connection between the temporary slab and the permanent post-tensioned ground slab — an outcome that demanded precise coordination between our engineers and site team from start to finish.
With seven townhouses forming part of the programme, we drove a smarter structural solution and landed on Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) — a Kapitol-led initiative and a relatively new product in the Australian construction market. The CLT panels were sourced from NeXTimber in Mount Gambier, South Australia, manufactured from locally grown and processed plantation timber. The result was a carbon-negative structural system that was delivered in half the time of a comparable concrete or steel structure, with a meaningful contribution to programme efficiency across that component of the build.
Our lean construction thinking extended further into the superstructure. Working with StudCo and Express Interiors, we had all wall framing studs pre-cut to exact specifications off-site before delivery — the first project of its kind where every framing material, from studs and tracks to ceiling materials and furring channels, was custom manufactured to millimetre tolerance. On a project of this scale, that translated to approximately 72,000 studs. At 30 seconds of on-site labour per stud to measure, mark and cut, the approach saved an estimated 600 hours — or 75 full working days — of labour, while delivering a cleaner site and a more consistent installation result for our trades throughout.
Delivered in Partnership
As the builder, our role was to take a complex brief, a high design standard, and a demanding programme, and deliver a result that all parties could stand behind. From early-stage planning through to project completion, we bring value through strategic input on feasibility, design coordination, buildability, cost management and construction delivery.
That partnership approach is reflected in the outcome at Preston, and it’s the way we work across all of our residential construction projects.
A Significant Opening
Over 80 guests joined us on the rooftop at WeAreLiving Preston to mark the project’s completion, including the Victorian Minister for Planning and representatives from Barings and Aware Super. The Victorian Minister for Planning delivered a speech at the ceremony, recognising the project’s contribution to Melbourne’s growing build-to-rent housing supply.
We’d like to thank every member of the project team. Barings, Aware Super, WeAreLiving, Rothelowman, Essence Communities, NeXTimber, and every trade partner who helped bring 6–34 High Street, Preston to life.
To learn more about our new build capabilities or to explore the full range of our residential projects, visit our projects page. For the latest building construction news from across our work, head to our insights page.
