Northern Territory planning minister Joshua Burgoyne has approved a development application for five residential buildings, up to six storeys in height, and a single-storey office building in Alice Springs’ city centre. The complex is designed to accommodate a mix of public and private housing to accommodate transient workers.
Located on Todd Street, the vacant site was once home to public housing, and later a backpackers hostel known as Melanka, but has remained vacant since 2009. Proposals to redevelop the land have been approved twice before – in 2010 and in 2015.
In a social media post, Burgoyne stated, “We need big investment in our town to get things moving again. I remember seeing the old Malankas [sic] being torn down. After more than 15 years of nothing but talk. We now have a government taking action to rebuild our economy.”
The approved development has been designed by DKJ, whose director David King Jones has been based in Alice Springs for a decade and in the NT for more than 45 years. The practice’s initial scheme for the site, submitted in mid-2024, proposed 174 apartments. A petition to oppose the project was initiated by councillor Marli Banks in October 2024 due to height and community impact concerns around accommodating fly-in-fly-out workers.
The approved complex includes 144 apartments, 50 percent of which will be acquired by the NT government. According to the architect, “The design specifically rejects an institutional solution and provides a sculptural piece of domestic scale urban art, integrated with the landscape.”
“The design of the Melanka Accelerated Accommodation recognises its contribution to establishing a sense of arrival, acknowledging the existing built form, landscape, and precinct, while concurrently respecting and enhancing the unique visual avenue characteristics of Gap Road and Todd Street,” the architect’s statement reads.
The statement further notes that the scale of the six-building development relates to the adjacent hospital precinct and is united “with a common architectural scale and design language. The finishes, colours and details are restrained to reduce visual bulk and combined with the screens provide modelling, depth and interest to the built form.”
A collection of existing trees, including a boab tree, have been retained with the intention to create urban landscaped spaces that enhance these trees.
According to the architect, “Melanka Accelerated Accommodation Development is conceived as a significant urban and carefully crafted architectural statement that assists with wayfinding, but also acknowledges and enhances the unique qualities of its locality. By contributing to the visual appeal of the streetscape, fostering a sense of community, and serving as a wayfinding landmark, Melanka makes a major contribution to the fabric of Alice Springs.”
