Glen Waverley’s popularity sees homes rising above the rest

Glen Waverley is a suburb in flux. Its population is growing, its schools are full to the brim and property prices are on the up.

In a plan to keep up with the suburb’s popularity, a trio of new towers with more than 550 apartments will soon rise up. Sky Garden is part of a $500 million revamp of The Glen shopping centre, which will see car parking – a bugbear for locals – expand and a new public square connecting the shopping centre to the cafe and restaurant strip on Kingsway.


The three towers will be above the retail podium, at 18, 10 and 11 levels respectively.

Sky Garden, Springvale Road, Glen Waverley. Photo: Supplied by Golden Age Group

Apartment projects like Sky Garden that integrate retail and entertainment precincts are the way of the future, architect and Rothelowman principal Shane Rothe says.

“I see big cities in Australia especially, turning towards these types of locations for people to live and so the architecture tends to respond to that issue in itself,” Rothe says.

“It means people can shop and be entertained right below their apartment. To live above these projects, like The Glen, is an opportunity that very few people will come across in the short term.”

Sky Garden Sky Garden Springvale Road Glen Waverley. Photo: Supplied by Golden Age Group

The sculptural shapes of the buildings are designed to be appreciated when seen up close as well as from a distance. Their individual colours have been inspired by the changing hues of the sky.

“We’ve chosen to treat the architecture similarly, but to apply different colour to the architecture to reinforce a separate identity,” he says.

“The colours respond to the skyline, the sunset, the sunrise. For instance, the eastern-most tower is a burnished bronze, the western-most tower is a sunset blush and the central tower is an indigo blue, picking up on the sky during the day. So we’re trying to pick on these three fields that the climate would bring in that location – the sun rising in the Dandenongs to the east to the sun setting to the city in the west.”

For Nolan Taing, who co-owns modern Asian fusion restaurant The Workshop Brothers cafe with his brother Brian, the redevelopment reflects the many changes afoot in Glen Waverley.

“We grew up in the area and demographics have definitely changed, there’s been an influx of mainland Chinese in the area,” Taing says.

“For example in the last two or three months, there’s been about two or three hotpot places open in the area. But at the same time we still get the millennial crowd coming through who want other offerings besides Chinese hotpots.”