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WangarattaChronicleMondayAugust112025

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THE CHRONICLE, Monday, August 11, 2025 - Page 1

wangarattachronicle.com.au

TODAY

17o

Fog then sunny

16o 16o 17o TUE

WED

THU

Monday, August 11, 2025

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Local response times improve

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DEMO CREW

Nestd executive directors Greg Muller (left) and Alan Takle with state Treasurer Jaclyn Symes at the construction site of the new key worker accommodation apartments. Some 34 new dwellings will be built at the former Ovens College site by July next year. PHOTO: Steve Kelly

Trek of a lifetime

Lions hang on

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Sport

CITY’S NEW NEST State government funds 34 apartments to be built at former Ovens College site to house key workers

The state government has provided the missing link in a project to build 175 social, affordable and key worker apartments at Wangaratta’s former Ovens College site. State Treasurer Jaclyn Symes visited the Greta Road site on Friday to announce funding for 34 new apartments for key worker housing under the $150 million round two of the Victorian Government’s Regional Worker Accommodation Fund.

BY STEVE KELLY

skelly@ nemedia.com.au

Nestd Development acquired the site off Rural City of Wangaratta Council and demolition works of the old college have commenced. Northeast Health Wangaratta (NHW) will be a frontrunning organisation that will access the worker accommodation by leasing

several of the 34 units or 51 beds. The key worker apartments will range from 1-2 storeys and 1-2 bedrooms, all 7-star in energy efficiency and they’re expected to be built within the next 12 months. Ms Symes or Nestd would not disclose how much of the $150 million will be spent on the 34 Wangaratta apartments and they cited commercial-inconfidence as the reason.

Nestd executive director Greg Muller would also not disclose how much would be granted by the federal government, however, Indi MP Helen Haines has been working to secure $10 million over recent years. Mr Muller said it was an opportunity to build homes, but it’s a difficult landscape in regional towns in terms of making it work financially. “Government subsidy and grant is core to achiev-

ing that outcome, and we’re very proud to be able to deliver that for the state and also for the region of Wangaratta,” he said. “We speak to employers all the time and their biggest challenge in order to growing their business is finding workers to come to the region and attracting them to the region. “We see our responsibility at Nestd as building mixed use precincts that provide a

large volume of housing at scale but also affordably.” It’s expected for construction to start in the first half of 2026 and the apartments will be completed by July next year. Nestd executive director Alan Takle said sustainability was a large part of the project and the buildings will have solar arrays and battery storage, aiming for a net zero operational target. ■ Continued page 2

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