New homes: Serene and green at Surrey Hills

How’s the serenity? A new boutique development in leafy Surrey Hills promises a high zen factor with a location near Surrey Gardens and a cafe  and yoga studio on the ground floor.

Norfolk Park, a project of 27 contemporary apartments, will be built on the site of a former car wash on the corner of Norfolk Road and a leafy commercial strip on Canterbury Road.

The star attraction of this English Counties Estate neighbourhood is the tranquil Surrey Gardens with its majestic oak and elm trees just 100 metres from the development. This garden was the work of William Guilfoyle, the landscaper and botanist most acclaimed for the design of the Royal Botanic Gardens.

Neighbouring Canterbury’s famous Edwardian shopping village on Maling Road and the cafes of Union Road in Surrey Hills are within cooee while Surrey Hills rail station is a 300-metre walk.

Apartment interiors feature Miele kitchen appliances, marble benchtops, oak flooring and a choice of a light or dark colour scheme.

Local downsizers are expected to snap up the larger apartments with large terraces and views of the city skyline while first-home buyers are showing interest in the one-bedroom apartments.

At a glance

Norfolk Park, 348 Canterbury Road, Surrey Hills
Architect: Ascui & Co Architects
Developer: BHC Property
Number of apartments: 27. Five one-bedroom (four with study); 19 two-bedroom; three three-bedroom
Internal sizes: one-bedroom apartments 48-54 square metres;  two bedrooms 67-75 square metres; three-bedrooms 101-124 square metres
External areas: balconies and courtyards 9-40 square metres
Prices: One-bedrooms $399,500-$465,000; two-bedrooms $567,500-$675,000; three bedrooms $995,000-$1,225,000
Car parking: One car space and storage cage for each apartment (some car spaces are on a stacker system)
Completion estimate: Late 2016.
Selling agent: Marshall White, Armadale, 9832 4701

Turning over a new leaf

Roger Smith knows all the attractions of the Surrey Hills neighbourhood where he has just bought a top-floor two-bedroom apartment at the Norfolk Park project near the acclaimed Surrey Gardens.

Although he lives in a house at Mount Waverley, the 74-year-old former forest scientist has been managing a car wash on the Norfolk Park development site for the past two decades and also works locally as a landscape gardener.

“I’ve really come to love the location as it’s very close to the railway station for a quick trip into the city to the theatre, a play or the opera,” he says. “And it’s very close to the Maling Road shopping precinct with its Edwardian streetscape, which is unique in Melbourne’s suburbs.

“You have the topographic variation but the hills are not steep and you can walk around without getting out of breath,” he says. “Apartments are quite scarce in this area so I think there will be strong demand for this development.”

Smith is looking forward to the convenience of apartment living and coming home from his landscaping jobs without having his own garden to work on.