The nine-storey building in Cremorne brings several fine-grain industrial sites together into one. Three indentations carved from a brick podium widen the footpath at street level, making room for new trees, seating and the entries to two hospitality tenancies. Lemon-scented gums grow straight from deep soil below, rather than from planters. Above, a glazed tower follows the same curves, drawing light to the back of each floor.

The masonry detailing wraps around to the secondary façades, and the external fire stairs at the rear carry bright red balustrades for the building’s eastern neighbours. The rooftop belongs to the people who work there – a half basketball court nods to anchor tenant Adidas, alongside space for working, gathering and exercise. The building was fully leased before it was finished, with Suupaa and Baker Bleu at ground level.

The jury citation reads:

“65 Dover by Fieldwork is an expertly conceived and delivered work of commercial architecture that fulfills its brief to deliver highly functional and flexible modern workspaces, whilst comprehensively improving its surroundings through an elegant and nuanced response to its context.

65 Dover St sets a new benchmark for commercial architecture of this scale – integrous, gracious and refined.”

Thanks to everyone in the Fieldwork team, past and present, who brought the project to life: Quino Holland, Tim Brooks, Sukhjit Kaur, Vlad Doudakliev, Andrew Richardson, Eoghan McCarthy, Raphael Graham, Bridget Lensen, Elina Luostarinen, Kara Kim, Nicola Leong, Lisa Garner and Monica Percudani.

Thank you to our client, Fortis, and the collaborators and consultants.

395 Albert Street – a build-to-rent multi-residential project with Mirvac – is shortlisted in not one, but three categories this year. Including for Excellence in Sustainability, Build-to-Rent and PBSA, and High-Density Residential (200+ Homes).

The overarching idea for this project was about being a good neighbour and creating strong links to the surrounding parks and green spaces.

Our thanks to Mirvac and everyone who worked on LIV Albert.

See all the shortlisted projects from this year’s Urban Developer Awards.

Cremorne is a suburb mid-transition – a light-industrial past giving way to its emerging life as an innovation precinct – and that tension shaped our design for 65 Dover Street. Carved along its 65-metre street frontage, the brown brick podium reads as three scallops, breaking a single large floorplate back down to the fine-grain rhythm of the streets around it. The same curves carry up through the glass tower above, drawing daylight to the back of the floorplate and turning what would otherwise be a tight footpath edge into a civic forecourt. The design move allows room for landscaping, bikes, pedestrians and outdoor seating for two hospitality tenancies.

Inside, the planning is built around a worker’s day rather than a single arrival point. Each route in – on foot, by bike, by car – has its own choreographed sequence, with end-of-trip facilities including a sauna, a fully recycled-water carwash and a podcast studio. The rooftop is treated as a series of outdoor rooms: a half basketball court, yoga and Pilates space, varied seating with power and data, and a demountable pavilion that turns the court into a weather-protected events space.

The Commercial Architecture category includes nine shortlisted projects this year, with adaptive reuse featuring strongly across the broader 2026 program. State winners will be announced at the Victorian Architecture Awards on 19 June, with national entries to follow in November.

Thanks to the jury, the project team and to our client Fortis and collaborators.

LIV Albert (395 Albert Street) is a build-to-rent development by Mirvac, surrounded on all sides by parkland.

The project’s design draws on Brunswick’s DNA – the Victorian-era red brick and post-war cream that define the local vernacular. Tones darken at the base to ground the buildings, lightening through the mid-levels to silver metal cladding at the top.
This year marks the awards’ 40th, with 94 finalists drawn from more than 540 entries across Australia and New Zealand.

The exterior category of the Dulux Colour Awards looks at how colour performs on the outside of a building – at the scale of the street, in changing light, over time.
Our thanks to Mirvac and everyone who worked on LIV Albert.

Read more about 395 Albert Street, Brunswick.