An over-55’s residential redevelopment grounded in the layered history of the former Australian Road Research Board headquarters, a mid-twentieth-century research campus associated with public purpose, technical rigour, and long-term thinking.

Detailed archival research examined the establishment of the ARRB, the culture of coordination and independence that defined its work, and the figures who argued for a measured, evidence-based approach to infrastructure in a growing nation. Particular attention was given to the design of the Australian Road Research Centre by Mockridge, Stahle & Mitchell, and to Beryl Mann’s landscape scheme, both of which expressed a shared commitment to restraint, clarity, and responsiveness to site. Architecture and landscape were treated not as background, but as deliberate expressions of the Board’s values and daily practices.

The final site history provided Keyton with a clear and credible account of the site’s development over time, informing communication, placemaking, and future interpretation. By emphasising continuity rather than reinvention, the narrative framed VerSo Place as the next considered chapter in the site’s long public life – shifting from national research to everyday wellbeing, while retaining a sense of care, purpose, and contribution to community.