An artist's impression of plans for the corner of Victoria Parade and Wellington Street, Collingwood, proposed by developer Tim Gurner and designed by Sydney architects Koichi Takada. Credit:Gurner Australian architect Robin Boyd once described Collingwood as "the suburb born with a wooden spoon in its mouth". But the building boom now hitting the once downtrodden suburb shows how dramatically times have changed, as developers seize former industrial sites and turn them into offices or housing. In the relatively small area bounded by Victoria Parade and Smith, Hoddle and Johnston streets, at least 14 apartment and office towers over 10 levels are approved or at the application stage with Yarra Council. Gurner's latest Collingwood highrise plan is likely to be met with a similar storm of protest as his last plan for 16 levels on North Fitzroy's Queens Parade.

The design for an office proposal at 71 Gipps Street, Collingwood. That was brought to a grinding halt when Planning Minister Richard Wynne put a 10-level building height on Gurner's site. This time around Mr Wynne won't comment on Gurner's Collingwood project, despite it being in his electorate. It's a matter for Yarra Council, he says. Yarra's Cr Jolly says the design for the project "seems to go out of its way to disrespect the neighbourhood - its highest point is precisely next to the most significant heritage buildings on the street". Grocon's plan for Northumberland Street, Collingwood. Credit:Squint/Opera But Mr Gurner says his firm is working on amending the design that will "deliver not only much-needed attainable housing options but everything right up to luxury three and four-bedroom [dwellings]".

The Gurner plan is the latest in a remarkable burst of development in Collingwood, one of the city's oldest suburbs. Named in 1842 by Robert Hoddle, Collingwood was also once one of the city's poorest suburbs. These days it has slightly above-average income levels. Developer Tim Gurner at his Fitzroy North site. Credit:Vince Caligiuri During the Victorian gold rush from 1851, the state's population boomed and huge numbers of small houses were built to accommodate the swelling population. Sound a bit like today? The original towers proposed by Gurner in Queens Parade, Fitzroy North, also designed by Koichi Takada Architects. Credit:Gurner

The difference is the small homes now rise to 17 levels, and offices are also on the drawing boards. Historian Chris McConville has studied the suburb and written about Collingwood entrepreneur and underworld figure John Wren, made famous in Frank Hardy's novel Power Without Glory. The 10-level plan for 88 Cambridge Street, Collingwood. Credit:Elenberg Fraser Dr McConville says it is unsurprising to see the suburb changing so rapidly and towers springing up quickly, because it has gone through repeated boom and bust cycles for more than 150 years. Melbourne has sprawled so far that it's hard to imagine, but Collingwood was once on the city's fringe, filled with cheap canvas housing.

The design for a 14-storey tower to be built at 42 Oxford Street, Collingwood. Proper housing started to be built from the 1880s, along with many factories, says Dr McConville. But Collingwood was devastated in Victoria's 1890s depression. The area of Collingwood where apartments are now proliferating was once known as "The Flat". There, most of its 19th-century housing demolished for workshops up to the 1950s. It is those workshops developers are now targeting for residential or office conversion. The suburb is predominantly young today – its median age is 32 - while the wider median age for Melbourne is 38. Collingwood was also traditionally home to the city's highest proportion of young single mothers, many of whom worked in its many clothing factories. Along with its reputation as a larrikin hotspot, The Flat "really was a very unhealthy place with relatively high rates of infant mortality," says Dr McConville.

Dr McConville says the level of poverty in Collingwood was once extreme: "There were other very poor areas around the inner city but probably none with the concentration of poverty as Collingwood." Not any more, one economist observes. "If all these developments get built Collingwood will look more like St Kilda Road," says Terry Rawnsley from SGS Economics and Planning. "It will be more CBD than hipster."