100 Derby — Luxury Custom Home Build in Kew Melbourne
A refined architectural home in Kew, designed and built for modern family living with integrated joinery, natural stone, and complete construction precision. 240 sqm custom home delivered at $2.4M — fully integrated design, construction, and furniture.
A compact, architect-designed luxury home focused on spatial efficiency, integrated joinery, and refined material detailing.
Kew
240 sqm Area
2026
Scheduled Completion
Albert Living
Design, Interiors & Fit-Out
Project Overview
100 Derby is a custom luxury residence in Kew, Melbourne, delivered by Albert Living with a strong focus on detailed joinery, material quality, and refined interior execution.
Designed as a high-end family home, the project balances architectural clarity with functional living — integrating bespoke cabinetry, stone finishes, and cohesive material transitions throughout.
Key Highlights
• High-spec joinery and cabinetry across key living zones
• Integrated design, construction, and interior fit-out
• Emphasis on material consistency and detailing
• Typical project range in Kew: $8,000–$11,000 per sqm
Project Credits
Architecture: Taouk Architects
Design, Interiors & Fit-Out: Albert Living
Builder: Urban Design & Construct Pty Ltd
Engineering: Rexicon Consulting Engineers
Building Surveyor: Akritidis Group Building Consultants
Landscape Design: John Patrick Landscape Architects Pty Ltd
Landscaping: TBA
Location
KEW, VICTORIA
Project Type
Custom Luxury Residence
Size
240 sqm
Status
Ongoing
Year
2026
Project Value
$2.4M
Virtual Tour
Explore our immersive virtual tour of the 100 Derby luxury house build project.
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Living Spaces
Internally, the home is designed around open-plan living, natural light, and functional zoning. Living, dining, and kitchen areas are connected through a continuous spatial flow, allowing the home to adapt to both everyday use and entertaining.
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100 Derby
Private Spaces
Internally, the home is designed around open-plan living, natural light, and functional zoning. Living, dining, and kitchen areas are connected through a continuous spatial flow, allowing the home to adapt to both everyday use and entertaining.
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100 Derby
Challenges & Solutions
Each design challenge was resolved through an integrated process, aligning architectural intent with construction execution from the outset.
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Planning Constraints
100 Derby forms part of a two-dwelling development from the parent lot at 5 Park Crescent, requiring a Planning Permit obtained in 2023 prior to construction. The site is also governed by a Tree Management Plan protecting Tree No. 23, an Orange Tree located on the neighbouring property. A Tree Protection Zone was established and approved by the project arborist before works commenced.
As a luxury home builder in Kew, Albert Living managed all planning documentation in-house, ensuring that council requirements, arborist constraints, and permit approvals were resolved prior to construction. This approach reduces approval delays and eliminates risk during the build phase.
Site Conditions The site carries a Class P soil classification, indicating reactive ground conditions requiring a more engineered foundation system. Instead of a conventional slab-on-ground, the structural solution incorporates a suspended raft slab and piled retention system designed specifically for site movement and proximity to the adjacent structure.
Engineering & Design Complexity The home utilises a hybrid structural system combining steel and timber framing — a value-engineered approach that delivers structural performance while maintaining construction efficiency. Curved wall geometry, integrated structural elements, and attic load considerations required detailed coordination between architectural intent and engineering documentation.
Construction methodology near the protected tree zone required staged approvals, arborist oversight, and selective hand excavation to ensure compliance without compromising structural integrity.
Solution
All structural engineering, planning documentation, arborist coordination, and construction sequencing were managed in-house by Albert Living. This integrated delivery model ensures that constraints are identified and resolved during the design phase rather than emerging during construction.
By maintaining control across all stages of the project, Albert Living is able to deliver a more predictable build process, minimise delays, and achieve a higher level of construction precision. This approach is consistent across projects and reflects the standard applied to custom homes in Kew and across Melbourne’s inner east.
100 Derby
Materials & Details
Every material in the home is selected as a long-term natural finish — designed to age, patina, and evolve over time. Limestone French pattern paving contrasts against the dense, polished mass of Arabescato Cielo marble, creating a deliberate tension between textured and refined surfaces.
In a luxury custom home in Melbourne, natural stone and bespoke joinery are expected. At 100 Derby, these materials are deployed with a specific intent — to age with dignity, invite touch, and resist the reduction of interior design to mere surface.
At this level, material selection is not aesthetic — it is structural to how the home performs over time.
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Arabescato Cielo Marble
Regular price $2,000.00 AUDRegular priceUnit price per -
Limestone Fluted Mosaic Wall Tiles
Regular price $300.00 AUDRegular priceUnit price per -
Limestone French Patterned Floor Tiles
Regular price $200.00 AUDRegular priceUnit price per
The colour palette at 100 Derby is built on deliberate restraint — feather white, taupe, greige, and raw timber forming a neutral base for this luxury home in Melbourne. Walls are intentionally desaturated, allowing natural light to define depth, shadow, and material grain across the interior.
Strategic accents of burnt umber, sage, and deep charcoal are introduced sparingly, acting as visual anchors that interrupt the neutrality and reinforce the hierarchy of each space. These are not decorative decisions, but compositional ones that guide how the home is experienced.
Every material in the home is selected as a long-term natural finish — designed to age, patina, and evolve over time. Limestone French pattern paving contrasts against the dense, polished mass of Arabescato Cielo marble, creating a deliberate tension between textured and refined surfaces.
Ribbed wall panelling manipulates shadow across vertical planes as light shifts throughout the day, while hand-applied finishes introduce subtle irregularities that prevent the interior from feeling overly controlled.
In a luxury custom home in Melbourne, natural stone and bespoke joinery are expected. At 100 Derby, these materials are deployed with a specific intent — to age with dignity, invite touch, and resist the reduction of interior design to mere surface.
100 Derby Phase
Integrated Design to Delivery
100 Derby was delivered through Albert Living’s fully integrated model — where architectural design, construction, joinery, and stone are developed and executed under one team. This ensures every decision is resolved early and carried through consistently, which is critical in a compact, high-detail residential project.
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Phase 1
Design
The design of 100 Derby focused on maximising spatial efficiency within a compact footprint. Architectural layout and structural engineering were developed together in-house, allowing circulation, storage, and natural light to be carefully resolved from the outset.
Every decision — from room proportions to joinery integration — was considered as part of a unified system, ensuring the home feels open and functional despite its smaller scale. Material direction was also established early, allowing finishes to be coordinated as part of the architectural intent rather than applied later.
Phase 2
Construction
Construction progressed with a high level of coordination, where all design elements had already been resolved prior to site works. This was particularly important given the tighter footprint, where precision in execution directly impacts usability and spatial clarity.
Because design and construction were aligned from the beginning, the build phase avoided rework and redesign, allowing the project to move efficiently while maintaining consistency with the original design intent.
Phase 3
Joinery
Custom joinery played a critical role in maximising functionality within the home. All cabinetry and storage elements were designed and produced in-house, allowing joinery to be fully integrated into the architectural layout rather than treated as an add-on.
This approach ensured efficient use of space, with storage, appliances, and furniture resolved as part of the overall design, maintaining both usability and visual clarity throughout the home.
Phase 4
Stone
Stone surfaces were selected and fabricated as part of the same integrated workflow, ensuring alignment with joinery and interior elements. In a compact home, consistency of materials is critical to maintaining a cohesive visual outcome.
By managing stone in-house, detailing, proportions, and installation were carefully controlled, allowing surfaces to read as continuous and refined across kitchen, bathrooms, and feature elements.
Phase 5
Handover
At completion, the home was delivered as a fully resolved environment, where every architectural and interior element aligned with the original design intent.
The integrated approach ensured there was no disconnect between design and execution, resulting in a compact luxury home that is efficient, cohesive, and highly refined in both function and finish.
What It Costs to Build a Luxury Home in Kew
Homes of this scale and level of finish in Kew typically range from $8,000 to $11,000+ per square metre, depending on site conditions, architectural complexity, and the level of customisation involved.
Projects that incorporate extensive natural stone, bespoke joinery, and fully integrated furniture — as seen in 100 Derby — typically sit toward the upper end of this range due to the level of detailing and coordination required.
For context, 100 Derby comprises approximately 240 sqm of total GFA, with a construction value of $2.4M, reflecting a highly detailed custom build delivered within a tightly controlled scope. Larger-scale projects such as 70 Cobden (515 sqm, $4.15M) demonstrate how overall cost scales with size, complexity, and program requirements.
Albert Living provides a detailed working budget early in the design phase, giving clients full clarity on cost before construction begins. This ensures transparency, informed decision-making, and control over both quality and financial outcomes.
For a full breakdown, see our cost guide
Why Albert Living
Albert Living specialises in delivering luxury homes in Kew and across Melbourne’s inner east, with a focus on architecturally driven residential projects that require a high level of coordination between design and construction.
Few builders operating in Kew are equipped to deliver this level of integrated design, structural coordination, and construction precision within a single project. Albert Living’s approach ensures that design intent is not compromised during construction, resulting in a more resolved architectural outcome.
What defines the approach:
• Open-book cost transparency from early design stages
• End-to-end project delivery (design, build, joinery, furniture)
• Strong coordination across consultants, engineers, and trades
• Focus on construction precision and material execution
Each project is delivered with a balance of architectural integrity and practical construction expertise, ensuring that the final outcome is both refined and highly functional.
Related reading — Explore More
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Frequently Asked Questions — Luxury Home Builders Kew
Common questions about building a luxury custom home in Kew, Victoria — from planning permits and approvals through to construction timelines and integrated furniture.
Construction costs for a luxury custom home in Kew typically range from $8,000 to $11,000 per square metre depending on design complexity, site conditions, and finish level. A 300 sqm architecturally designed home in Kew would generally range from $2.4M to $3.3M in construction value, excluding land.
A full custom architectural build in Kew typically takes 12 to 18 months from initial design brief through to occupancy permit — including 2 to 3 months for design and documentation, 60 days for building permit approval, and 9 to 12 months for construction.
Albert Living has an in-house architectural team that manages all design work directly — you do not need to engage a separate architect. Our architectural design, structural engineering, interior design, and visualisation are all developed in-house as part of the full build scope.
A true luxury home builder in Kew manages the full complexity of a high-end residential build — architectural design, council approvals, construction, custom joinery, stone finishes, and integrated furniture — under one roof. Albert Living is the only builder in Melbourne's inner east delivering all of these under one integrated team, from the first conversation to the day you move in.
Building in Kew is governed by the City of Boroondara, which applies neighbourhood character guidelines, heritage overlays, and significant tree protections. For most single dwelling constructions in Kew, only a building permit is required. Sites within a heritage overlay may require a planning permit from Boroondara Council before any work can begin.
Start Your Luxury Home in Kew
Albert Living works with a select number of projects each year in Kew and Melbourne's inner east. If you are planning a luxury custom home and want design, engineering, construction, joinery, and stone under one roof — we would like to hear from you.