University of Melbourne to open $2bn engineering campus on former Holden site at Fishermans Bend

The University of Melbourne has announced it is turning the former Holden site at Fishermans Bend into a new engineering campus.

The land, formerly home to the carmaker's manufacturing operations, was purchased by the Victorian Government in 2016 and will be the home of a campus for over 1000 engineering and IT students.

Links to the motor industry are more than tenuous. Fishermans Bend will feature technology and resources not available at the Parkville campus, such as wind and water tunnels – as well as electric vehicle and propulsion testing.

As part of the Victorian Government's wider Fishermans Bend National Employment and Innovation Cluster (NEIC), the area will account for "at least 40,000 jobs and over 20,000 students" by 2050, with the hope of becoming an international powerhouse in the manufacturing, engineering and design industries.

Holden's manufacturing at Fishermans Bend wrapped up in November 2016, with the final 3.6-litre Alloytec V6 engine coming off the production line.

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The last Holden V6 engine was produced at Fishermans Bend back in 2016