The $15.65 million project follows the opening of 180 apartments at the university's Newnham campus in May.

The apartments will be funded under the National Rental Affordability Scheme and supported by the Launceston City Council.

University vice-chancellor Professor Peter Rathjen said the proposal aligned with others on the Cradle Coast and in Hobart.

"In the great university cities of the world, the life and energy of the university is infused within the community, carrying on both within and in between buildings spread across the city," Professor Rathjen said.

"We see great potential in these units bringing the university to the doorstep of the central business district, and bringing with it the energy and movement of our student population."

The project will be designed by Tasmanian group led by morrison and breytenbach architects. Senior academics from the university's Centre for Sustainable Architecture with Wood are part of the principal design team.

The units would be constructed as timber-framed modules, pre-fabricated nearby and craned into position.

Centre for Sustainable Architecture with Wood associate professor Gregory Nolan said part of the initial tender process saw a local builder conduct a cost analysis between the module-based proposal and a more standard approach.

"The results were comparable," he said.

The Inveresk apartments were first floated in late 2011.

University of Tasmania chief operating officer David Clerk said in 2012 that the university was approached by Launceston City Council representatives to build on the Inveresk site "in a bid to increase the vibrancy of the CBD and support the Inner City Action Plan".

The council gave the university the parcel of land for the proposal for a minimal cost in the same year.