Plans for the $15.6 million development were submitted to the Launceston City Council by the University of Tasmania and have been placed online for public comment.

The planned 120 units will be split into two separate wings - one housing 54 apartments and the other housing 60, both set over three floors.

These will lie adjacent to the Tamar River, sitting to the right of the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, and almost opposite the old gasworks that sit on the southern side of the river.

A ground level will include 30 car parking spaces, a secure bicycle parking area, an office, a communal laundry, common room and outdoor courtyards.

The report by Hobart architects Morrison & Breytenbach said it had two major constraints when designing the building.

This included the unstable ground of the former tidal mud flats and the need to raise the building above flood levels.

"The first means that it is very important to design a building that is as light as possible ... an, in effect, "float" on a reinforced concrete raft on top of the muddy sludge," it read.

"The second limitation means that the . . . proposed new student housing will need to be perched up on stilts above the flood plain."

The entire building is also designed in such a way that it can be dismantled and re-assembled at a different location.

The University of Tasmania bought the land at Inveresk from the council for a minimal price to build the apartments.

They are funded by the National Rental Affordability Scheme.