Better Design De-Risks Apartments in Victoria’s Slump

Good design is not a luxury that developers add when margins allow. Rather, Austin Maynard Architects say, it is the most effective tool for reducing commercial risk in an apartment project. In a cautious Melbourne apartment market, two projects by the practice have begun construction after reaching key sales milestones. Behind both is a design philosophy Austin Maynard Architects managing director Sophie Whittakers says the broader industry has been slow to adopt, adding that the industry’s standard approach to feasibility contains an easily overlooked flaw. Optimising a building around a single apartment type appears to reduce complexity and cost. In practice, she says, it concentrates risk rather than spreading it. “The typical approach to initial feasibility studies is to optimise space and floor plans on the basis of economies of scale,” Whittakers tells The Urban Developer . “While it seems to be a safe approach, it actually may be a slightly risky approach, because you do end up with a monoculture of apartment type and buyer type.” A building of near-identical apartments targets a narrow buyer group, Whittakers says. When that market pulls back due to rate shifts, tax reform or changes in investor sentiment, there is no fallback. ▲ Austin Maynard Architects media and communications manager CJ Cornish and managing director Sophie Whittakers. Austin Maynard media and communications manager CJ Cornish says diverse floor plans spread risk across multiple price points and buyer profiles. “When you have more diverse floor plans, you are going to have a greater breadth of pricing structure from a sales perspective,” Cornish tells The Urban Developer . “You are able to de-risk by not having 20 of the same product and, instead, you create variety for a bigger buyer pool.” Design diversity does not require giving up structural efficiency, Whittakers says, provided the structural grid and services layout are resolved before apartment variety is introduced. “It’s amazing how you can make things work when you see the structural grid as the initial basis,” Whittakers says. Resolving the core, services and structural grid early, she says, avoids costly changes such as transfer slabs later in the design process. The approach was tested at ParkLife at Brunswick East, designed and developed by Austin Maynard Architects, where a mix of apartment types targeted different price points. The practice credits the product variety, not the marketing, for the community that formed there. The lessons learnt have carried over to ParkLife 2, also designed by Austin Maynard Architects and developed by Hip V Hype, which is now under construction. Thornbury House [ pictured below] takes a different route to the same outcome. Developed by Antipodean Land Developments on the corner of High and Rossmoyne streets at Thornbury, the seven-storey building is being built from hand-laid brick. Delete Securing planning approval for a sheer corner wall on that site was, according to Whittakers, unlikely under Darebin’s planning rules a few years earlier. The practice ran the planning case and took on the marketing scope with a campaign Cornish says was built on transparency about design decisions rather than promotional language. “All of that decision-making is expressed in clear diagrams, so buyers can see exactly why decisions were made. It takes the questions off the table,” Cornish says. Construction is now under way and eight homes have sold, including one of two penthouses. Slate House, completed in 2022 on Bleazby Avenue at Brighton, shows the strategy can work beyond Melbourne’s inner north. Developed by Lucent, the 14-apartment building achieved an 8.2-star NatHERS rating and was Brighton’s first fossil-fuel-free multi-residential building. Cornish says its energy performance and year-round comfort resonated with buyers. ▲ Slate House at Brighton was the suburb’s first fossil-fuel-free multi-residential building. Cornish says the practice has found consistent interest in sustainability across markets but adjusts how it frames the conversation depending on the buyer profile. The design intent does not change, Cornish says, rather the language does. “We will always take a step back and talk about sustainability from a wellbeing perspective, which I think speaks to everybody,” Cornish says. “Once you explain that sustainability is really about comfort in your home, enough light, not too hot in summer, lower utilities bills, that is when it lands.” Whittakers says Victoria’s Great Design Fast Track is a pathway that also rewards projects with strong design credentials, allowing them to move through the state process more efficiently. “When we go in and communicate clearly, breaking down the rationale for design decisions so assessors can follow them, we are making their job easier,” Whittakers says. “We know the talking points they are going to need, so we show how we address them.” Earlier buyer input has also become more structured, with purchaser conversations used to test demand for specific apartment types before plans are finalised, producing a more defensible product mix at the feasibility stage. “Embedding exceptional design into a project, and clearly articulating that to the market, is the absolute greatest de-risking tool a developer can employ,” Whittakers says.

Exclusive
Leon Della Bosca
Thu 13 Aug 26

Better Design De-Risks Apartments in Victoria’s Slump

La Trobe’s $5bn University City Signals Shift in PBSA Partnership Model