A 37-apartment project on Louise Street has been approved, part of a near-$400 million pipeline of residential developments proposed for Nedlands.
A 37-apartment project on Louise Street has been approved, part of a near-$400 million pipeline of residential developments proposed for Nedlands.
The $17.6 million, five-storey development has been approved by the Joint Development Assessment Panel (JDAP) following a recommendation for approval from the council’s officer in late June.
The proposal was lodged by Hillam Architects last year and has since been redesigned in that time following public consultation and council recommendations, including density – revising down plans for an initial 44 dwellings.
“I think the result shows that the JDAP appreciated the high degree of responsiveness in our revised plans as well as the fact that design went above and beyond many of the requirements of the Design WA apartment design standards,” Hillam Architects principal David Hillam told Business News.
The project was the first development application on Louise Street seeking to adhere to revised residential codes that permitted more height, as a result of the gazettal of a new local planning scheme in April 2019.
There are two more projects planned around the Peace Memorial Rose Gardens in Nedlands. Cirey Developments has been given the green light for its five-storey, 15-apartment project at 13 Vincent Street, and Hillam has an additional development planned for 21-23 Louise Street – a $7.2 million project proposing seven two-storey grouped dwellings, as well as six apartments over three storeys.
A number of development applications have been lodged with the City of Nedlands since the introduction of the new planning scheme. These proposed apartment projects range in size from three to more than 20 storeys, with Mayor Cilla De Lacy having described application activity as a “tsunami”.
Ms De Lacy previously told Business News the number of development applications being lodged were equivalent to those handled by much larger councils and that the changes to the planning scheme had opened the door to significant pent-up demand.
According to the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage website, there are about $400 million worth of apartment projects proposed for Nedlands.
The largest of these is Grange Development Consulting’s $320 million plans for 97-105 Stirling Highway, proposing 301 apartments as well as commercial office, retail and hospitality tenancies spread across four towers.
Grange's proposal for Stirling Highway, known as the Chellingworth Motors site.
Grange’s proposal was knocked back by the City of Nedlands last week and is now awaiting JDAP assessment.
Taking Grange’s proposal out of the picture, there’s about $50 million worth of additional Nedlands apartment projects in the development application phase.
There are two projects planned along Broadway; a $13 million, six-storey multiple dwellings project with a ground level commercial tenancy; and a $13.8 million mixed-use development featuring 34 dwellings and a shop tenancy.
Other projects proposed within the City of Nedlands includes a $7.5 million 10-dwelling project on Hillway; a $2.7 million, three-storey multiple dwelling development on Cooper Street; a $2.5 million, 12-apartment and a $2 million 11-dwelling development at 38 and 40 Portland Street.
On top of that property development pipeline is an additional proposal for a $30 million four-storey residential aged care facility, occupying four lots on Betty Street and Doonan Road.
Most of those proposals have been lodged in 2020, with development appetite for Nedlands showing no signs of slowing.
“The city will be reviewing its long-term financial plan and developing a land investment strategy in the coming financial year to identify opportunities to build a more modern city for our community in the future that provides contemporary and efficient services,” Ms De Lacy told Business News last month.
“The council has endorsed the creation of a community working group to partner with the community on the development of the local planning framework to ensure we incorporate housing choice into our city in a way that respects the past, protects what the community values and provides for a future that we can all be a part of.”
