Project Description

The brief was to amalgamate two independently held titles into a single site and to construct a high quality residential apartment building maximising the opportunities of the site with the apartment mix weighted towards well sized two-bedroom units with underground parking for each unit. Only one of the two properties was for sale on market.

The challenge of the site was that it was steeply falling from the frontage and surrounded on all sides by residential flat buildings with South Head Cemetery rising to the north.

A key aspect was to ensure that not one of the 11 units would have any windows or outdoor areas forced to view the cemetery immediately across the narrow street. This was achieved for the front ground level units by having slightly sunk courtyards behind a solid street wall and for the upper level units by fully louvred balconies with windows above angled at the sky via an innovative eye-lid front roof design. The recessed penthouse was then protected from the cemetery vista by that same front eye-lid roof.

As the site fall was steeper than the permissible vehicle ramp gradient, the parking area was kept towards the front of the site over two levels and below street level.

Another aspect was to address overshadowing and privacy impacts on the large residential flats development immediately to the south. This was achieved by keeping the bulk of the building towards the north which also ensured good privacy of the built units and their generous outdoor areas.

The upper level units capture good ocean views. All units which were marketed on completion sold quickly and well despite the adjacent cemetery.

Bulk and scale controls needed to be exceeded in order to make the project feasible. This was achieved with no unacceptable impacts on streetscape or neighbouring properties and with an affordable housing contribution to Council.