Redevelopment

The landmark Coogee mansion, Ballamac House, is set to undergo a redevelopment into luxury apartments.

Sydney developer Central Element are seeking to transform the historic house, which has been flats for the last six decades. The building at 39 Arcadia Street, just 350 metres from the beach, will be restored and revived to its original glory, creating a collection of just eight apartments&nbsp;to be added to the east of the house.&nbsp;

The group’s vision of fusing old and new will bring the Ballamac House estate into a new era, with the restoration and new build designed by acclaimed architects, Tonkin Zulaikha Greer (TZG), who have collaborated with Central Element on a number of previous projects, including 25Hours Paddington and The Metro-Minerva Potts Point.&nbsp;

TZG’s Director, Tim Greer said their approach was to design both spectacular but also comfortable residences, which spoke to the site’s coastal location and embraced the natural elements of the surrounding environment.&nbsp;

“With Ballamac’s rich Coogee history and Central Element’s expertise, TZG Architects are making a new story. The things we chase in our stories as we craft them are timeless, rational and beautiful but the things that you remember are the small moments of wonder and delight that stay with you long after you have departed” Greer said.

All eight residences will feature three-bedrooms, with the rooftop and penthouse apartments to be split across two levels of living.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Two of the residences will sit within the original 1860’s house with the remaining six situated in the added apartment building, which will feature a communal outdoor entertaining area and garden.

Each of the residences will enjoy the locale of the waterfront location with uninterrupted views out to Wedding Cake Island.

The two apartments within the original house are set to be an ode to old-worldly living, with the retention of the external and internal walls of the original house, along with original fireplaces, mantel pieces, and decorative ceilings.&nbsp;

The residences will also see the reconstruction of the wrap-around verandah with the original rectangular cast iron columns, allowing for indoor to outdoor living.

The repair and conservation of the sandstone walls of the original house will be continued in the new apartment building, blending old and new.

There will be new landscaping by&nbsp;award-winning landscape architecture practice JILA, which will also see a communal plunge pool added.

Central Element’s Managing Director, Nathan Chivas said Ballamac House is a hallmark project for the group, designed to make a lasting impact on the celebrated beach lifestyle in one of Sydney’s most sought-after addresses.&nbsp;

“The legacy and famous history of the building will be preserved as we transform the former residence and add further luxury living spaces that will deliver an elevated lifestyle dimension to the landmark site,” he said.&nbsp;

Completion of the redevelopment is slated for 2024.&nbsp;

The building at 39 Arcadia Street, just 350 metres from the beach, will be restored and revived to its original glory

alisonwarters@gmail.com

Central Element to redevelop Coogee's 1860’s Ballamac House into luxury apartments

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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/57114/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">
GUEST OBSERVER
Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) official Brian Parker has announced his union is banning work on the art-deco redevelopment of Sydney’s historic Bondi Pavilion. The work is part of a A$38 million “refurbishment” that residents – including actor Jack Thompson and musician Dave Faulkner – are concerned is designed to privatise public space.
But why is the CFMEU sticking its neck out over these issues, which overwhelmingly do not impact its blue-collar base?
To answer this question, it’s important to look at who joined Parker on the platform at a recent rally – veteran unionist, ex-Communist and conservationist Jack Mundey. Mundey is a Sydney folk hero. He popularised the term “green ban” – which the CFMEU has dubbed its recent efforts to save Sydney’s heritage – in the 1970s.
Today, opponents of the West Village development in Brisbane, WestConnex in Sydney and the recently halted East West Link in Melbourne are all asking similar questions to those of the 1970s. Why are multibillion-dollar projects put ahead of green spaces and affordable housing? And why do ordinary people so rarely get a say over the cities they inhabit?
The story of Mundey’s union, the Builders Labourers Federation (BLF), and its successful campaigns to save historic locations like The Rocks and green spaces like Kelly’s Bush shows why this radical heritage speaks to contemporary Australia.
<h2>Civilising the industry</h2>
Mundey came to prominence when the Australian construction industry was booming. Meredith and Verity Burgmann note that new building approvals across the country soared from A$1.7 billion in 1966 to A$2.9 billion in 1971. This meant inner suburbs and CBDs were being remade with new construction.
Boom times for construction also meant boom times for building unions: workers were in demand and in a better position to bargain. The BLF in New South Wales gained in both members and power during this period. This allowed it to rethink the role of unionism.
But the BLF members didn’t just discover a green thumb and decide to be the saviours of inner Sydney. They were among the most exploited of workers: low-skilled, often from migrant backgrounds, and working in an unsafe industry with low rates of pay.
When Mundey and his supporters won control of the union in 1968, they first turned to “civilising” the industry. This included both significant improvements in health and safety and the use of militant tactics to win wage parity with other workers in the industry.
Fixing these basic issues was a requirement for workers to consider more socially conscious demands.
When workers were later interviewed, they revealed Mundey nurtured a rapport through these traditional trade union struggles, which got members onside for the wave of green bans to follow. The unashamedly working-class BLF began to adopt issues beyond “normal” trade union politics.
<h2>Housewives meet unionists</h2>
Among the union’s first “bans” took place after the Battlers for Kelly’s Bush – an all-female committee from well-to-do Hunters Hill – cautiously approached the BLF in June 1971 to save one of Sydney’s last remaining harbourside green spaces.
The women were initially reluctant. Images of macho builders' labourers violently picketing sites and sawing down goalposts at the SCG prior to a controversial Springboks rugby game were fresh in their memories. Similar images are associated with the CFMEU today; their members are regularly labelled thugs, gangsters and criminals.
However, the Hunters Hill committee was impressed by an initial meeting with BLF official Bob Pringle, who proposed a union ban on the site.
Committee members remember the BLF as having political and social “vision”. But Mundey remembers the decision to place the ban as divisive for his newly democratised union:
Some opined that since [builders' labourers] couldn’t afford to live in Hunters Hill … we should not become involved.
It was, however, “quality of life” issues that won the day. Mundey was successfully able to sway his members by posing the issue as one of:
… [a] millionaire developer, hell-bent on building luxury homes and apartments for the fortunate few at the expense of the many who would lose a natural outdoor space of beauty and recreational value.
Workers were increasingly realising that rather than just being passive victims of urban development, they could and should be able to have a voice in the fate of the cities they were building.
The BLF approved the first green ban at the request of a 600-strong community meeting. Such consultation became a hallmark of its politics.
The union undertook similar bans in working-class suburbs like The Rocks, Woolloomooloo and Surry Hills – not only as “the builders’ labourers could identify easily with the people affected”, but because they had pioneered a politics that put preserving urban spaces ahead of developers’ profits.
The BLF’s 1975 deregistration by an alliance of government, bosses and rival unions capped off this period of experimentation.
<h2>The ‘right to the city’?</h2>
Clearly, the example of Mundey, the BLF and the green social consciousness they pioneered speaks to contemporary Australia.
A lack of rental affordability, spiralling house prices and continuing sell-offs of prime public land for development make the slogan of “people before profits” eminently appealing. Yet today’s industrial relations landscape is marked by significant restrictions and penalties for strike action.
The return of limited green bans could complement a broader strategy, perhaps borrowing divestment strategies from the climate change and refugee rights movements. Union super funds provide significant funding to construction projects, and an activist union might choose carefully – in consultation with communities – which ones are deserving of their members’ money.
In so doing, we might start to make a better, more liveable city.
Jon Puccini is UQ research fellow, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland and author for The Conversation. He can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jon-piccini-202430" target="_blank">here</a>.
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jchancellor-FAypfDUnLy

Bondi Pavilion ‘green ban’: why revive an old union heritage protection tactic?

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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/57114/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">
GUEST OBSERVER
Luar Batang, one of Jakarta’s oldest waterfront squatter areas, is being flattened. Residents and their homes will be removed to free up flood-prone land and access to the city for tourists. Thousands of people will be evicted, disrupting if not destroying livelihoods, jobs, homes and long-established social networks.
Like the illegal settlements in Kalijodo district, Luar Batang has received global attention for the heavy-handiness of the state-led intervention. Yet the decision to demolish a community built on a unique combination of circumstance, place and people is unlikely to be reversed.
The Luar Batang story is not exclusive to Jakarta. In many cities in the Asia-Pacific and developing countries, informal or unplanned settlements continue to grow and are seen as a blight on city development.
These “parasites” of the city are on land that the formal planning system deemed unsuitable for development. Yet state and private developers now see them as a relatively easy land gain to reap higher financial returns.
Rather than engage in strategies to upgrade settlements, some policymakers want them “out of sight, out of mind”. The settlements’ structure, people and image do not conform to middle-class and private developer views.
<h2>Informal settlement isn’t the exception</h2>
Globally, informal settlements in urban areas are growing at an unprecedented rate. In 2016, UN-Habitat estimated that around one billion people live in slums (an extreme type of informal settlement). That’s about one-quarter of the world’s urban population.
A United Nations report, The State of Asian and Pacific Cities 2015, noted that the Asia-Pacific region has gained a reputation as home to the world’s biggest and most populated slums and informal settlements. While the urban middle class has grown and good gains have been made in reducing urban disparities, including poverty, basic human right <a href="https://unhabitat.org/urban-themes/human-rights/">s</a>remain elusive for people in such settlements.
In October 2016, the UN Habitat III Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development takes place in Quito, Ecuador. This global event happens only every 20 years.
Habitat III offers policymakers the chance to adopt a better-managed, more humane approach to the complexities of urbanisation. Regional meetings and other laudable initiatives have been taking place for the last 18 months. Government, civil society and other stakeholders have been working towards a New Urban Agenda to be debated and adopted at Habitat III.
With more than 54% of the world’s population now urban, informal settlements are burgeoning. The challenges are daunting. So where will informal settlements and the people who live in them be placed at Habitat III?
<h2>Seismic shift in attitudes is needed</h2>
The emerging agenda is strongly centred on the Habitat III policy theme of the “Right to the City and Cities for All”. The sociologist Henri Lefebvre proposed the “Right to the City” in 1968. David Harvey developed the concept in the new millennium as a means to reshape urbanisation by enhancing or extending access to human rights.
The Right to the City agenda requires a monumental shift in society attitudes. It requires us to reduce sociospatial injustices, achieve sociospatial inclusion, increase equity, improve multi-level governance and, importantly, respect the sociocultural diversity that increasingly defines cities.
Therein lies a major hurdle. The rights of the people in informal settlements are being taken away or withheld at many levels, such as access to safe water, sanitation and educational opportunities. As well, their non-compliance with the norms and values of prevailing formal planning – such as land tenure and where and how they build houses, construct spaces and undertake social activities – means they have reduced rights to a city.
The Right to the City idea challenges us first and foremost as individuals to decide what basic human rights – such as land, housing, water and sanitation – are “non-negotiable” and “must haves” in city development. Changing how informal settlements and the city are viewed requires a multi-scale and multi-institutional policy underpinned by a major coalition of support.
For teachers in the privileged position of educating university students who will one day be urban planners and designers in a multicultural world, for example, this requires major realignment of planning education. We need to integrate civic responsibility and the broader Right to the City into current approaches.
Initiatives by Australian universities to work with tertiary institutions in developing countries and interested stakeholders are small but important steps. These opportunities to share ideas, work together in the field and experience everyday life in informal settlements let graduates see first-hand what the Right to the City means. This opens eyes to future international development opportunities.
As noted in a recent assessment of the Pulosari kampung (“village”) in Bandung, Indonesia, we need to “step outside our comfort zone on how we view and understand the city”.
The “Right to the City” debate at Habitat III is important for Australia in how it positions itself working with developing countries and with the greater issue of human rights for the next 20 years as mainstreamed into the urban realm.
For example, recognising the role that informal settlements play in providing affordable housing – rather than seeing them as an aesthetic problem – is part of changing society’s blinkered view of an increasingly complex urban world.
With Habitat III looming as a landmark global event, will informal settlements be taken seriously as people seek a reasonable life in the city? What impact will this have on the urban divide?
Paul Jones is associate professor, Urban &amp; Regional Planning, Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney and author for The Conversation. He can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/paul-jones-2290" target="_blank">here</a>.
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Slums: Will Habitat III defend the human right to the city?

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The luxury redevelopment of the Kirra Beach Hotel site in Coolangatta's Kirra Point has already seen nearly half of their 118 Miles Residences apartments in stage one sell.

Some $88 million has been secured for the KTQ Group, whose $180 million first stage is part of their <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/new-apartments/miles-residences-kirra-point-corner-miles-street-and-marine-paradise-kirra" target="_blank">$380 million re-development of the site</a> which will also include a new pub and pavilion.

The average sale price has been $1.61 million.

The sales conversion has come off the back of more than 1,000 inquiries prior to the project’s much launch on December 27. 
KTQ Group development director Jeremy Holmes said the very promising sales start would fast track the commencement of construction on the project.

<a href="https://www.urban.com.au/new-apartments/miles-residences-kirra-point-corner-miles-street-and-marine-paradise-kirra" target="_blank"><img alt="" height="800" src="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/kirra_miles_residences_living_area_.jpg" width="1200"></a> 
“We’re pleasantly surprised at the sales, but we were always of the belief that when we went to the market with Miles Residences there would be significant interest no matter what type of market we were in,” Mr Holmes said. 
“The reality is it is impossible to replicate this offering on a one-hectare site overlooking Kirra Beach. The fact that the southern Gold Coast market has been so strong, along with a pent-up demand for this particular development, has provided a solid foundation for the launch campaign.

Miles Residences has targeted predominantly owner-occupiers and will offer spectacular views across the Gold Coast from its location on one of Australia’s most famous north-facing beaches.

"We have seen a great cross section of buyers to date, with 70% coming from Queensland and 23% from New South Wales. The high level of Queensland buyers is mainly due to the local market acting quickly to choose their ideal apartment. They have been waiting 10 years for this project and didn’t want to miss out on the uninterrupted view lines.” 

Sales have ranged across a diverse mix of apartments with one-bedroom residences selling from $550,000 up to the most spectacular three bedroom plus MPR residences reaching $3,000,000.

<a href="https://www.urban.com.au/new-apartments/miles-residences-kirra-point-corner-miles-street-and-marine-paradise-kirra" target="_blank"><img alt="" height="806" src="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/kirra_exterior.jpg" width="1200"></a>

Prices start from $545,000 for the one bedroom apartments, from $795,000 for the two bedders and from $1.5 million for the three bedroom, three bathroom apartments.

Tim Keenan, of Keenan &amp; Co which is marketing Miles Residences, said the interest had been overwhelming.

“We have not stopped. The inquiry from locals as well as interstate purchasers has been relentless,” Mr Keenan said.

“The reality is that the southern Gold Coast has never seen such a quality offering and the market has responded in kind.

“Buyers who know and understand the uniqueness of one of Australia’s most iconic north facing beachfront locations have been waiting for a project of the quality and scale that KTQ Group has put together. 

 

“We are pleased that we still have some of the best apartments available for sale and we are seeing buyers across all price points and unit types. 

“This is the first major destination precinct for Kirra and the quality of these superlatively designed apartments to match such a wonderful location has combined to create enormous interest and sales conversions.”The Woods Bagot-designed tower is slated for completion in early 2023.

The Kirra Beach first stage is expected to take two and a half years to deliver and will create hundreds of initial construction jobs and then a number of hospitality jobs upon completion.

The family-owned KTQ Group are the owners of the award-winning Elements of Byron resort which has won multiple tourism and design awards including the Urban Development Institute of Australia’s 2017 and 2018 Awards for Excellence in retail and regional development.

 
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The KTQ Group's $380 million re-development of the site will feature 118 apartments in total and a new pub and pavilion.



Joel Robinson

Kirra Point's Miles Residences nearly 50% sold in just three weeks

KTQ Group, the owners of the award-winning Elements of Byron resort, are set to launch the $200 million first stage of the&nbsp;$380 million multi-staged re-development of the Kirra Beach Hotel site.

The first of these luxury residences are being showcased for the first time via a display apartment ahead of the <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/new-apartments/miles-residences-kirra-point-corner-miles-street-and-marine-paradise-kirra?ref=srp_listview">project&rsquo;s official launch</a> just after Christmas.

Tim Keenan, of Keenan and Co which is marketing the project, said almost 1000 inquiries had been received since the project was publicly announced close to&nbsp;two months ago.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=27575]

More than a quarter have been&nbsp;from interstate prospects who have not been able to get to Queensland until now due to the COVID border restrictions.

&ldquo;The interest prior to launch has been unbelievable. In all my years in the industry I have never seen such strong enquiry levels in one project,&rdquo; said Mr Keenan.

&ldquo;Early indications suggest we will be oversubscribed in terms of sales sometime in January, such is the strong level of interest.&quot;

The initial stage will offer over 100 luxury residences, predominantly targeting the strong owner occupier market hitting the coast.

The residences will offer a mix of one, two, three&nbsp;and four bedrooms, most of which will include a separate multi-purpose room.

Below the luxury apartments will be a new pub and pavilion.

The family-owned KTQ&#39;s&nbsp;Elements of Byron won&nbsp;multiple tourism and design awards, including the Urban Development Institute of Australia&rsquo;s 2017 and 2018 Awards for Excellence in retail and regional development.

The Kirra Beach first stage is expected to take two and a half years to deliver and will&nbsp;create hundreds of initial construction jobs and then a number of hospitality jobs upon completion.

The initial stage will offer over 100 luxury residences, predominantly targeting the strong owner occupier market.

urban.com.au

Stage one of the Kirra Beach Hotel re-development set to launch

The Sydney Eastern City Planning Panel have approved the $135 million re-development of the former Balmain Leagues Club site.

Investment house and residential developer <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/developers/heworth-group">Heworth Holdings</a> will be in control of the 28,000 sqm mixed-used development on the corner of Victoria Road and Darling Street.

As well as 167 apartments, there will be commercial space, including 'live/work' units, and a new public town square with a supermarket, speciality retail and a community arts studio.

The lower levels of the complex will comprise the new Tigers Leagues Club.

<img alt="" data-entity-type="" data-entity-uuid="" src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2020/9/11/Balmain%20Leagues.jpg" />

The whole project will create over 1,000 jobs, with over 417 jobs as part of the construction phase and nearly 600 direct and indirect operational roles with the new club, retail and commercial components of the development.&nbsp;

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Heworth’s head of property Christopher Walsh described the DA approval as a “significant milestone in the site’s history and great outcome for the inner-west community”.

“We’re delighted that the project has been given the green-light and we can start work on resurrecting the site and building a new Balmain Tigers Leagues Club, for the benefit of its loyal members and the wider community, who’ll enjoy the new amenities,” Mr Walsh said.

“Heworth has&nbsp;continued to engage with the local inner-west community throughout the three year planning process and we’d like to thank Mayor Darcy Byrne and the Inner-West Council for their ongoing support and interest in the project.

Heworth Holdings comprises Heworth Fund Management, Heworth Lendbuild and Heworth Construction.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=29140]
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jrobinson-rf4aSBido9

Balmain Leagues Club site set for $135 million re-development

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A development application has been made for Melville's Garden City Shopping Centre to increase the retail outlet from 72,000 square metres to approximately 120,000 square metres.
The expansion and redevelopment of the Perth shopping centre by AMP Capital is worth $750 million and would be completed 2019, subject to approval.
The development application is at City of Melville Council and Garden City until September 2015.
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jonathanchancellor-7SQnKwU6yx

$750m redevelopment proposal for Perth's Garden City

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The Broadway Shopping Centre in Sydney is set for a $55 million redevelopment.
The redevelopment includes a 3400 square metre-expansion of Level 2 that will add about 31 new stores.
The redevelopment will also increase the centre's food and fashion retail offer, following the introduction of Apple Store in mid-2012 and ALDI last year.
Business as usual will continue throughout the redevelopment period.
The Mirvac and Perron Investments-owned Broadway Shopping Centre ranked first for turnover per square metre according to the 2015 Shopping Centre News Big Guns report, up 6.4 per cent from last year at $12,248 per square metre.
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Broadway Shopping Centre set for $55 million upgrade

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Dexus Property Group has signed on Neil Perry for its $80 million retail development of the landmark Gateway tower at Sydney's Circular Quay.
Gateway's redevelopment, which is being undertaken by Dexus Wholesale Property Fund, will convert the existing three-storey retail podium into multiple dining precincts, doubling the retail space to 4385 square metres. 
Perry's The Burger Project and Chat Thai will be included on the first level.
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Neil Perry for Dexus Gateway Tower

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Australian construction company Built has won a site safety award for its refurbishment of a high-rise office building at 20 Martin Place, which is part of a $1-billion renaissance of Sydney’s central business district.
Built won the Site Safety – Commercial Projects $50,000,001 &amp; Over award for the second year running at a Master Builders Association of NSW Excellence in Construction Awards ceremony. This was Built’s fourth MBA Site Safety award, and the third award recognised in NSW.
The $110-million refurbishment presented a number of challenges like the necessity to retain the building’s structural steel frame. Overcoming this challenge was critical to ensure the developments commercial viability, achieve its environmental objectives and preserve 20 Martin Place’s sizeable 21 storey stature in the heart of Sydney’s CBD.
Built partnered with cloud platform provider Aconex Ltd for the revamp of the building.
The firm wanted to deploy the neutral, cloud-based Aconex collaboration platform at 20 Martin Place because its project team was separated by far-flung geographies and multiple time zones.
Building owner Pembroke Real Estate had several stakeholders in the United States, and the building façade envelope was designed by James Carpenter Design Associates, based in New York. The architects, Crone Partners, were based in Australia.
“It was very important to be able to move information seamlessly between geographies,” said Daniel Graham, Built’s design director.
Built stripped the existing 22-story building down to the underlying steel structure and relocated the core of the building to the north side. This allowed for larger and more flexible office floor plates.
Other changes included the replacement of inefficient building systems and a new, high-performance glass façade that cut operating costs by minimizing the energy needed for lighting, heating and cooling.
With these changes, 20 Martin Place will offer 19,080 square meters of office space and is expected to earn a 5-Star NABERS Energy rating and a 5-Star Green Star As-Built rating.
With help from Aconex, the project team of more than 500 was able to easily access the most up-todate versions of documents and drawings from anywhere. Centralizing correspondence on the platform further improved communications, while limiting rework and cost overruns. By the end of the A$100-million project, more than 230,000 documents were registered on Aconex and nearly 160,000 pieces of correspondence were received.
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