Rothelowman's expansion plans pay dividend
Architecture practice Rothelowman has capped an impressive year by scooping a number of prestigious awards recently. In addition to collecting UDIA Awards for Excellence in both Victoria and Queensland, earlier this month, UDIA Victoria also named Rothelowman as Consultancy of the Year.
The Victorian acknowledgement covers a commendation for Medium Density Development via their Lex Apartments design in South Yarra, as well the Award for Excellence in the Urban Renewal category for the adaptive reuse of Tip Top Brunswick. Regular readers will be aware of Urban.com.au's coverage of the Tip Top development, both from a urban perspective and also as an onsite guest of Little Projects Managing Director Michael Fox.
With 2014 the most successful year of Rothelowman's 23-year history in which the firm on average was commissioned to commence a new project every second day, Rothelowman have built upon their success by recently opening a Sydney office. Urban.com.au spoke with the new Principal of Rothelowman's NSW/ACT branch, Ben Pomroy recently in order to explore what lies ahead for the Harbour City and Rothelowman.
Having worked in an architectural practice elsewhere in Sydney Ben joined Rothelowman seven months ago with the Melbourne-based firm already enjoying a Sydney presence by way of a well-earned reputation with national clients. It's this national understanding mixed with firsthand knowledge of Sydney's planning and design landscape that Ben believes will propel the Sydney practice forward rapidly.
Questioned on the state of the Sydney residential market Ben suggests that Sydney has been somewhat sluggish in recent years, although 2015 will bring the Harbour City back in line with Melbourne and Brisbane, which are both enjoying buoyant markets. B-Point Tower seen below is the maiden Sydney project and features a 22 storey residential apartment building with146 apartments plus 7,900sqm of Gross Floor Area.
Through innovative design and spatial planning, Rothelowman have created a contemporary and sophisticated building that sits in direct contrast to its older style high rise neighbours. A true mixed use building, the blend of residents across all age groups, and a highly active ground plane provides a look at the future for Burwood CBD.
In a new and evolving context of taller buildings in Sydney, Rothelowmn have designed an iconic tower for Burwood Town Centre. The articulated and active retail podium sits directly adjacent the main train station. The podium responds to the immediate lower scale context, with the tower setback above street level to respond better to the district scale and access expansive views to the Sydney CBD.
B-Point Tower, rothelowman.com.au
The Burwood project leads a string of projects, a mix of high and low rise, along with mixed-use buildings currently on the drawing board. Though there a target number of projects/apartments to be delivered per annum has not been set, Ben points out that Sydney has suffered several consecutive years of dwelling supply shortfall relative to demand. Prosperity for both Sydney and Rothelowman appear certain.
Local knowledge also comes into play, with the design dynamic naturally differing between each city. Recognising that New South Wales planning controls too play a part, with existing laws very much catered toward low and mid-rise multi-unit developments as opposed to high-rise apartment living. As Ben suggests, this leads to implications on apartment sizes and configurations, which require a new design approach if they are to be adapted to taller buildings. Commenting on the changes that are currently in motion, Ben said Sydney is “waking up" to high-rise amenity with New South Wales planning controls for high-density living realigning more closely with Victoria's.
Also managed via Rothelowman’s Darlinghurst office is the firm’s ACT and regional New South Wales operations. With many organisations and government departments holding national interests in Canberra, Ben sees the ACT yielding strong results. Though geographically small, Ben believes the ACT is a high-quality market that he is actively exploring.