The Australian Apartment Advocacy held its inaugural Apartment Awards for Excellence on Friday night in Brisbane, awarding 23 trophies across 15 categories.
These included:
BOUTIQUE - WA - MJA and Willing Property – Clifton & Central
A sustainable 15-apartment, six-commercial tenancy project within the Mt Lawley heritage precinct retains the corner deli and sets a benchmark for others wanting to offer delicate density in an area dominated by standalone heritage homes.
DIVERSITY IN HOUSING PRECINCT REJUVENATION - NSW - Frasers Property – Ed Square
In 2030 when it is finished, the 24ha project will have 1,800 apartments, terraces and townhomes; a lively town centre, anchored by a Coles supermarket, a fresh food marketplace, Event Cinemas and iPlay, Service NSW and Eat Street and more than 6ha of open space and parks, seamlessly integrated with the surrounding regional parklands.
LUXURY - NSW - Opera Residences – Tzannes
Tzannes revitalised a blighted Circular Quay site with a stunning outlook across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House. The 104-apartment development is 20-storeys above ground and completes the colonnade leading to the Sydney Opera House (SOH), providing active retail uses at grade and a mix of one, two and three bedroom apartments and penthouses with understated elegance.
AFFORDABILITY - NSW - Ironbark Apartments - Scott Carver/City West Housing
Completed in June 2020, Ironbark provides 75 affordable, build-to-rent apartments. It has a roof top garden, accommodates a broad demographic and, as the gateway to the precinct, was the final piece of the Harold Park precinct urban renewal redevelopment. Architect and interior designer Scott Carver designed Ironbark to be indistinguishable from surrounding housing. Residents do not pay more than 30 per cent of their gross income on rent.
ENDURING - NSW - Indigo Magnolia
This Breakfast Point development is more than 20 years old and carefully maintained by its proactive owners corporation. It has premium amenities including pool, country club and expansive gardens, creating a distinctive place with strong community roots, social clubs, including for bridge, tennis and kayaking. The owners corporation has maintained a healthy administrative and maintenance fund and has an exemplary level of tolerance for its owners and pets.
AGEING IN PLACE - Victoria - The Alba - FKA/Australian Unity
The Alba, in Melbourne’s CBD, pioneered vertical aged care, reimagining a 1970s office tower into a vibrant aged care precinct with 95 residential aged care suites and 60 assisted living apartments. Amenities include a private rooftop restaurant, cinema, library, rehabilitation gym, consultation rooms and so on. The Alba collaborated with its next door neighbour, Australian Unity’s retirement living facility, to create a shared foyer coffee shop where residents socialise and play board games.
CIVIC LEADERSHIP AND PIONEERING - Victoria - Make Room - i2C/ City of Melbourne/Unison Community Housing
The City of Melbourne is repurposing a council-owned building at 602 Little Bourke Street, which has a heritage overlay, to deliver 50 studio apartments with on-site support services in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD. Make Room provides housing for rough sleepers and the chronically homelessness. The basement and ground floor has flexible spaces for resident interaction and 24/7 social and health support services. An onsite social enterprise will create job and training opportunities. The building is leased to Community Housing Provider Unison at no cost for 20 years.
DIVERSITY IN HOUSING AND PIONEERING - Victoria - Viv's Place - Launch Housing/ARM Architecture
Viv’s Place, named for Launch Housing’s first social worker Vivian McCutcheon, is part of an innovative build-to-rent housing program in Melbourne providing sanctuary and permanent housing for 60 women and 130 children escaping family violence and homelessness. The concept is based on Sugar Hill, run successfully by Broadway Housing Communities in New York over the past 30 years. The building has 60 apartments, studios, two, three and four-bedroom apartments, over seven levels. For inbuilt flexibility, half the apartments are dual-key units.
HERITAGE AND COMMUNITY CULTURE AWARD - Victoria - Umarkoo Wayi – Ganbu Guljin - AHV/Breathe Architects
Umarkoo Wayi – Ganbu Guljin is Aboriginal Housing Victoria’s very first multi-residential venture. Incorporating the work of Indigenous artist Tahnee Edwards the building boasts colourful murals, bunjils and engravings reflective of the cultural origins of its residents. Breathe Architects sourced the bricks at no charge from Brickworks and secured donated white goods and worked with the project team from point of approval at no cost.
BEST REGIONAL - Victoria - Nightingale Ballarat – Hygge Property and Breathe Architects
This is the first regional Nightingale project, creating a reference point for other councils seeing housing diversity that integrates with surrounding heritage buildings. The zero-gas project is powered by solar and 100 per cent GreenPower, winning an 8+ star NAtHERS rating. Materials are robust, recycled, and locally sourced wherever possible. A high-efficiency CO2 heat pump powers shared hydronic heating and hot water systems. One fifth of the apartments were allocated to Housing Choices Australia to provide safe, secure housing to those most in need. There are no steps in the building which is designed for residents to age in place.
INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY, PRECINCT REJUVENATION AND PIONEERING AWARD - Victoria - Nightingale Village – Nightingale Housing
Nightingale Village transformed a dilapidated industrial site into a village of individually designed apartment buildings, recycling 90 per cent of the demolition waste. Nightingale Village has 203 homes across six buildings, with eight commercial tenancies at street level. The village is gas free and uses rooftop solar. Power, internet, water and sewerage link to the site via Hope Street to the south, and fan out to the other buildings. In an innovation that would not have been affordable for a single building, a third pipe allows access to recycled water in residential toilets. Two rainwater tanks supply irrigation water for the whole precinct. A collaboration with community housing providers Housing Choices Australia and Women’s Property Initiatives allocated 27 homes before the project was sold publicly so that community housing residents live alongside homeowners throughout the precinct.
REFURBISHED APARTMENT - Victoria - Park St – Milieu Property and Breathe Architects
A 1970’s 17-room motel retrofitted on a tight $1 million budget has retained quirky interior designs, converted parking into gardens and incorporated 100 per cent green power. This project demonstrates that bulldozing and rebuilding is not always the answer when it is possible to breathe new life into existing good bones.
Special commendation - Victoria - Flinders Lane - Shelley Roberts Architects
PEOPLE’S CHOICE - Queensland - Riverpoint apartments – People’s Choice – Stockwell and Stratacare
These proactive Body Corporate groups regularly host information meetings and collaborate with other local community groups. The duo stood out because of the committees including the Flood Resilience Working Group, Energy Working Group (including EVs and 15 lifts), Landscape Working Group, Communication Working Group, Building Repair, Maintenance & Infrastructure Working Group, By-Law Working Group, Short Term Rental (Airbnb, Stayz, etc.) Working Group, Finance Working Group and its Facility Management Working Group. The companies open up committee meetings for discussion and advocate for improved flood resilience, particularly since the 2022 Brisbane Flood.
BEST AMENITIES - Queensland - Rivière - Aria Property Group
Riviére’s building entry and ground floor has a series of communal spaces and secluded gardens, giving residents an opportunity to reconnect with the outdoors. There are tranquil spaces, play spaces and a barbecue area, nature and butterfly walk, private theatre room and residents’ wine cellar. Riviére’s Residents’ Rooftop Club celebrates iconic Brisbane views. The roof includes an infinity pool, magnesium bath, private dining room, residents’ wine bar and lounge, fitness centre and meadow and picnic area. The complex has naturally ventilated lobby space, an Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging ready basement, end of trip bicycle facilities, solar panels and Telsa Powerwall 1 batteries, composting facilities, on-site beekeeping, and generous lush landscaping across site.
Special commendation – Queensland - Luna by Forme/Plus Architecture - Luxury
Brisbane Southbank Apartments - Montague Developments – Enduring category
Winners booklet can be downloaded below.
