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Artist George Tzikas has sold his heritage Fitzroy house to move to Venice.
The Georgian <a href="https://www.nelsonalexander.com.au/property/400388/302-gore-street-fitzroy/" target="_blank">302 Gore Street</a> passed in at $2.22 million with Nelson Alexander agent Arch Staver securing a higher undisclosed price.
The four bedroom house had price hopes of about $2.5 million.
Another recent Gore Street offering was sold under the auction hammer for $1.44 million.
The two-bedroom balcony terrace at 190 Gore reached its on-the-market price at $1.26 million.
The four bidders drove the price to $1.44 million.
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jchancellor-FAypfDUnLy

Georgian-era Gore Street, Fitzroy trophy home sale

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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/64595/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">
GUEST OBSERVER
Australia will join the 71st United Nations General Assembly in New York this week.
Some of the discussion will focus on progressing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as agreed at the UN last year.
Australia is a signatory to the goals, but it is difficult to know where to begin, as the goals are further broken down into 169 targets. These range from eradicating extreme poverty to developing measurements of progress on sustainable development.
But new research from the University of Queensland reveals that actions on climate change (SDG 13) and global partnerships (SDG 17) are likely to influence all other efforts by Australia to achieve the other SDGs.
<h2>Australia’s role in sustainable development</h2>
The SDGs form part of the UN development agenda, Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, released in September 2015.
Unlike the preceding UN Millennium Development Goals, which ran until 2015, the SDGs apply to all countries and citizens to create a common outlook, irrespective of the country’s level of development. The new goals are to be achieved by 2030.
The Australian government has emphasised the role of the SDGs in reinforcing economic growth, development and investment in the Indo-Pacific region, and has assigned the SDGs to the portfolios of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), and Environment.
Australia’s support for the SDGs is laudable. But the focus on international trade and investment, with responsibilities placed in only two portfolios, limits Australia’s potential for significant social, economic and environmental improvement on the SDGs at home and abroad.
<h2>But where do we start?</h2>
Part of the challenge of the SDGs is their complexity and the way they link together. This may explain Australia’s limited approach to date.
To help navigate this web of goals, we mapped the most influential goals. We found the goals that affect all the others are climate action (SDG 13) and global partnerships (SDG 17). Without these, the other goals are very difficult to attain. 
For example, the increased intensity of extreme weather events due to climate change will likely make it harder to achieve clean drinking water under SDG 6. In droughts, less water is available, and in floods, the water is often contaminated. Both events result in the proliferation of diseases.
These findings also identified that the goal for health and wellbeing (SDG 3) is the ultimate goal: every other SDG contributes towards this outcome. For example, a woman who has given birth to a daughter cannot achieve optimal physical, social and mental wellbeing for herself and her child without proper nutrition (SDG 2), access to clean water and sanitation (SDG 6), gender equality (SDG 5) and adequate financial resources (SDG 1).
We also found that within SDG 6, implementing the integrated water resources management target (6.5) enables the other SDG 6 targets to be met. Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin is a good example of this type of approach. There, states negotiated across borders to reduce salinity, minimise extractions and improve water quality.
<h2>Can we do it?</h2>
Linking together these goals will require high-level government co-ordination beyond merely the DFAT and environment portfolios.
Our policy analysis found that no single portfolio can take responsibility for the entire set of 17 SDGs – and that all 21 government departmentshave more than one SDG relevant to their responsibilities.
Australia’s ability to progress the SDGs in Australia and overseas is likely to be more attainable with the involvement and cross-collaboration of other portfolios.
The UN SDGs are an opportunity for Australia’s efforts towards sustainable development to be recognised on a global stage. To achieve progress on this complex agenda we have to understand that climate action and global partnerships are crucial to sustainable development and ultimately to health and wellbeing.
Nina Lansbury Hall is sustainable Water Program Manager, Global Change Institute, The University of Queensland and author for The Conversation. She can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/nina-lansbury-hall-211334" target="_blank">here</a>.
Dani J. Barrington is lecturer, Global Change Institute, Honorary Fellow, School of Public Health, The University of Queensland and author for The Conversation. She can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/dani-j-barrington-104657" target="_blank">here.</a>
Russell Richards is ecosystem modeller at the University of Queensland and author for The Conversation. He can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/russell-richards-296266" target="_blank">here</a>.
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Climate action is the key to Australia achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/65434/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">
GUEST OBSERVER
The recent battles over the budget of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), and before that over the size of the Renewable Energy Target, are the latest skirmishes in a long-running war over support for technologies that harvest Australia’s abundant wind and solar resources.
Perhaps surprisingly, the conflict even predates the popular awareness of climate change, which is generally dated to 1988.
UNSW Australia’s Mark Diesendorf has described how in early 1983 he and his colleagues had identified an ideal site in northern Tasmania for a wind farm. They presented their proposal to Labor’s newly appointed resources minister, Peter Walsh.
"We submitted a proposal that the federal government fund a demonstration wind farm and assist in establishing a local wind generator manufacturing industry in the region, which was suffering from high unemployment. The next day, Senator Walsh announced that a northwest Tasmanian wind energy project could be a part of a development package, if the Commonwealth was successful in the High Court challenge to the construction of the Gordon-below-Franklin dam."
The Commonwealth won its High Court battle, but the wind industry did not get its windfall. As Diesendorf recalls:
"The federal government did not implement our proposal. It was soon obvious that the coal lobby, which was already very strong in the Department of Resources, had succeeded in turning the minister against wind power."
At the same time, CSIRO, a world leader in several areas of renewables, closed down all of its renewable energy research. In Diesendorf’s view this was brought on by powerful coal interests within CSIRO. In the absence of deathbed confessions by those who made the decisions, Diesendorf’s suspicions can’t be proved correct, but renewables did indeed disappear from CSIRO’s research agenda and annual reports from that time.
Once climate change hit the headlines, things changed – a little. In 1990 the Hawke government established the Energy Research and Development Corporation (ERDC) and launched a National Energy Efficiency Program. Meanwhile, research commissioned by the Victorian government found that renewable energy, paired with energy-efficiency measures, could save A$3.14 billion a year by 2005, create almost 14,000 jobs, boost economic productivity by A$800 million a year, and cut greenhouse emissions into the bargain.
But privatisation took hold in Victoria, and the Keating government in Canberra seemed indifferent at best. In 1994, green groups including the Australian Conservation Foundation called for a carbon levy to provide funds for renewable energy. Their request was ignored.
<h2>Renewables back on target</h2>
In 1996 the new Howard government disbanded Bob Hawke’s ERDC and energy efficiency program. In late 1997, in the run-up to the Kyoto climate summit, John Howard announced a new Renewable Energy Target (RET).
Greens leader Bob Brown was underwhelmed. He pointed out that the scheme’s A$65 million over five years was less than the A$75 million that had been axed the year before, while the target of an extra 2 percent of electricity from renewables (making a total of 11 percent including existing large-scale hydro electricity generation) fell short of the ambition shown by other nations. Britain, for instance, was aiming for 20 percent by 2010.
The RET finally came into place in 2001, after the fossil fuel lobby succeeded in getting it watered down, and was subjected to constant reviews.
Infamously, at a secret meeting whose minutes were leaked, the then energy minister, Ian MacFarlane, lamented to the chief executives of companies like BHP and Rio that the RET was working too well – renewables were growing too fast.
In the run-up to the 2004 Energy White Paper, the renewables industry had hired well-connected lobby firm Crosby Textor (yes, Crosby as in Lynton Crosby) in a bid to get the RET raised to as much as 10 percent.
According to Age journalist Richard Baker, a Liberal backbencher warned the renewables advocates that “you guys are stuffed". And so it came to pass – the white paper spruiked carbon capture and storage, not renewables.
In the white paper’s aftermath, CSIRO boss Geoff Garrett announced that the organisation would be reducing its renewables research and instead focusing on “clean coal” technologies such as coal gasification and carbon capture and storage.
Months later, a draft copy of an August 2005 CSIRO report describing solar thermal technology as “the only renewable technology that can make deep cuts in greenhouse emissions” was leaked to The Canberra Times. Before the leak, sources claimed the report had been “passed around like a political hot potato” with no date set for its release. It was eventually released to the public later that year.
<h2>Bloody public battles</h2>
Since 2007 the battles have been more public and even bloodier. An attempt to harmonise (and perhaps increase) different state and federal targets (all with different baselines, target years and amounts) was a dispiriting process. This was due in part, it seems, to federal bureaucratic intransigence and arrogance.
The major changes have been an increase in the renewables target, split into large-scale (wind farms, solar farms and the like) and small-scale (mostly rooftop solar). That increased target was of course subjected to significant watering down by the Abbott government.
Meanwhile, the two agencies that were set up to support renewable energy have also come under attack. The Greens, whose support was a life-and-death issue for the Gillard government, had managed to insist on the creation of ARENA and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
Between them, these two organisations were designed to ensure funding both for basic research and development and for commercialisation of the resulting technologies, thereby smoothing the path for renewables to enter the electricity sector.
The attacks on these organisations have helped create investor uncertainty in renewables. Efforts to close them down ultimately failed, so the Abbott government switched to changing their terms of reference. The Turnbull government has continued this, along with salami-slicing ARENA’s budget.
This investment uncertainty, deliberately created, is a kind of “divestment campaign” against renewables. It can also be seen as a way of provoking an “investment strike”.
Whereas the mining industry threatened to take its investment dollars elsewhere while fighting Kevin Rudd’s proposed Resources Super-profits Tax in 2010, in this case, the supporters of the status quo energy system are hoping to dissuade external investors from coming to Australia. Thus do incumbents defend their patch.
Australia is famously the “lucky country”. But of course, Donald Horne meant it ironically, believing that the country was richly endowed with resources but “run mainly by second-rate people who share its luck”.
Given what we know of the trajectory and probable impacts of climate change, nobody, surely, will be able to be claim surprise as the future arrives.
Marc Hudson is PhD candidate, Sustainable Consumption Institute, University of Manchester and author for The Conversation. He can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/marc-hudson-180939" target="_blank">here</a>.
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Attacks on renewable energy policy are older than the climate issue itself

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League legend Steve Mortimer has his Rushcutters Bay investment property listed with plans to put the profits into his shuffleboard business.
The <a href="https://www.realcommercial.com.au/property-retail-nsw-rushcutters+bay-502112754" target="_blank">2/84-90 McLachlan Ave</a> McLachlan Cafe premises are leased with a net income of $56,600 per annum.
The former Bulldogs bought the ground floor property in 2010 for $760,000.
About $900,000 is tipped.
Shuffleboard is similar to lawn bowls but played indoors on a board that is at hip height.
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Steve Mortimer lists Rushcutters Bay cafe premises

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There's one small change I'd like following the baton change of RBA governorship between the outgoing Glenn Stevens and Philip Lowe.
Let's cut the number of RBA Board meetings from the current 11 per year to eight.
Why put Australia through the angst every month, other than the January summer holiday break.
Incidently why do we get the Australian dollar detail against the US in every news bulletin? The weather yes, but do we really need currency updates on the hour?
As riveting each of the first Tuesday of the month RBA Board meetings are for the growing band of monetary policy devotees, I'd suggest the current timetable makes for disruptive overload.
Economist Stephen Koukoulas says no other country seems to have such an interest rate and monetary policy obsession.
"It's almost unhealthy how much attention is placed on the RBA interest rate decisions each month when most of those decisions are to keep rates steady.
"When rates are adjusted from time to time, the moves are usually well anticipated by the market," he said.
He suggests eight RBA Board meetings each year could be slated in for the Wednesday following the release of each quarterly consumer price index and quarterly national accounts with these releases feeding into RBA deliberations. 
Of course the RBA would maintain its ability to meet and adjust rates in emergencies outside of regular meetings.
The RBA has remained a hallowed institution through Glenn Stevens' 10 year tenure though it saw some worthy reforms especially introducing the release of the meeting minutes every month, but I don't see the need for press conferences as suggested recently by business columnist Alan Kohler.  
There's always the biannual appearance of senior RBA officials before the House of Representatives Economics Committee.
It was at one of these that the normally dour governor advised his Sydney home was "not a fibro house, but it is a piece of spec rubbish built in the 1970s, and in many respects it shows that."
I've loved his reserved, yet insightful, nature which last week saw more of the same when asked about the complex issue of quantitative easing, low interest rates and the increase in the money supply.
"Well, I'm very much hoping we never need to find out," he said before adding his test would be "Who went to Bunnings in the end as a result of that?" 
He suggested more borrowers would use low rates to accelerate the repayment "rather than going to Bunnings."
"And I'm hypothesising here," he said. 
"I think a lot more people are intent on trying to get to the point where they're carrying a lower debt load."
He supposes that people have changed their opinion about how much confidence they have in future asset values rising and how much leverage they're prepared to hold.
He says a lot of people now thought: "I'm going to be more careful."
He will get to sense over the side fence shortly as a property next door at Sylvania Waters has been listed for upcoming auction.
The four bedroom, two storey home on 600 sqm isn't too dissimiliar to the Governors.
The corner non-waterfront home last sold for $43,000 in 1971.
It has been listed through DJW Property with $1.35 million to $1.4 million price guidance, so that would represent around eight percent annual price growth.
Glenn Stevens and wife Susan have owned next door since 1992 when they paid $312,500.
This article was first published in the Saturday Daily Telegraph.
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Let's reduce the RBA monthly meetings

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GUEST OBSERVER
Robust demand for terraces and townhouses across Frasers Property Australias Sydney communities backs up calls made by NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes for more medium density housing in established suburbs to meet surging population growth. 
Forecasts released yesterday by the NSW Department of Planning &amp; Environment show Sydneys population is expected to jump by over 2.1 million in the next 20 years. 
Sydney requires 726,000 new dwellings by 2036 and the Minister identified medium density and terrace housing in established parts of the city as the key to meeting this demand. 
Demand for the traditional Sydney terrace design has grown, and Frasers Property has found a ready market for its entire stock of more than 200 terrace-style homes in the past year. 
Its a product type Frasers Property has a lot of experience with. Over the past decade Frasers Property has delivered 1300 terrace-style homes throughout metropolitan Sydney. 
Its clear that demand is there for terrace home product but the challenge is land availability and zoning. Projections of sharp population growth have resulted in many of Sydneys established suburban markets particularly the middle ring being zoned with a bias to high density apartments,said Mr Edgar. 
In principle this seems a reasonable solution. However, strong terrace and townhome sales in our communities suggest that there is a big appetite for medium density product in the middle ring suburbs, and planning conditions that enable medium density housing would be welcomed by the market. 
Existing planning conditions in many middle ring suburbs exclude townhouses and terraces because of minimum lot size requirements. 
Socially and economically sustainable community design arises from a well-balanced mix of medium and high density housing, and there is demand for both.
Great design cant be compromised when creating a variety of housing types that will have enduring relevance for current and future generations. 
When we launched a range of new townhome and terrace designs at Fairwater in Blacktown in 2014 we had more than 3,700 registrations of interest before we started selling. Every stage since has sold strongly.
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We are finding customers are drawn to the charm and character of the terrace style home so we re-imagined the more traditional terrace design to cater for the modern urban lifestyle, with indoor and outdoor living spaces and greater natural light.
Frasers Property recently released 29 new homes at Fairwater including a number of terraces and townhomes starting from $668,000. 
Tailors Walk in Botany is another case in point, where the re-imagined three and four level contemporary terraces are helping to maintain the character and charm of one of Sydneys most historic areas and proving extremely popular among young families and investors.
Creating a compelling terrace and townhome offering means designing to reflect the surrounding environment and recognising that variety is important, not just to buyers but also in terms of maintaining an attractive and functional streetscape. 
At The Gallery at Botanica, for instance, Frasers Property is turning the historic Lidcombe Hospital site into a superb medium density development through beautifully restoring a number of unique heritage residences from the late 19th and early 20th century into one, two, three and four bedroom residences. There also will be a limited number of newly built homes. 
The historic Lidcombe Hospital site benefits from a unique heritage environment, creating the opportunity and the need to design a variety of housing types that capitalise on the historic setting and satisfy demand for larger properties from growing and extended families.
To meet the expected population surge in Sydney, Minister Stokes also called for a design shift to bigger apartments and again, its a product in which Frasers Property has noticed a big increase in demand. 
Were receiving significant interest in the three bedroom apartments in our communities as buyers increasingly respond to the relative affordability of larger apartments while not wanting to compromise on good design.
For example, at Centrale in North Ryde, with its close promixity to the on-site train station and a plethora of amenities, the three bedroom apartments are proving very popular.
Nigel Edgar is general manager Residential NSW for Frasers Property Australia and can be contacted <a href="https://www.frasersproperty.com.au" target="_blank">here</a>.
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Terraces and townhomes depend on design

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The southern Sydney region of Wollongong held a clearance rate of 92.3 percent for the week ending 19 September, according to CoreLogic.
Victoria's Geelong had a preliminary clearance rate of 74.2 percent, and Queensland's Gold Coast at 35.5 percent and Sunshine coast at 62.5 percent.
<a href="/images/2016/09/19/Screen%20Shot%202016-09-19%20at%201.14.48%20PM.png" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="/images/2016/09/19/Screen%20Shot%202016-09-19%20at%201.14.48%20PM.png" alt="">
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Wollongong takes 92.3 percent preliminary clearance rate: CoreLogic

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The weekend's top auction result was when an eight bedroom, English style Strathfield mansion fetched $7.3 million with five of the 12 registered bidders fighting it out to own the home.
The <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-nsw-strathfield-123345238" target="_blank">2 Llandilo Avenue</a> (above) home last sold for $1.03 million.
The sale eclipsed a seven bedroom home at 47 Newton Rd, which sold for $6.825 million in May this year.
The home on the estate’s 2665 sq m holding had been custom built with 2500 tonnes of sandstone from Darling Harbour.
The buyers were an upsizing local family, Strathfield Partners agent Robert Pignataro advised.
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$7.3m Strathfield record residential house sale

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Eloc, the weekend property offering at 50-52 Bay Street, Brighton fetched $4,925,000 post-auction.
The Buxton agency price guidance had been $4.7 million plus for the <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-house-vic-brighton-123379162" target="_blank">1874 home with extensions</a> on its 1760 sq m block.
There were just the two bidders before it was passed in at $4,710,000 through Barb Gregory at Marshall White
It cost $660,000 in 1998.
The home with rendered Victorian facade, painted a light olive, has white cast-iron lacework, timber posts and a set of bluestone steps at each end.
Eloc is believed to be the work of Windsor Hotel architect Charles Webb.
It was built for a member of the prominent pioneer Cole family, hence its backwards name. 
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Eloc, the Brighton trophy home sale

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Iris Capitol’s new Hurlstone Park residential development, Wattle Hill, launched on the weekend.  
CBRE advised 16 out of 42 apartments sold to a mix of owner occupiers and first home buyers. 
Designed by architects Squillace, it’s prices started with one bedroom plus study from $580,000.
Completion is expected March 2018. 
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Wattle Hill, Hurlstone Park sales underway

Developer <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/bottega-property-group">Bottega House</a> has secured council approval for its first Brisbane project - a $270 million luxury residential development on an absolute riverfront site in leafy St Lucia.&nbsp;

The 15-storey project, known as <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/st-lucia-by-bottega-house-180-macquarie-street-st-lucia-qld-4067">St Lucia by Bottega House</a> , will occupy a prime north-facing site at 178-180 Macquarie Street, directly fronting the Brisbane River in the established inner-west suburb known for its rowing clubs, golf courses and sprawling University of Queensland campus.&nbsp;

St Lucia by Bottega House will feature a suite of amenities including dedicated wellness spaces, a mineral pool and cold plunge. The project has been positioned to attract affluent owner-occupiers seeking high-quality, house-sized apartments.&nbsp;

Bottega House has been set up by co-directors Nick Malloch, Louis Mennes and Craig Marsh.

Malloch said the project drew inspiration from its Brisbane River setting and leafy inner-west surrounds, while responding to the demands of discerning locals looking to transition from freestanding homes into apartment living.&nbsp;

"With an expansive river frontage and lush green surrounds, we knew we had to create something special that reflects the natural beauty of the location while offering residents masterfully crafted homes," said Malloch.&nbsp;

"Our intent was to complement the project's quiet, private setting by introducing residences that offer a calm retreat and sanctuary from the everyday. The result is a harmonious blend of architecture, interiors and amenity that emphasises wellbeing, comfort and beauty without excess."&nbsp;

Malloch added that project consultants had been carefully selected in alignment with Bottega House's commitment to care, quality and attention to detail. The design team includes architects <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/plus-studio">Plus Studio</a>, interiors practice <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/interior-designers/mim-design">Mim Design</a> and landscaping by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/urbis">Urbis</a>.&nbsp;

Three-bedroom apartments are expected to start around $5 millio. Selling agents Keenan &amp; Byrne said the pricing strategy for the project was anticipated to achieve upwards of $25,500 per square metre.&nbsp;

The project's development approval this week follows the success of Bottega House's inaugural Queensland project - a 22-storey collection of full-floor sky homes at Broadbeach on the Gold Coast which included the sale of a two-storey penthouse at a record price for a beachside residence.&nbsp;

St Lucia by Bottega House is expected to launch to market in November, with construction anticipated to be completed mid 2029.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=151826]

Joel Robinson

Bottega House to make Brisbane debut with St Lucia riverfront apartment development

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/sherpa-property-group">Sherpa Property Group</a> is advancing its affordable apartment model into Brisbane with the acquisition of another site at Cordelia Street in South Brisbane for $27 million.

Sherpa, which has a $1.7 billion pipeline across Southeast Queensland, intends to bring a cohort of apartments exclusively for first homebuyers into its proposed 186-apartment project to be built at 2 Cordelia Street.

The Sherpa model has already been incredibly well received from their Gold Coast projects, where Sherpa Group set aside a number of apartments exclusively for first homebuyers.

The new $320 million project marks Sherpa Group's second development in Brisbane, following its $255 million Symphony project, also on Cordelia Street, which is currently under construction.

Symphony will deliver 146 apartments across 28 levels, offering a mix of one, two and three-bedroom apartments. With 114 already sold, construction by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/builders/lps-group">LPS Group</a> is scheduled for completion in 2028.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=7574 project_image_fid=351654]

Sherpa Founder, Christie Leet, said the company was excited to be venturing into Brisbane for its second residential project.

“We’re big believers in the future of Brisbane as we lead into the 2032 Olympics and beyond,” Leet said.

“The success of Symphony has guided us into what will be our second project and we look forward to submitting our plans with council soon so we can deliver yet another quality project to the inner city residential market.

“Our Flourish model has been very well received both in Brisbane and the Gold Coast, and we’re excited to be able to offer some of these apartments again exclusively to first homebuyers to help get them into the property market.

“The model has been extraordinarily well received in our previous projects and it is something we are committed to moving forward.”

2 Cordelia Street will be designed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/hal-architects">HAL Architects</a> &amp; Finegrain and will include Sherpa’s signature residential amenities including pool, gym, recreation, wellness and work from home spaces.

The project will feature ground-floor commercial space, creating a vibrant amenity for residents and the surrounding community.

A development application will be lodged with Brisbane City Council in August on the code compliant site and will be launched to the market early 2027.

Sherpa acquires new site for second Brisbane apartment tower

One of North Sydney's best-known commercial buildings could become hundreds of new homes, with insurance giant Zurich Australia lodging a State Significant Development Application (SSDA) to transform 5 Blue Street into a mixed-use residential development above North Sydney Station.

Rather than demolishing the existing building and starting again, Zurich is proposing an adaptive reuse project that would convert the landmark office building into a 15-level residential development delivering 62 apartments, 86 affordable co-living dwellings, activated retail and significant upgrades to the Blue Street Plaza.

The proposal reflects a growing trend of commercial property owners repositioning ageing office assets into residential housing as Sydney grapples with housing supply shortages and changing workplace demand.

<img alt="Zurich" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="0bba7d12-06dc-4375-aad7-238c94b21ac5" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-07-22%20at%2010.42.05%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=NJl5oLAEBDGuPmY3RnyliKODjMc8lvRh" />

Located directly above North Sydney Metro and train station, the 3,051 sqm site occupies one of the most strategically positioned parcels of land on Sydney's Lower North Shore.

Designed by fjcstudio, the proposal seeks to retain and adapt much of the existing structure while creating a contemporary residential address that better connects with the public domain surrounding North Sydney Station.

The application proposes two basement levels, ground floor retail, affordable co-living accommodation across the podium levels, and apartments above, while preserving and enhancing the publicly accessible Blue Street Plaza.

Rather than pursuing maximum apartment numbers, Zurich has opted for a housing mix heavily weighted towards larger owner-occupier residences.

The proposal includes 62 build-to-sell apartments comprising 12 one-bedroom, 19 two-bedroom, 29 three-bedroom apartments and two premium penthouses. It also incorporates 86 affordable co-living dwellings, which would be managed in perpetuity by a Community Housing Provider.

That balance between traditional apartments and affordable housing reflects the NSW Government's push to increase housing diversity around major transport infrastructure.

The proposal has been lodged concurrently with a rezoning application, with Zurich arguing the site is ideally positioned to support additional housing given its immediate proximity to public transport, employment and services.

"The proposal aims to respond to the housing challenges facing Sydney through the delivery of diverse housing types in a highly accessible location," the design report by fjcstudio states. It also seeks to improve pedestrian amenity through upgrades to Blue Street Plaza while creating a high-performing residential building that responds to the surrounding context.

<img alt="Zurich" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="36082e15-c636-4481-bb68-5a5f6443fe39" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-07-22%20at%2010.41.36%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=5P6VD.fvmqjQfIG3TWWMRXxQWiQBjeFB" />

Rather than replacing the commercial building, fjcstudio has developed a design that works with the existing structural framework above the rail corridor, an approach that significantly reduces demolition while allowing the site to be repositioned as a mixed-use residential precinct.

The existing structural constraints have informed much of the building's design, including its relationship with Blue Street and surrounding public spaces.

The building has been designed as a slender tower rising above a clearly defined podium, with vertically expressed façades intended to reduce the perceived bulk while reinforcing North Sydney's emerging skyline.

According to fjcstudio, the architectural language responds directly to the surrounding commercial towers while maintaining a finer grain expression more closely aligned with the neighbouring Lavender Bay streetscape.

The tower incorporates articulated façade elements, landscaped podium edges and recessed upper levels to soften its appearance and improve pedestrian amenity below.

A significant component of the proposal is the revitalisation of Blue Street Plaza.

The existing public space has long served as one of the primary pedestrian connections between North Sydney Station, Greenwood Plaza and Blue Street, yet its role is expected to become even more important following the opening of Sydney Metro.

Zurich's proposal seeks to strengthen that role by improving landscaping, introducing new retail frontages, enhancing pedestrian permeability and creating more active edges throughout the day and evening.

Ground floor retail would wrap the plaza, while separate residential and co-living entries have been designed to improve wayfinding without reducing street activation.

Landscape design has been integrated throughout the podium and public realm, softening what is currently one of the most heavily urbanised parts of North Sydney.

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fjcstudio has carefully oriented apartments towards Sydney Harbour and the CBD while using privacy blades and articulated façades to minimise overlooking between neighbouring buildings.

Large framed openings along the western elevation maximise harbour outlooks, while the eastern apartments have been angled towards the south-east to improve privacy from neighbouring development.

The project forms part of the continuing transformation of North Sydney from a predominantly commercial CBD into a genuine mixed-use city centre.

Since the completion of Victoria Cross Metro Station, developers have increasingly shifted their attention towards residential projects capable of leveraging the area's unparalleled transport connectivity.

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FiveX recently lodged plans for a 61-storey, 490-apartment tower that would become one of the tallest residential buildings in North Sydney if approved.

Aqualand continues to expand its Lower North Shore presence following the completion of AURA on Walker Street and its recent St Leonards and Roseville proposals.

Developers are also progressing projects throughout Walker Street, Miller Street and the Victoria Cross precinct as demand for well-located owner-occupier apartments continues to strengthen.

First look: Zurich targets North Sydney office conversion with 148-unit proposal above Metro station

Busy developer Aqualand Prestige has formally taken the next step in its expansion across Sydney's Lower North Shore, lodging a State Significant Development Application (SSDA) for its long-held Archer Street site in Chatswood.

The application covers <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/51-55-archer-street-chatswood-nsw-2067">51-55 Archer Street</a>, a 1,767 sqm amalgamated site on the eastern edge of the Chatswood CBD, where the developer is seeking approval for a 45-level mixed-use tower delivering 114 apartments, including a significant affordable housing component, alongside retail, commercial space and six basement levels of parking.

The SSDA marks the latest milestone for a project Aqualand has been quietly progressing over the past two years. The developer first secured the site for its Aqualand Prestige platform before undertaking an alternative design excellence process with PTW Architects, ultimately avoiding a formal design competition through the Housing Delivery Authority pathway.

The proposal has evolved considerably from Aqualand's original concept. The revised scheme has been designed around larger owner-occupier product, with an unusually high proportion of three and four-bedroom apartments, targeting the more affluent buyer profile, and downsizer, emerging across the North Shore.

<img alt="Archer St" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="0171204c-5811-41b5-9b09-2335d1b7c3d0" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-07-22%20at%208.52.48%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=6YTuxfq.puZo7k2wbfgemcO5K3QfXYGQ" />

The 114-apartment mix comprises six studios, 27 one-bedroom apartments, 18 two-bedroom apartments, 50 three-bedroom residences and 13 four-bedroom homes. A quarter of the building will be dedicated to affordable housing, well above the mandated 15 per cent&nbsp;

PTW has structured the building vertically, with affordable housing across levels one to six, premium apartments through levels seven to 31, duplex skyhomes on klevels 32 to 43, a penthouse on level 44, and a rooftop plant level above. Six basement levels will provide resident parking and servicing.

The tower is proposed to reach approximately 154 metres, placing it among a growing collection of residential high-rises transforming Chatswood's skyline.

Rather than competing purely on height, PTW says the design has been driven by creating a slimmer tower capable of delivering significantly larger apartments.

"The primary objective of this project was to create a distinctive building that stands out from the recently approved or built structures in the Chatswood area," the design report states, noting the structural efficiency allows greater investment into apartment quality and resident amenity.

Residents would have access to more than 450 sqm of communal open space including landscaped gardens, swimming pool, rooftop entertaining areas, fitness spaces, community gardens, children's play areas and barbecue facilities.

A major focus of the design has been the public domain.

The ground plane has been opened up through landscaped terraces inspired by Willoughby's sandstone ridges, with native planting, public seating, artwork, retail activation and a series of gathering spaces intended to soften what has traditionally been a hard commercial streetscape.

The landscape strategy references Blue Gum forests once common throughout the area, while incorporating Indigenous storytelling, public art and lighting installations to strengthen the connection to Country.

Chatswood has been one of Sydney's busiest apartment markets over the past 12 months, with a steady pipeline of both new project launches and fresh development applications.

Hyecorp recently launched Celine, a 122-apartment development just along Archer Street, while Changfa and Huirong Group are progressing The Anderson, an 84-apartment project on Anderson Street.

Develotek recently secured approval for a 101-apartment tower on Pacific Highway, while Tian An LFD received the green light for Hammond Greens, its apartment development on the edge of the Chatswood Bowling Club.

Commercial property developer FiveX is also making its move into the residential market. Last month it lodged plans for a 61-storey tower with 490 apartments, which, if approved, would become one of the tallest residential buildings in Chatswood.

Read more:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/news/nsw/first-look-fivex-targets-chatswood-skyline-with-61-storey-tower-after-north-sydney-plans">First look: FiveX targets Chatswood skyline with 61-storey tower after North Sydney plans</a>

Aqualand is also expanding its development pipeline following the launch of its luxury residential brand, Aqualand Prestige. The developer has delivered a string of high-end apartment projects across Sydney's affluent suburbs over the past decade, most recently AURA by Aqualand on Walker Street in North Sydney.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=30959 project_image_fid=292863]

It has since quietly assembled its next wave of projects.

Earlier this year Aqualand launched Boronia in Roseville, a boutique 111-apartment development on Larkin Street. The project is one of the first significant apartment developments to launch in the suburb ahead of what is expected to become one of Sydney's most active new housing precincts under the NSW Government's Low and Mid-Rise Housing reforms, which allow greater density around train stations.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152095 project_image_fid=373685]

The developer has also lodged plans for a two-tower, 413-apartment development on Herbert Street in nearby St Leonards, further strengthening its presence across the Lower North Shore.

Beyond that, Aqualand remains behind the final stage of Barangaroo, where plans will deliver a five-hectare mixed-use precinct comprising new homes, retail, hospitality and community facilities, alongside a new Metro entrance and more than two hectares of public open space, completing the Barangaroo precinct.

Read more:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/news/nsw/central-barangaroo-development-takes-big-step-with-concept-proposal-approval">Central Barangaroo development takes big step with concept proposal approval</a>

Read more:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/news/nsw/first-look-aqualand-joins-st-leonards-apartment-party">First look: Aqualand joins St Leonards apartment party</a> 
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First look: Aqualand pushes ahead with Chatswood apartment tower as SSDA lodged for Archer Street

Mass timber is becoming an increasingly popular construction material in apartment developments, but Adelaide developer <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/otello">Otello</a> is taking the approach a step further.

At its new <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/flowe-bowden-18-gibson-street-bowden-sa-5007">Flowe Bowden</a> development, the exposed cross-laminated timber (CLT) structure isn't just about reducing the building's environmental footprint. It also forms the foundation of a broader wellness strategy, influencing everything from indoor air quality and natural materials to the way residents move through and experience the building.

The 115-apartment mixed-use development, designed by Melbourne-based architecture practice Fieldwork, will occupy a prominent island site opposite Bowden Village Reserve, combining one, two and three-bedroom apartments with retail and a dedicated wellness destination.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152022 project_image_fid=375528]

Wellness isn't confined to a gym or shared resident facility at Flowe. Instead, Fieldwork embedded the concept into the building itself.

The development has been split into two residential wings connected by a naturally ventilated central breezeway, replacing traditional enclosed corridors with open-air walkways that improve natural light, encourage cross ventilation and create more opportunities for neighbourly interaction.

"Rather than treating wellness as something that only happens on the ground floor, our response integrates it throughout the building, which led us to ask what it really means to design a healthy building," Fieldwork Director Quino Holland said.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152022 project_image_fid=375531]

The building's architecture also reflects Bowden's industrial heritage. The lower podium references the area's historic brick and sandstone buildings, while the upper levels transition to exposed CLT, allowing the timber structure to become a defining feature throughout the apartments and shared spaces.

The use of mass timber sits alongside a range of sustainability initiatives, including a fully electric, gas-free design, rooftop solar and a targeted 5 Star Green Star rating.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152022 project_image_fid=375524]

Inside the residences, the focus remains on natural, durable materials. Blackbutt engineered timber flooring, exposed CLT ceilings, porcelain surfaces and warm timber joinery create a calming interior palette, while low-VOC finishes and responsibly sourced materials have been selected to improve indoor air quality.

Kitchens have been designed as the centrepiece of each apartment, featuring porcelain island benchtops, timber-look cabinetry and brushed steel tapware, with layouts that maximise natural light and ventilation.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152022 project_image_fid=375530]

The more traditional interpretation of wellness comes in the form of Level Eleven, a two-storey wellness club spanning the ground floor, mezzanine and first floor.

The facility will include a gym, yoga and reformer Pilates studios, Finnish and infrared saunas, magnesium hot and cold plunge pools, and dedicated recovery spaces. Unlike many residential wellness facilities, Level Eleven will also operate commercially, allowing the broader Bowden community to access the venue while giving residents exclusive membership benefits.

The ground floor has also been designed around everyday living. A café overlooking Bowden Village Reserve will activate the street frontage, while a bike workshop with tool storage, co-working space and dog wash has been incorporated to support daily routines and encourage interaction between residents.

"Flowe brings together my two biggest passions, creating places and creating healthier lives," Otello founder Daniel Harris said.

"We wanted to create something Adelaide hasn't seen before, a genuinely healthy building, where the way you live is lifted without even trying."

Flowe is positioned directly opposite Bowden Village Reserve and within walking distance of Bowden Railway Station and the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, placing future residents just minutes from the Adelaide CBD while remaining connected to one of the city's most established urban renewal precincts.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=152022]

Jonathan Chancellor

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