NSWFirst look: Scion plots Castle Hill apartment development near Hills Showground Metro StationFirst look: Scion plots Castle Hill apartment development near Hills Showground Metro Station
Builder-developer Scion is the latest to target Sydney's booming Hills Showground Metro precinct, filing plans for more than 100 apartments within walking distance of the station.
Scion has lodged a concurrent rezoning and State Significant Development Application for 27–33 Middleton Avenue, where it plans to replace four existing homes with an 11 and 14-storey mixed-use development comprising 109 apartments, six affordable housing dwellings, and a ground-floor café.
Designed by BHK Architects, the proposal includes three levels of basement parking with 174 spaces, more than 1,200 sqm of communal open space, and extensive landscaping across the 3,791 sqm site.
The development has been designed as two buildings connected by a recessed wintergarden spine, with the 14-storey building positioned to the south and the 11-storey building to the north.
The apartment mix has been weighted towards owner-occupiers, with 13 one-bedroom apartments, 55 two-bedroom residences, 31 three-bedroom apartments, six three-bedroom lofts, and four four-bedroom homes. Six apartments will be dedicated as affordable housing in line with the NSW Housing SEPP.
According to the Architectural Design Report by BKH, the proposal seeks to create "a place-responsive architecture" inspired by the natural landscape surrounding Cattai Creek, while strengthening the public domain through landscaping, active frontages and a neighbourhood café.
Atlas Urban, in its Urban Design Report, says the proposal takes a different approach to increasing density around Hills Showground Station by favouring a more slender, vertically articulated built form over a conventional mid-rise outcome. The report argues this allows for greater deep soil planting, improved solar access and a better public domain outcome, while still delivering additional housing close to rapid public transport.
The site sits around 500 metres from Hills Showground Metro Station, within a precinct earmarked for significant residential intensification following the opening of the Sydney Metro Northwest line. Planning documents accompanying the application note that Greater Sydney's population has grown by more than one million people since planning for the precinct first began, reinforcing the need to accelerate housing delivery around existing transport infrastructure.
Scion is expanding its development pipeline which also includes Chatham in West Ryde, 62 apartments which are approaching completion. They also have a State Significant Development Application with the NSW Government's Housing Delivery Authority for 145 apartments on Anzac Avenue, also in West Ryde.
Joel Robinson
Joel Robinson is the Editor in Chief at Apartments.com.au, where he leads the editorial team and oversees the country’s most comprehensive news coverage dedicated to the off the plan property market. With more than a decade of experience in residential real estate journalism, Joel brings deep insight into Australia’s evolving development landscape.
He holds a degree in Business Management with a major in Journalism from Leeds Beckett University in the UK, and has developed a particular expertise in off the plan apartment space. Joel’s editorial lens spans the full lifecycle of a project, from site acquisition and planning approvals through to new launches, construction completions, and final sell-out, delivering trusted, buyer-focused content that supports informed decision-making across the property journey
