National developer Time &amp; Place appears to have settled on a design for its long-anticipated Potts Point project.

After several years of back and forth with local council and the NSW Government, the developer, which has spent close to a decade targeting the former The Chimes site on Macleay Street, has now progressed its plans.

Following a concept design submission last year by SJB, Time &amp; Place has lodged a full State Significant Development Application with the NSW Government, this time for a scheme designed by Kerry Hill Architects.

<img alt="Time &amp; Place" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="504d2a27-d65f-4227-8189-1e35e3376e62" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-04-20%20at%209.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=_XqFKATYHF30KnVByPxhaI9UBzmkmfn7" />

The 16-storey proposal includes 44 apartments, 21 of which will be build-to-sell. These will comprise 19 three-bedroom apartments and two four-bedroom penthouses.

More than 50 per cent of the development will be dedicated to affordable housing, with 23 one- and two-bedroom apartments delivered in line with the NSW Government’s Housing SEPP.

Kerry Hill Architects said the proposal is driven by a strong response to place.

“Our proposal for a new residential building for Potts Point in Sydney is driven by a deep consideration of place,” the practice said in its submission.

“This operates on multiple levels, including a landscape approach that reinstates endemic flora of the Sydney peninsula and provides a ground-floor garden for residents, reconnecting the site to its pre-European history. A brick podium further strengthens this relationship to context, integrating planting and fine bronze detailing that references the predominant material language of Macleay Street.”

The three-level podium will be topped by a communal resident space, featuring a covered pool designed to receive direct afternoon sun in winter, a neighbouring reflection pool, dining and event areas oriented to maximise sunset views, and an outdoor exercise zone.

<img alt="Time &amp; Place" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="8d3eedc1-babb-44a3-bd96-d8a42f3adf1f" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-04-20%20at%209.37.48%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=Ii7.4dvqNatu5GQi6bhqNjAswrMB998." />

The design also incorporates highly crafted shopfronts and a clearly defined residential entry to activate the street. Juliette balconies to the podium residences will provide passive surveillance and a strong sense of habitation.

Above, the larger apartments are housed within a light-coloured masonry and bronze tower.

“The tower steps back in a series of gently curved volumes that reference the rich Art Deco context of Macleay Street,” the architects said. “Carefully calibrated vertical fins frame the views while providing privacy and a sense of refuge.”

<img alt="Time &amp; Place" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="6fab60f4-3140-4469-b47a-48c781e0a30b" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-04-20%20at%209.28.44%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=e5XxrM3kzdASdKlcIACHAHbOSZhSKC9O" />

Time &amp; Place has been one of the most active developers nationally in the last 12 to 24 months. Late last year they completed&nbsp;The Queensbridge in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/southbank-vic-3006">Southbank</a>, a mixed-use tower with 353 apartments and a hotel. They are currently selling Park Modern, 246 apartments near the famous Botanic Gardens in South Melbourne.

The developer has approval for The Burke, a mixed-use project in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/glen-iris-vic-3146">Glen Iris</a>&nbsp;being delivered in partnership with Woolworths. The 60 apartments, positioned above a new Woolworths supermarket, are expected to launch in the coming months. Time &amp; Place is also progressing plans for the redevelopment of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/northcote-vic-3070">Northcote</a>&nbsp;Plaza, and have recently submitted plans for a <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/news/vic/time-place-unveils-plans-22-storey-south-melbourne-tower">22-storey tower</a>, another in South Melbourne.

In&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/sydney-nsw">Sydney</a>, the developer has two projects in Manly: Two Tides, which is currently under construction, and an ultra high-end building on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/buildings/shoreline-manly-beach-89-90-north-steyne-manly">North Steyne</a>, fronting the beach. It is also continuing to work through the redevelopment of The Chimes building on Macleay Street in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/potts-point-nsw-2011">Potts Point</a>, as well as Marlborough House, the redevelopment of the original David Jones warehouse building in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/surry-hills-nsw-2010">Surry Hills</a>.

Joel Robinson

First look: Time & Place settles on design for The Chimes, Potts Point redevelopment

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/develotek">Develotek</a> is joining the likes of TOGA, Deicorp, and One Global Capital, betting on a boom in Five Dock ahead of the 2032 mooted opening of the Five Dock Metro Station.

Develotek, which is currently developing Bianca on the Drummoyne waterfront and has plans approved for a tower in Chatswood, has filed a State Significant Development Application for a <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/79-81-queens-road-five-dock-nsw-2046">two-building project in the evolving Kings Bay precinct</a>.

The buildings, one more boutique just five storeys and the other 26 storeys, will rise from an 3,158 sqm site across&nbsp;79–81 Queens Road and 2–8 Spencer Street, will home 134 one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments, above ground-floor retail and five basement levels of parking.

A key component of the proposal is the inclusion of 15 per cent of residential floor space as in-fill affordable housing, unlocking additional height and density under the Housing SEPP.

<img alt="First Look: Develotek lodges State Significant shop top housing project in Five Dock precinct" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="3ee31bf7-75ba-4bc5-b190-49885193219f" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/podium_2.png?VersionId=730UbrduuwK3C1sO28RHjiLPUPqXqjkh" />

Designed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/plus-studio">Plus Studio</a>, the scheme adopts a podium-and-tower configuration, with a five-storey street wall along Queens Road transitioning to a 26-storey tower set deeper into the site. The ground plane prioritises activation and permeability, with retail frontages and a new through-site link connecting Queens Road to Spencer Street.

At the upper levels, the tower façade has been conceived using a modular system to support prefabrication and reduce construction waste, while improving build efficiency. The splayed form draws on the geometry of surrounding industrial rooftops, reinterpreting the area’s heritage in a contemporary expression while also helping to reduce solar heat gain to east and west-facing apartments.

“This project aspires to transform a former industrial site into a connected, resilient and people-focused urban community, grounded in Country, shaped by history, and designed to enrich everyday life within the evolving Kings Bay Precinct,” said John Walsh, Principal at Plus Studio.

The proposal reflects the broader transformation of the Kings Bay Precinct under the Parramatta Road Corridor Urban Transformation Strategy, marking a shift from its industrial past to a higher-density, mixed-use urban neighbourhood.

<img alt="First Look: Develotek lodges State Significant shop top housing project in Five Dock precinct" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="abde734c-1e31-4a97-a1d2-fa9bcf31c380" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/building%20podium.png?VersionId=fNUupP6u146yEytQT31kKVRxwtACgPpP" />

Develotek is emerging as an active participant in the state’s affordable housing-led uplift pathway. The developer recently secured approval for a 34-storey mixed-use tower in Chatswood, where it similarly leveraged the in-fill affordable housing provisions to increase scale and deliver a 101-unit scheme with dedicated affordable apartments.

Their entry into Five Dock places them alongside a growing list of developers targeting the suburb ahead of its anticipated transport uplift, with Sydney Metro set to extend into the area. Major players including TOGA, Deicorp, and One Global Capital are all progressing large-scale precinct-style developments nearby, collectively reshaping the low-rise industrial fabric into a higher-density mixed-use corridor.

The Five Dock site sits within the Kings Bay Precinct, a key renewal area under the Parramatta Road Corridor Urban Transformation Strategy, where planning controls support significant uplift tied to affordable housing delivery. The consolidated 3,158 sqm site is currently occupied by low-rise industrial uses, including warehouses and vehicle workshops, earmarked for transition.

First Look: Develotek joins in Five Dock apartment boom

Ascot’s Racecourse Road continues to be a hive of activity for Brisbane developers.

Following Fortis and GRAYA, which are both preparing new projects along the key strip connecting Kingsford Smith Drive and Eagle Farm Racecourse, local developer <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/skyhold">Skyhold</a> is the latest to lodge plans for its own development.

The group is proposing One One Two Residences, a boutique project comprising just seven apartments, named after its address at 112 Racecourse Road.

The proposal outlines a five-storey building on an 810 sqm site. The built form slightly exceeds the four-storey expectation under the neighbourhood plan, aligning instead with the emerging character of the strip. As the planning report notes, “the locality is characterised by a transition toward medium-rise residential development, with a number of recent developments… above the stipulated height limits.”

<img alt="First Look: Skyhold lodges plans for boutique Ascot apartments as Racecourse Road revival gathers pace" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="ec577631-8c51-4163-960e-e7b3a77d655b" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Ascot.png?VersionId=iAzQ46D4Uu1UqiS0mVnlcy9jeFKBpJIj" />

Designed by 111 with landscape architecture by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/landscape-architect/paul-bangay-garden-design">Paul Bangay Studio</a>, the scheme adopts a layered architectural approach with strong articulation and a subtropical response. Deep balconies, integrated planters, and a mix of masonry and textured finishes define the façade, while upper-level setbacks reduce perceived bulk. The architectural statement describes “a series of horizontally expressed layers, defined by deep balconies and a consistent robust material palette,” aimed at delivering a refined streetscape presence.

Apartments are configured as large-format residences, including multiple three-bedroom layouts and a full-floor penthouse, supported by ground-level parking. A rooftop terrace will provide communal amenities including a pool and landscaped recreation areas. The design prioritises privacy, natural ventilation, and greenery, with planting integrated across all levels to soften the building form and contribute to the public realm.

<img alt="First Look: Skyhold lodges plans for boutique Ascot apartments as Racecourse Road revival gathers pace" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="1e1219bd-b45a-4d7f-bbc7-7207d7b2fc94" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Ascot%20entry.png?VersionId=JIoUOLMgQ5xWpEF0etEI3ffIoIVjD7gO" />

The proposal sits within the Racecourse Road precinct, a key mixed-use spine in Ascot that continues to attract renewed development interest.

Later this year national developer Fortis will launch its own boutique development, which, pending council approvals, will be 16 apartments designed by Koichi Takada Architects, just down the street.

“Racecourse Road is going through a massive revitalisation and we’re proud to be a part of that transformation,” said Fortis's QLD General Manager, Dan Boman.

Nearby, GRAYA is advancing its larger-scale The Gallery, a mixed-use shop-top housing project designed to act as a “catalytic project for Racecourse Road.”

First Look: Racecourse Road, Hamilton revitalization to continue as Skyhold joins the party

Twenty-five years after launching one of Australia’s most visionary and successful masterplanned beach communities - Casuarina on the Northern NSW Tweed Coast - developer Consolidated Properties Group has unveiled plans for an $800 million sister project located 10 kilometres south, at Cudgera Creek near the coastal town of Pottsville.

CPG has taken the wraps off Caldera, a 78-hectare masterplanned village that builds on the legacy of Casuarina and aims to help address Northern NSW’s coastal housing shortage via the delivery of 550 homes built in a sustainable manner and addressing affordability and housing diversity, while also focusing on architectural and ecological merit.

Caldera is being brought to life by the same creative team that delivered Casuarina, led by Consolidated Properties CEO and chairman Don O’Rorke, Hutchinson Builders chairman Scott Hutchinson and renowned urban designer Brian Toyota, of architectural practice Bureau Proberts.

CPG has lodged a rezoning application with Tweed Shire Council for the Caldera site, which has been designated since 1991 as the Dunloe Park Urban Release Area, the final land release area within the Pottsville locality and one of only four remaining growth areas along the entire Tweed coastal strip. Preliminary plans for Caldera feature a 13-hectare retail and commercial precinct at the core of the village, surrounded by meticulously planned residential areas comprising around 550 homesites.

The retail hub will be anchored by a Coles Supermarket and will offer 7000 sqm of retail and 23 commercial lots designed to serve the local community and bring together curated shopping, dining, gym, wellness, childcare, medical and other essential services.

<img alt="Cons prop" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="fca7dc71-4b71-45b1-bb04-5a60bd7158d0" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-04-20%20at%208.34.04%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=vAKwIvLuwmTKj6blHJRYIEeXS_8lCgUx" />

The project will create more than 1500 jobs over its development cycle, according to its economic modelling, and significantly address the shortage of employment land in the Tweed.

The residential areas will encourage a sense of community via a cohesive urban design that encourages walking, cycling, enhanced resident connectivity and reduced reliance on cars via bike paths and pedestrian-friendly streets.

Homesites will include a range of options from premium ridge-top homes to affordable housing options, ensuring a community that is inclusive of different income levels and designed to appeal to a wide demographic from baby boomers to families, singles and professionals. Architectural and planting covenants on home building will support the village’s built form and protect its character.

O’Rorke says CPG intends Caldera to be a model project delivered efficiently in a dedicated urban release area and ‘very much for this region and for this time’.

“Our vision for Caldera is to create a modern coastal village with its own unique northern NSW identity,” he said.

“Building on our legacy of Casuarina, 25 years on, this new village is designed to stand apart, offering the future of modern living, balancing the natural beauty of the region with contemporary amenities and convenience.

“Caldera will be more than just a place to live - it will be a welcoming, inclusive coastal village neighbouring Pottsville that invites visitors and embraces new residents. With its strong ties to the land, vibrant lifestyle and sense of place, Caldera will set a new standard for village living in Northern NSW.”

<img alt="CPG" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="9a5a7cf4-5f76-4ddf-bd05-c8fb77d0a787" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-04-20%20at%208.33.59%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=J1CzCGD7kE7fcAMd41V4pKAf_sI4L5Jv" />

The project’s centrepiece is environmental sustainability, with comprehensive wetlands protection measures and planting of native trees, parklands, village greens and communal grounds to enhance the natural beauty of the area.

CPG will also deliver a developer-funded wastewater treatment plant to ensure zero ocean outflows and provide high quality long-term infrastructure for Tweed Shire.

A key focus is wildlife management planning, including extensive conservation controls for the West Pottsville koala population, aligned with Tweed Shire Council’s Koala Plan of Management and designed to enhance koala habitat connectivity and future population growth.

Caldera will extend the existing koala corridor by connecting koala precincts west of the Pacific Highway with populations in the north and east precincts. A koala underpass will be created under Pottsville Road to complete the connection of this important corridor. Native tree plantings will expand essential koala food sources, while approximately eight kilometres of exclusion fencing will be constructed to safeguard the koalas from urban threats.

The Caldera site is nestled in the hills of Cudgera Creek and benefits from its rich natural surroundings including the Pottsville Wetland, Cudgera Creek Nature Reserve and nearby Pottsville Beach.

It takes its name from the surrounding Tweed Shield Volcano and Caldera, the vast bowl-shaped depression stretching from Byron Bay to the Queensland border that 20 million years ago was the world’s largest shield volcano and which has shaped the region’s striking landscape, with Mount Warning standing as one of its most iconic features.

The development is a joint venture between CPG and Pottsville Development Corporation, which made its first investment in Pottsville more than 45 years ago and is the developer of Black Rocks By the Sea, a masterplanned community now part of the fabric of Pottsville and which was the catalyst for the construction of a bridge across the Pottsville Estuary, providing direct access to the beach.

CPG’s $1.5 billion Casuarina Beach township, 10 kilometres to the north of Caldera, commenced construction in 2000 and has become the model for modern Australian, eco-sensitive beachside development.

Consolidated Properties unveils $800m coastal village Caldera in Casuarina

Growing national developer Time &amp; Place has announced its fifth new apartment development.

With two projects in Manly and two upcoming in Surry Hills and Potts Point, the developer, which expanded beyond Melbourne just a few years ago, is now heading to Mosman. It is planning 53 new apartments on Redan Street.

The 3,233 sqm site, spanning <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/40-48-redan-street-mosman-nsw-2088">40–48 Redan Street</a> with frontage to Redan Lane, is located just under 400 metres from Spit Junction Town Centre. It is reported the developer paid around $100 million for the five-site amalgamation.

Time &amp; Place, founded by Tim Price and backed by James Packer’s private investment firm NPACT, has submitted the project as a State Significant Development through the NSW Government’s Housing Delivery Authority pathway.

Of the 53 apartments, 42 will be released to the market, with the remaining 11 allocated as affordable housing in line with NSW Government requirements.

fjc Studio has designed the building. In its Design Report, the architect said the diverse mix of dwelling types and sizes, including 11 two-bedroom affordable housing units, 40 three-bedroom apartments, and two four-bedroom residences, will support a broad demographic, including families, downsizers, and key workers.

The development will rise to nine levels, a height encouraged by the NSW Government due to the site’s proximity to Spit Junction, which has been identified as a low- to mid-rise centre. Developments within a certain proximity to these centres are permitted increased height.

fjc said the project “achieves an appropriate density outcome for its setting by balancing increased housing supply with strong amenity performance,” adding that it “makes a measurable contribution to NSW housing supply targets through the delivery of additional dwellings and dedicated affordable housing.”

The new development will replace five existing two-storey homes.

“By aligning with the objectives of the Housing SEPP and applying careful architectural and urban design principles, the development provides high-quality residential accommodation that integrates sensitively within its established Mosman context and delivers enduring benefits to residents and the wider community.”

Mosman has become increasingly popular with developers in recent years.

Developer Abadeen has been particularly active, with Mosman Residences currently on the market and under construction on Clifford Street. It also has an upcoming Burran Avenue project, comprising just three apartments on the Balmoral Slopes, and recently secured the Midas and Honeysuckle nursery site on Military Road.

Prosker Property has a project on Redan Lane, just a few doors down from Time &amp; Place’s proposed development.

Developers including Toohey Miller, DARE Property Group, and WINIM also have projects underway in the area. In 2024, a five-year target was set for the Mosman LGA to increase housing supply by 500 dwellings by 2029.

Time &amp; Place entered the Sydney market with Two Tides, its under construction Manly development. Given its sales success, it has secured another development in the area, more boutique, facing the beach on North Steyne.

They are hoping to launch their redevelopment of The Chimes in Potts Point this year, and next year will look to take to market Marlborough House, an adaptive re-use of the landmark David Jones warehouse in Surry Hills.

Time & Place to take on Mosman apartment market

Uber

<html><body>
GUEST OBSERVATION
The effective exclusion of Uber from London, one of the digital platform’s most lucrative markets, adds to a small but significant list of places putting up roadblocks to “uberisation”.
Governments in Bulgaria, China, Denmark, Hungary and Australia’s Northern Territory have all made conditions hostile to Uber. There are partial bans in Finland, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
Specific reasons for the bans differ. In the case of London it is thousands of cases of unauthorised, uninsured drivers using verified driver accounts to pick up passengers.
Behind safety concerns, though, is also a deep resentment towards Uber itself circumventing regulations. This has led, in 2016 and 2014, to thousands of drivers of London’s traditional black cabs jamming the city <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-11/london-black-cab-drivers-block-streets-in-uber-protest/7158214" target="_blank">in protest</a>.
Uberisation refers to the use of a computing platform to facilitate transactions between service providers and customers, often bypassing a traditional organisational intermediary. Uber pioneered this in “ride-sharing” and has pushed aggressively into food delivery. Its most controversial bypass is the traditional employment relationship.
This is epitomised by the case of Amita Gupta, the Australian Uber Eats driver fired for being <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace/uber-eats-driver-sacked-for-being-10-minutes-late-seeks-tribunal-appeal-20191115-p53b2f" target="_blank">ten minutes late</a> in delivering a food order. Gupta’s claim of unfair dismissal was rejected by Australia’s federal Fair Work Commission on the basis she was an independent contractor, not an employee, and therefore not covered by the protections of Australia’s Fair Work Act. (She is now appealing to the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace/uber-eats-drivers-only-free-to-negotiate-a-lower-rate-of-pay-20191118-p53bnn" target="_blank">full bench of the Fair Work Commission</a>.)
The good news, as the London ban on Uber signals, is that uberisation is not an unstoppable force. For all its attractions to companies keen to hire labour while circumventing costly labour laws, it is destined to clash with the controls required to keep capitalism ticking over.
That’s no cause for complacency, though, because even if uberisation has its limits, we are seeing the apparent normalisation of all forms of precarious and insecure work.
The revolution that never happened
In 2015, with a crush of Uber-inspired startups rushing to market, <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/04/01/uberization-uber-of-everything_n_6971752" target="_blank">a Huffington Post article</a> predicted the combination of “realtime data, mobile payments, instant gratification and dynamic pricing” was the beginning of “an on-demand revolution that will ‘Uberize’ the entire economy.”
This hasn’t happened.
In the <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w22667" target="_blank">United States</a> the percentage of workers in precarious employment – including agency temps, contract workers, independent contractors, freelancers and the like – rose from 10.7% in 2005 to 15.8% in 2015. Only an estimated 0.5% were involved with online intermediaries like Uber.
A <a href="http://natcen.ac.uk/media/1543748/The-characteristics-of-those-in-the-gig-economy.pdf" target="_blank">2018 report</a> for Britain’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy estimated less than 1% of British workers relied on the gig economy for the majority of their income.
In Australia, our analysis of the data presented by Deloitte Access Economics for the <a href="https://www.finance.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/Deloitte_Report_Review_Collaborative_Economy.pdf" target="_blank">NSW Department of Finance, Services and Innovation</a> suggests 1.6% of the population earn money in the gig economy, often as supplement to other income.
The limits of capitalism’s logic
Uber and other labour-based digital platforms reveal the limits of the logic of contemporary capitalism: a logic based on the assumed value of deregulated markets that operate best with minimal interference by the state.
Their business models follow a textbook formula of unfettered capitalism. It eliminates employment obligations in favour of a spartan market-based economic exchange between capital and labour. Paid holidays, pension contributions, minimum wage, sick leave and protection from unfair dismissal – with a click on an app, all these hard-won rights disappear.
If this were to become the dominant economic model, it would undermine the system rather than help it flourish. More workers would find themselves among the “working poor”, unable to sustain themselves and their families. The burden on the welfare state would increase. Conflict and industrial unrest would escalate, as it has wherever Uber has set up shop, be it in <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/almost-100-000-drivers-accuse-uber-of-wage-theft-20191108-p538kv" target="_blank">New York</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48190176" target="_blank">London</a>, <a href="https://fortune.com/2016/12/16/france-uber-protest/" target="_blank">Paris</a>, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/spain-police-crane-lift-taxis-to-break-anti-uber-protest/a-47269876" target="_blank">Madrid</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-39046463/uber-threat-drives-noisy-italy-protests-by-taxi-drivers" target="_blank">Rome</a>, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-taxi-drivers-protest-uber-deregulation-plans/a-48277628" target="_blank">Berlin</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-49008968/uber-drivers-in-nairobi-explain-why-they-are-on-strike" target="_blank">Nairobi</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/08/violence-erupts-taxi-uber-drivers-johannesburg" target="_blank">Johannesburg</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-ola-strike/uber-ola-drivers-strike-in-india-demanding-higher-fares-idUSKCN1MW1WZ" target="_blank">Delhi</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-35868569/scuffles-at-jakarta-uber-protest" target="_blank">Jakarta</a> or <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-08/uber-drivers-stage-global-protest-over-pay-and-conditions/11092696" target="_blank">Melbourne</a>.
The business model is parasitical. It depends on the regular economy to subsidise it. And yet this is still not enough. To date <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/lensherman/2017/12/14/why-cant-uber-make-money/#45bd196e10ec" target="_blank">Uber has never recorded a profit</a>. When it listed on the New York Stock Exchange, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-12/uber-ipo-filing-warns-that-drivers-will-be-even-less-happy" target="_blank">its Initial Public Offering filing</a> revealed its plan to further “reduce driver incentives to improve our financial performance”.
Normalising precarious work
While we can be relieved the gig economy hasn’t become more widespread, it is a concern that these platforms’ high profiles and extensive marketing have helped normalise and sanitise business models with parasitical employment practices.
Celebrities to have fronted Uber Eats advertisements in Australia, for example, include Boy George, Sophie Monk, Naomi Watts, Nic Naitanui, Ryan Moloney, Peter FitzSimons, Rebel Wilson, Ruby Rose, Lee Lin Chin and Ray Martin. Its most recent campaign features Jimmy Barnes, John Farnham and Anh Do.
Such endorsements have arguably helped to make Uber Eats and all forms of precarious work more acceptable.
In Australia, some research suggests the number of workers who feel insecure in their jobs has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/workers-are-actually-feeling-less-insecure-in-their-jobs-81836" target="_blank">relatively stable for the past two decades</a>, as have <a href="https://theconversation.com/factcheck-has-the-level-of-casual-employment-in-australia-stayed-steady-for-the-past-18-years-56212" target="_blank">casualisation</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-jobs-arent-becoming-less-secure-99739" target="_blank">self-employment</a>. But Australia also tops the OECD <a href="https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2018/05/australia-tops-oecd-insecure-work/" target="_blank">in its levels of casual and contract work</a>. Given <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/aug/14/wage-growth-in-australia-stagnant-at-23-despite-hourly-rate-rise" target="_blank">stagnant wage growth</a>, <a href="http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/7733-wealth-inequality-in-australia-is-getting-worse-201809210554" target="_blank">widening inequality</a>, <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BriefingBook45p/HousingAffordability" target="_blank">falling housing affordability</a>, a <a href="https://www.smartcompany.com.au/business-advice/politics/wage-theft-woolworths-senate/" target="_blank">mounting wage theft crisis</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/self-employment-and-casual-work-arent-increasing-but-so-many-jobs-are-insecure-whats-going-on-100668" target="_blank">growing corporate power</a>, it is clear that feelings of insecurity and precariousness about work are painfully real for many.
So even without Uber taking over the world, we might all end up damagingly closer to the situation workers like Amita Gupta have found themselves in.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127234/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;">
Peter Fleming, Professor, University of Technology Sydney.
Carl Rhodes, Professor of Organization Studies, University of Technology Sydney.
Kyoung-Hee Yu, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney.
This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uber-might-not-take-over-the-world-but-it-is-still-normalising-job-insecurity-127234" target="_blank">original article</a>.
Photo credit: <a href="http://www.quotecatalog.com/" target="_blank">www.quotecatalog.com</a>
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j.ballantyne1990-6AQqhLzZaK

Uber might not take over the world, but it is still normalising job insecurity

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GUEST OBSERVATION 
Shrinking kitchens, shared car ownership, moveable walls, demountable pools and socialising spaces for apartment dwellers – the future of Australian home design is a dynamic space.
Adam Haddow, Director of Sydney architecture and urban design studio, SJB says Australians are increasingly trading the environmental, time and financial costs of space for the social, monetary and ethical gains of compact living.
Affordability concerns following steep home price rises of 75% and 59% respectively in Sydney and Melbourne have prompted an overhaul of planning laws to allow terrace-style housing on smaller blocks and zero-car apartment buildings to increase supply of affordable homes.
Today’s housing design buzzword is diversity, says Haddow, a Churchill Fellowship recipient and thought leader on urban design and the modern evolution of city living environments in Australia.
“In the past, we had this fixed idea of what you got in a house – three bedrooms, backyard, maybe a pool,” Haddow says.
“That hasn’t gone away but many people are realising they don’t need lawns to mow and four bedrooms.
“You used to need a desk and possibly an office; now you need a kitchen bench the right height for your laptop, or a sunny courtyard with connectivity.
“These changes are dialling down in home design because we don’t need to create a space (for study/work); it is more about creating spaces where people want to live.”
REPURPOSED LIVING
When Australia embraced open plan living at the start of the 21st century, there were inevitable casualties. Goodbye formal dining and lounge rooms. Also over is home designers’ short lived dalliance with the media room.
Formal lounge and dining rooms will survive in top end dwelling floor plans, as will integrated study zones or home offices, with at least 3.5 million Australians now doing at least some work at home and nearly one million of us running home-based businesses.
Reflecting the shrinking size of Australian households, with couple- only households due to outnumber couples with children by 2030, dwellings will become more flexible with moveable walls allowing room conversions and adaptable furniture serving as room dividers.
SMALLER KITCHENS
The popularity of home delivered meals and our rising café and restaurant culture, particularly in our big cities, have changed how Australians think about kitchens in the new millennium.
Food and drink delivery apps such as Deliveroo, Menulog and Uber Eats have exploded, with Australians spending $2.6 billion annually.
We’re also eating out more. With 85,000 cafés, restaurants and takeaway food outlets, the average domestic household is spending $94 per week eating out two to three times per week.
These trends are impacting how much of the modern home floor plan is dedicated to food preparation.
Kitchens are still the heart of our homes but have evolved from utility rooms to social and entertaining spaces, Haddow says.
Prepping kitchens and butlers’ pantries are on-trend in new family home design. These small private spaces enable home chefs to get messy, away from guests’ eyes and without detracting from their home’s minimalist designer kitchens.
SHARED SPACES
Modern developments are increasingly incorporating shared rooms such as common kitchens, laundries, yoga studios and luxurious relaxation areas to suit the changing lifestyles of their residents and add value and function to available space.
Shared rooms arguably provide better value to young buyers who would rather pay less for a smaller crash pad that comes with a selection of outdoor areas where they can relax and entertain friends.
Rooftops are becoming glamorous entertaining spaces with landscaped gardens, state-of-the-art barbecue facilities, café-style dining areas and chill-out zones.
The Commons in Brunswick, Melbourne has a communal rooftop laundry amongst its gardens, vegetable plots and timber decks. Breathe Architecture says the laundry was one of a series of construction savings that made the apartments cheaper to buy and run, earning them scores of sustainability awards, while also encouraging social interaction between the residents.
The body corporates of older buildings are also investing in the redesign of their common areas.
In 2013, the residents at Paloma in Surry Hills, Sydney hired revered design house, BKH to create a spectacular rooftop terrace where residents could sit with friends in elegant timber cabanas for a front row view of beautiful sunsets over Prince Alfred Park.
Shared kitchens are a fairly new idea, with SP Setia amongst the first developers in Australia to embrace the concept in recognition of more young people eating out or ordering in.
In 2016, the developer launched its Parque luxury apartment project in Melbourne, which included a glamorous shared kitchen designed by celebrity chef, Shannon Bennett. Apartment residents have exclusive access to Miele appliances, a temperature-controlled wine cellar and a dining table for 16 guests.
GARAGING PARKING
Our car-loving culture is rapidly changing, with 3.1 million active Uber users and 100,000 GoGet members nationally. These share services, along with expanding public transport, environmental awareness and dedicated bicycle lanes are reducing the need for parking on title.
Haddow says more small home designs will forego car parks.
“What we are seeing is movement from majority to minority car ownership in the not too distant future. People are totally okay with using the one shared car on the street.”
In Victoria, local governments can waive their planning schemes’ on site parking rules, as happened with The Commons. Located next to a train station and major bike path, Moreland City Council allowed the block to have a permanent GoGet rental car on site instead of parking.
In New South Wales, planning laws were changed in 2015 to allow new apartment buildings to have smaller floor plans and less parking as long as public transport options were easily accessible.
City of Sydney figures show a 500% increase in the usage of its Kent Street Cycleway since 20088. Apartments are increasingly supporting two-wheeling residents with shared bike rooms or racks.
BLUE SKY THINKING
Textured housing exteriors made from recycled natural or industrial material like rammed earth, stone and bottle bricks are in vogue.
Architects are also departing from the traditional square shape, with curvy facades maximising the illusion of space and spherical structures emulating igloos offering bolstered thermal efficiency.
Fifth wall feature ceilings with stencil art and complex imagery have arty home makers talking. All the rage when Michelangelo was painting churches in the 16th century and Marie Antoinette was decorating ceilings with mirrors in the 18th century, housing costs eventually quashed the trend.
Today, some owners and designers are resurrecting it, realising that ceilings are a blank canvas for injecting personality and texture into a home, Haddow says.
Keep a (goggled) eye out for the new wave of above ground pools. Able to be disassembled, the waist deep water features promise flexible all-seasons living in tight inner city spaces.
GREEN HOMES
Sustainability is becoming a major influence on home design, with record levels of solar use9 and rising interest in battery power resulting in the equivalent of 8.28 million households using renewable energy in 2017.10
Savvy developers and home owners are fitting and retro-fitting properties to boost their appeal to an increasingly eco-conscious buyer pool. Low cost improvements include draught sealing, insulation, low flow showerheads and taps, window shading and low wattage lighting.
JOHN MCGRATH is the founder of McGrath Estate Agents. The latest McGrath Report is available <a href="https://www.mcgrath.com.au/mcgrath-report" target="_blank">here</a>.
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jmcgrath-6XcGQCVx3d

Has Uber Eats shrunk the kitchen? John McGrath 

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EXPERT OBSERVER
In the current financial climate every move you make is being scrutinised, with even your dinner choice having an impact on your future lending potential. 
Personal spending habits on things like clothes, holidays and take away food are becoming a factor when a bank considers a loan application.
With increased scrutiny into the banking industry and tighter controls on lending, obtaining finance a real issue for prospective home owners.
The banks are simply not lending anyone any money.
It’s across the board, it’s first, second and third home buyers. These people can’t get the funds.
In the past banks would work out a multiple of your income, less your big stuff like car debts and exposure to credit cards. Now, they’re looking at your bank statements to see how often you have takeaway food.
APRA want increased security on the amount the banks are lending to home owners, so the balance has shifted. The banks haven’t changed their guidelines, but they are just applying them far more stringently now.
Despite this though, Gemmill says Australians can ensure they do not run into credit problems, by following simple rules.
Being prepared before applying for a loan and making easy changes to their lifestyle in the months preceding a credit application can make all the difference.
The most practical advice we can give, is make sure you are organised before you apply. Understand that everything you do is going to come under more scrutiny.
It’s not just a simple process anymore. Technology has been a real game changer. No one uses cash, so everything can be tracked when you use your cards.
Make an informed decision before you buy, knowing that someone is watching you.
Most people are hearing about problems post applying for a home loan and an issue has come up in a credit check.
You can’t do much about it then, but you can be better organised and make small changes before you apply.
If you’re a day late paying your credit card, if you overdraw your account, that is all reported and that affects your credit score. 
Simple changes can make a huge difference. If owning a home is important to you, make it the priority.
Be Organised – go to the bank with as much information as possible. Include expenditures, discretionary income, school fees and other costs.
Minimise your expenses – Once issues are discovered in a credit application it is difficult to overcome them. Work on minimising unnecessary spending in the months prior to applying. Less Uber Eats could have a significant impact on your chances of approval.
Compulsory credit reporting – In place since July 2018, all banks have a responsibility to put all information into a personalised credit files, giving them more information on customers and impacting your credit score. If you’re a day late on your credit card, it is reported.
Technology tells all – Everyone of your transactions is being tracked and it could come back to haunt you come application time. You may regret the $300 you spent on clothes.
Afterpay Evils – Credit schemes like Afterpay are classified as a debt and can be viewed in the same way as a credit card. Similarly, if you miss a payment and are charged interest, it could be potentially viewed as a default.
Craig Gemmill is the managing director of Gemmill Homes.
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jrobinson-rf4aSBido9

How ordering too many Uber Eats can damage your home loan chances

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To sell and buy property is nerve wracking. To do the deal with Bitcoin is just ratcheting up the stakes.
But it has been an emerging prospect as Bitcoin's currency gains wider knowledge and some acceptance.
In the past month we have seen a series of vendors across Australia advertise their willingness to accept the cryptocurrency as payment.
It's seems mostly a marketing stunt to get publicity for their listing, so it has yet to become a marked trend.
Indeed there's no known Australian property sale where the buyer has actually accepted Bitcoin since the currency was launched in 2008.
The vendors have mostly indicated their preparedness since they already have one of the 13 million crypto wallets now existing on Coinbase.
Back in 2013 there was a buyers advocate who accepted Bitcoin payment for services of $1,300 which meant 10 Bitcoins were paid.
The exchange rate at the time was one Bitcoin = AU$130.
The current rush in Bitcoin-accepting vendors comes amid the see-sawing surge in the value of bitcoin to over US$11,500, marking a 1,200 percent rise this year.
Bitcoin could, of course, become the Uber of the financial world with Finder.com.au insights manager Graham Cooke believing Bitcoin could revolutionise property and finance.
But for it to become normal, it will actually have to get the official involvement of government along with the banking and conveyancing industries.
For starters there is an issue with the traditional deposit payment which is regulated by state governments.
Yes the deposit could be paid in bitcoin, however it will need to be immediately cashed in and then paid in dollars into the selling agent's trust account for safe keeping until settlement.
The financial expert Peter Switzer notes several cautions, but "suspects cryptocurrencies are like most things modern and seemingly illegal, think Uber, Airbnb, etc, they will be here to stay."
Switzer noted in days gone by, the most asked questions he would get were, firstly, when will interest rates rise and should I fix now? And secondly, do I think there will be a house price collapse?
"But now all I get is bitcoin questions."
Anyone doing a deal involving Bitcoin and property has requirements of an increasingly vigilant Australian Tax Office.
They demand you record four things: date of transaction, value in AUD, purpose of the deal, and “who the other party was even if it’s just their bitcoin address”.
There are state government stamp duties to be paid in regular currency based on the property market value.
Ofcourse there's not just issues around the legalities.
Bitcoin’s value has fluctuated dramatically, mostly upwards to date, so the initial and final value of any transaction could trigger real tension between the buyer and seller.
The capacity of next day exchange and settlement might alleviate the issue, but what would happen over a typical settlement period?
After all an $800,000 property exchange on mid-November would have cost around 100 Bitcoins so would the buyer still be there when the value of their Bitcoin outlay has gone up to $1.1 million or higher?
Logan Lincoln of property research firm CoreLogic noted the surge in value of bitcoin in the last month had certainly created a major stir.
This article was first published in the Daily Telegraph.
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jchancellor-FAypfDUnLy

Bitcoin compared to Airbnb and Uber as property transactions in the spotlight

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The Surry Hills office of Uber Eats has been sold by the former Wallaby David Lyons.
The Victorian terrace at <a href="https://www.realcommercial.com.au/property-offices-nsw-surry+hills-502100154" target="_blank">98 Foveaux Street</a> is a mixed-use office space.
It changed hands for $3.525 million. It had been bought for $1 million in 2011 with Lyons buying out his syndicate parter in 2016 at $861,000.
The sandstone Victorian terrace has potential for a home/office/showroom.
Nestled between Riley and Crown Street, the property comprises open plan living with options for gallery/office featuring terrazzo tiled floors.
The third level features front and huge rear outdoor terrace areas with potential to extend and enclose subject to council approval.
The zoning is B4 Mixed Use, allowing an array of usage rights.
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/11/27/UberEats2.jpg" alt="" style="font-size: 12.16px;">
It is on a land area of 180 sqm. 
The selling agent was Dominic D'Ettorre of D'Ettorre Real Estate.
 
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Uber Eats HQ sold in Surry Hills

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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/65333/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">
GUEST OBSERVER
Street protests against popular “sharing” economy firms Uber and Airbnb have become commonplace around the world.
Both these sector giants are succeeding in circumventing market regulations in many markets in areas including tax and labour law, creating concerns not just among workers but the broader public.
Direct action against these companies has not been the only response. Co-operatives and new platforms that offer workers equity or customers a “purpose” are growing in number.
One example is Canadian firm Stocksy, which brings together more than 900 photographers and redistributes 90% of profits to the artists. Loconomics adopts a similar approach. It is a co-operative owned by service professionals from massage therapists to dog walkers that operates with a strict principle of one member one vote. 
These innovative co-operative startups are up against corporations with deep pockets. But they can build on the much broader worker co-operative movement, which emerged in the mid to late 19th century as a response to increasing pressure from changing market structures. At that time, bigger companies undercut quality and used unfair labour practices, particularly low pay. They also restricted attempts by workers to organise better conditions – a situation that has obvious parallels in the platform-enabled economy. 
Co-operatives and mutuals can also be customer and community owned. These organisations echo the increasing interest in social entrepreneurship and corresponding business models that enable the pursuit of both social and financial returns. 
For instance, Fairmondo aims to change e-commerce by creating a global online marketplace based on a federation of national co-operatives. Scaling such models in order to compete globally is of course a challenge.
Co-operatives are also emerging as popular organisational structures for social entrepreneurs. For example, Hepburn Wind Farm is a locally owned co-operative in Daylesford, Victoria, that owns and operates two wind turbines. These provide enough clean energy for more than 2,000 homes in the community. 
There are about 2,000 mutual businesses and co-operatives in Australia. The top 100 of these businesses represented a turnover of A$28 billion in 2013/14, growing at a yearly rate of 14%. This demonstrates the sustainability of such models.
There are also calls for co-operatives in Australia to be allowed to more ready access to funding opportunities beyond membership, including crowdsourced equity platforms, as is occurring in other countries. 
This resurgence in interest in co-operatives reflects broader developments and trends in the “social economy”. One growing trend impacting retail spending and the philanthropic sector is people turning from simply donating to a charitable cause to actively being members of purpose organisations and engaged in “purpose spending”. Examples include  thankyou, new Sydney café Gratia and TOMS with their buy-one-give-one model. 
Purpose spending goes further than ethical consumerism and “doing no harm”, by enabling consumers to buy from organisations with a social purpose as their main function. 
Our current research with Chuffed, one of Australia’s largest civic crowdfunding platforms, points to this emerging trend in purpose spending. 
Chuffed users have raised A$10 million in 3,000 campaigns across 20 countries over the past three years. One in five of these fundraisers have been “value-exchange campaigns”, where donors receive a reward/good/service in return.
It might well be that membership, crowdfunding and impact investing are not enough to provide the resources necessary to compete with giant global platforms. But in a world where the race to global market share and brand domination is key to success, mixed models hold some promise. 
For instance, Juno, a recently created startup in the ride-sharing business, received its initial funding from classic investors – not workers or customers. However, its model promises fairer treatment of drivers by adopting an equity structure that will facilitate drivers’ owning 50% of the business in coming years. The result is a hybrid between the usual startup model and the member-owned model. 
Though still in its infancy, Juno has signed up more then 8,500 drivers since its launch seven months ago. 
Co-operatives are an organisational and financial model at the interface of major technological, business and societal trends: the sharing economy, social entrepreneurship, impact investing and social purpose spending. 
Although not always living up to their ideals, co-operatives and other versions of employee ownership can offer alternatives to the “Uberisation” of work.
 
Sarah Kaine is associate professor in Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations, University of Technology Sydney and can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/sarah-kaine-19347" target="_blank">here</a>.
Danielle Logue is senior lecturer in Strategy, Innovation &amp; Organisation, University of Technology Sydney and can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/danielle-logue-8645" target="_blank">here</a>.
Emmanuel Josserand is professor of management, University of Technology Sydney and can be contacted here.
All are authors for The Conversation.
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