Nightingale Housing has received a height bonus from the Merri-bek City Council for development project in Melbourne’s Coburg North that exceeds the area’s planning controls in return for an affordable housing dividend that exceeds council requirements for a 10,000 square metre site.
The developer was granted two extra storeys after commiting that 15 per cent of the 200 apartments in the building would be designated key worker housing, up from the council’s 5 per cent minimum.
At a time when the council’s was attempting to triple affordable housing in its area, Nightingale chief executive Dan McKenna said the Sheppard Street development showed that homes can be created without a cost to the government or developer.
“We think it is a really key piece to unlocking the market to drive the solutions to the housing crisis and not just relying on government and government alone,” McKenna told The Australian Financial Review.
New report calls for housing investment in the UK
In yet another piece of research that shows investing in social and affordable housing is good for the economy, this time from the UK, University College of London has argued the UK government could save $2.86 billion a year by investing in more social and affordable housing.
The report said that the reductions in costs would come in benefits such as health, social, homelessness, and criminal justice services, and in unemployment and children’s lost education. The report claims the cost cited is an underestimate as wider beneficial impacts on economic growth, productivity and life chances were not included.
New SEPP is now in action
The NSW government’s Sustainable Building State Environment Planning Policy (SEPP) has been in effect since the beginning of October.
The Sustainable Buildings SEPP sets out new energy standards to cut energy costs, ensures that new and renovated buildings are sustainable and resilient for the future climate, and brings the state closer to net zero emissions.
The policy will encourage the design and construction of more sustainable buildings to meet climate change targets and adapt to the upcoming extreme weather, such as hotter and drier summers.
According to Planning NSW, the policy is expected to save 2.6 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over the 10 years to 2032, which would be equivalent to planting over 8 million trees or running 54 wind turbines for 10 years.
Benefits include:
- less consumption of energy and potable water
- lower greenhouse gas emissions from energy use
- the ability to monitor, measure, and report on the embodied emissions of building materials
- buildings that are comfortable in summer and winter
- household bill savings to families, especially for heating and cooling.