2017-04-11 P&E Agenda Attachment 1 to Item 1 Housing Needs Assessment

Nightingale Housing currently has 4 projects in progress, all being undertaken by award winning
architects who are highly regarded leaders in the design industry.

The Model

Nightingale Model projects are triple-bottom-line, mixed-use apartment developments led by
Architects. They aim to deliver apartments that are environmentally, socially and financially
sustainable. The ultimate goal of the projects is to provide quality value for money urban housing
by simplifying both the development process and the building itself.

The status quo development model is said to build meaningless apartments designed to investor
specifications for maximum yield with little or no regard for the people who will live there or the
building’s impact on the local and broader environment. The Nightingale movement believes
their city (Melbourne) deserves beautiful, affordable, well-built and well-sized apartments
designed for real life. At present, few developers are delivering this and as long as their current
formula remains profitable, they do not have an incentive to do so.

The Nightingale Model has been envisioned to catalyse an industry change through projects that
deliver great buildings while making a fair and reasonable (but not excessive) return on
investment. Nightingale Model Projects are funded by investor groups that have a genuine
interest in quality urban housing.

Where appropriate, Nightingale Model projects aim to deliver car-free projects to reduce the cost
of apartments while encouraging a shift to sustainable modes of transport. Apartments are to be
well proportioned and sold to people who want to live there and who need a better value option
than is currently available in the market.

A Project Example – Fairfield NSW

72a Station Street, Fairfield was purchased due to its direct access to multiple forms of public
transport, excellent existing social infrastructure, community feel and existing planning permit for
a 5 level office building (see http://nightingalehousing.org/nightingale2/).

The architects saw the existing permit for a bland office building as a poor design outcome for
the site and surrounding area. Revisiting this provided an excellent opportunity to propose a
more engaging design response, at the same scale as the approved building, to enhance and
strengthen the quality and vitality of the station retail precinct.

At present the Nightingale Model database consists of over 800 interested purchasers. During the
design process for Fairfield, the database was surveyed and 180 responses were received from
purchasers interested in living at 72a Station Street without access to an onsite car park or on-
street resident parking permit.

The results of the survey directly informed the building design, apartment size and mix. 17% of
respondents confirmed a desire to purchase larger three bedroom apartments. As a result, along
with one and two bedroom apartments, 4 x 102m2 three bedroom apartments have been
included in the proposal.

The proposal consists of four levels of one, two and three bedroom apartments, sitting above
three retail tenancies. The tenancies are designed to help with street activation and improve the
amenity of the station precinct. Victrack and PTV are both keen for the development to assist with
improving the safety of the station environment.




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