NSW Pattern Book Small Lot Apartments 03: Six Storeys on a Narrow Lot

Shea CullenNSW Registered Architect 9748 · Updated 27 September 2026

An apartment building for one suburban block, from a 16 metre frontage, on an approval path that skips the slowest parts of an ordinary apartment assessment.

Small Lot Apartments 03 is a mid rise design in the NSW Housing Pattern Book, drawn by Sydney practice MHN Design Union for the NSW Government. It puts 9 to 24 apartments on a single mid block lot, in a building of four to six storeys, with homes from studios to four bedrooms.

The plan is two apartment modules either side of a central lift and stair core, with a flexible communal room, the flexi space, beside the core on every level and again on the rooftop. One and two storey apartments are stacked together, so a family sized home can occupy two levels inside an apartment building.

What the block has to be

The pattern is written for an ordinary suburban block with one street frontage. It can only be used on a mid block site, it is not adaptable to a corner, and battle axe lots are excluded. The smallest block that works is 16 metres wide and 40 metres deep, 640 square metres. The published site conditions run up to 19.8 by 65 metres, 1,287 square metres.

Width matters more than area, because the building sits on a bay grid and adds homes in steps. A two bay plan suits lots 16 to 16.8 metres wide, a three bay plan 19.8 to 21 metres, measured at the front building line. Nothing is drawn between those bands, so an 18 metre frontage may buy you nothing that a 16.5 metre one does not. Length runs from 40 to 65 metres.

The drawings publish eight site conditions, both plan widths at 40, 50, 57 and 65 metres of length. These six cover the range.

Site plan at ground level for a mid block lot 19.8 metres wide and 40 metres deep, 792 square metres, with the front setback, driveway and entry, the lift and stair core, the flexible communal room and three bays of apartments inside the boundaries, and the apartment levels, communal rooftop and solar roof above — The base pattern block, 19.8 by 40 metres on the three bay plan. Site area 792 m². 17 apartments across the whole building, 5 car spaces and 1,794 m² of gross floor area, a floor space ratio of 2.27 to 1.

Site plan at ground level for a mid block lot 16 metres wide and 50.17 metres deep, 803 square metres, with the front setback, driveway and entry, the lift and stair core, the flexible communal room and two bays of apartments inside the boundaries, and the apartment levels, communal rooftop and solar roof above — A longer narrow block, 16 by 50.17 metres on the two bay plan. Site area 803 m². 17 apartments across the whole building, 6 car spaces and 1,569 m² of gross floor area, a floor space ratio of 1.95 to 1.

Site plan at ground level for a mid block lot 19.8 metres wide and 57.56 metres deep, 1,140 square metres, with the front setback, driveway and entry, the lift and stair core, the flexible communal room and three bays of apartments inside the boundaries, and the apartment levels, communal rooftop and solar roof above — 19.8 by 57.56 metres on the three bay plan. Site area 1,140 m². 24 apartments across the whole building, which is the ceiling the standards allow, with 8 car spaces and 2,630 m² of gross floor area, a floor space ratio of 2.31 to 1.

Site plan at ground level for a mid block lot 16 metres wide and 65 metres deep, 1,040 square metres, with the front setback, driveway and entry, the lift and stair core, the flexible communal room and two bays of apartments inside the boundaries, and the apartment levels, communal rooftop and solar roof above — The two bay plan stretched to its published limit, 16 by 65 metres. Site area 1,040 m². 24 apartments across the whole building, again at the cap, with 10 car spaces and 2,066 m² of gross floor area, a floor space ratio of 1.99 to 1.

Site plan at ground level for a mid block lot 19.8 metres wide and 65 metres deep, 1,287 square metres, with the front setback, driveway and entry, the lift and stair core, the flexible communal room and three bays of apartments inside the boundaries, and the apartment levels, communal rooftop and solar roof above — The largest block the drawings publish, 19.8 by 65 metres on the three bay plan. Site area 1,287 m². Still 24 apartments across the whole building at the cap, with 10 car spaces and 3,011 m² of gross floor area, a floor space ratio of 2.34 to 1.

Drawings by MHN Design Union for the NSW Housing Pattern Book. © State of New South Wales (Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure).

Setbacks are fixed at 3.65 metres to the street, 3.0 metres each side and 6.0 metres at the rear. Height stops at 22 metres from existing ground level, plus 1.45 metres for the lift overrun and plant, and at six habitable storeys. Those numbers prevail over inconsistent council controls, so your local height limit is not the test. The mid rise patterns only work inside a low and mid rise housing area or a transport oriented development area under the Housing SEPP, where a residential flat building is permitted with consent.

How many homes you get

On the base pattern lot of 19.8 by 40 metres, 792 square metres, the six storey building with basement parking holds 17 homes: three studios, four one bedroom, four two bedroom, five three bedroom and one four bedroom. Gross floor area is 1,794 square metres, a floor space ratio of 2.27 to 1.

This is the drawn set for that block, basement to roof.

Basement plan showing the ramp down from the street, car and bicycle parking with electric vehicle charging, resident storage, the cold water and rainwater tanks, the electrical switch room and the fire tank and pump rooms — The basement of the preferred parking option: 5 cars, 1 motorcycle and 20 bicycles, resident storage, water tanks and fire services.

Ground floor plan showing the 3.65 metre front setback, the ramp down to the basement, the residential lobby, the garbage and bulky waste rooms, a communal garden, the double height flexible room and three apartments with private gardens at the rear — Ground floor: entry, waste rooms, communal garden and three apartments with their own gardens. Site area 792 m², 17 apartments across the whole building.

First floor plan showing six apartment portions either side of the central lift and stair core, the double height void over the flexible room, and the store and services space — First floor, where the lower halves of some two storey homes sit beside the upper halves of others.

Second floor plan showing three whole apartments in the front module, a four bedroom apartment across the rear module and the flexible communal room beside the lift and stair core — Second floor: three apartments in the front module and the four bedroom home across the rear module.

Third floor plan showing three studio apartments with fold down beds in the front module, a three bedroom apartment across the rear module and the planted flexible communal room — Third floor: three studios at the front, a three bedroom home at the rear and a planted flexi space between them.

Fourth floor plan showing the lower levels of the two storey apartments in both modules, the flexible communal room and the central lift and stair core — Fourth floor, the lower level of the two storey apartments in both modules.

Fifth floor plan showing six apartments, a one bedroom, a three bedroom and a two bedroom home in each module, formed as the upper levels of the two storey apartments below — Fifth floor, the upper level of those same two storey apartments, six homes on this floor.

Sixth floor plan of the rooftop level showing the covered lobby, an accessible toilet, a paved communal terrace, raised planters and the shared mechanical and hot water plant in the open air — Sixth floor, the communal rooftop: covered lobby, paved terrace, planters and the shared plant in the open air.

Roof plan showing the lift overrun, the mechanical riser, a satellite dish and two indicative arrays of 17 solar panels — Roof plan, with the lift overrun, the services and two indicative arrays of 17 solar panels.

Drawings by MHN Design Union for the NSW Housing Pattern Book. © State of New South Wales (Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure).

On that same block a studio led mix gives 22 homes, four storeys gives 11, and parking on the ground rather than in a basement gives 16 at six storeys or 10 at four, because it takes the place of the three ground floor apartments. Across the eight published site conditions the yield runs from 13 homes on the smallest block to 24 on the three largest, and 24 is where it stops for everyone: the standards cap any building at 24 homes, with no more than 60 per cent of one type. Land much past 1,100 square metres adds no apartments. Our guide to apartments on the Central Coast sets out the same arithmetic for a conventional scheme.

Concept diagrams showing how the base grid adds or drops a bay as the site gets wider, how the building can be built at four or at six storeys, and how single and two storey apartments combine — The site variation concepts: adding a bay for a wider frontage, the four and six storey options, and the mix of single and two storey homes.

Ground floor plan for the on grade parking option, showing parking with electric vehicle charging under the building, the lobby, the waste rooms, a communal room and a communal garden at the rear in place of the ground floor apartments — The on grade parking option at ground level, which trades the three ground floor apartments for parking, a communal room and a larger garden. 16 apartments across the whole building at six storeys.

Drawings by MHN Design Union for the NSW Housing Pattern Book. © State of New South Wales (Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure).

Apartment sizes are: studios 35 to 38 square metres, one bedrooms 51 to 71, two bedrooms 81 to 88, three bedrooms 104 to 120 and the four bedroom at 126, under 2.7 metre ceilings. Each has a balcony or a ground level garden, and each meets the ABCB Livable Housing Design Standard. Parking runs from 4 to 10 spaces depending on the block.

Three external palettes are published. All three share the same base of white concrete blockwork, off form and precast concrete, glass block at the core, anodised aluminium windows and powder coated hoods and balustrades. What changes is the main wall and floor finish, the tiling inside the flexible rooms and the soffit colour.

External material palette 1, the street elevation and facade details in unpainted aluminium zinc magnesium coated steel sheet cladding with white blockwork, off form concrete, glass block, textured render soffits and mid grey porcelain paving — Palette 1: unpainted aluminium zinc magnesium coated steel cladding with white blockwork, off form concrete and glass block.

External material palette 2, the street elevation and facade details in ribbed precast concrete panels in beige tones with white blockwork, off form concrete, glass block and olive green soffits and tiling — Palette 2: ribbed precast concrete panels in beige tones, with olive green soffits and tiling.

External material palette 3, the street elevation and facade details in red brickwork with flush joints and red brick pavers, with white blockwork, off form concrete, glass block and terracotta tiling — Palette 3: red brickwork with flush joints and red brick pavers, with terracotta tiling to the flexible rooms.

Drawings by MHN Design Union for the NSW Housing Pattern Book. © State of New South Wales (Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure).

The approval, and what it costs

This is a development application, not complying development. Because the Government Architect has already reviewed the design, an application that keeps to it is not reassessed against the Apartment Design Guide or the Schedule 9 design quality principles, which is the slow half of an ordinary apartment assessment. No day count has been published for that path, so do not build a program around one. BASIX and NatHERS still apply, and the design verification statement has to be completed by an architect on the NSW Register of Architects. Every change, even one inside the allowed range, gets declared in it.

The licence has a regular price of $15,000 per lot. When we checked the official shop on 8 August 2026 it showed $1,500, subsidised for the first six months, with the pattern available to buy, so confirm the price before you budget from it. It buys the drawings in PDF and 2D DWG, technical guidance, the design verification statement template, the landscape guide and the adaptation sheets, and a pattern identification number. Those drawings are an indicative design, not construction documents, so the budget also carries documentation, engineers and, for a Class 2 building, practitioners registered under the Design and Building Practitioners Act.

Before you commit to a block or a licence, our NSW Pattern Book Feasibility study tests the site against all seventeen designs in the book for a fixed $5,500 and reports which ones it can carry: zoning and whether the low and mid rise housing policy reaches the land, lot width, depth and area against each design's minimums, frontage rules and hazard layers, then your survey contours against each pattern's own slope limit, then a site plan with setbacks and buildable area plus rough floor plans for the design that suits the block best. It does not include the development application, which we quote separately once the site is known. The work is by Shea Cullen, NSW Registered Architect 9748, registered for Class 2 work under the Design and Building Practitioners Act, which is the registration this pattern needs.

What rules a site out

The pattern does not comply on bush fire prone land, including at the lowest rating of BAL 12.5, or on excluded flood prone land. Heritage items and conservation areas, landslip risk land, coastal hazard and foreshore land and unsewered land are all out, and a registered easement across the building area will usually rule it out. So will a corner block or a battle axe handle.

Slope does not show on a map. The pattern carries 2.25 metres of rise from the street to the rear, or 0.65 metres of fall. Work from survey contours, and our guide to finding out if your site is too steep covers the check.

Sectional diagrams for the base pattern showing the six storey basement parking, six storey on grade parking and four storey options against the 22 metre and 17.5 metre height planes, with the entry ramp, stepped rear and stepped rear garden responses to cross fall — Sections through the base pattern: the six and four storey options, basement or on grade parking, and the three ways the drawings take up slope within 2.25 metres of rise or 0.65 metres of fall.

Drawings by MHN Design Union for the NSW Housing Pattern Book. © State of New South Wales (Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure).

Shadow is what most often shortens a building like this. Neighbours have to keep three hours of sun to at least half their private open space between 9am and 3pm on 21 June, and at least 70 per cent of the new apartments need two hours of sun to their living spaces between 8am and 4pm. On a block sitting north of existing houses the workable storey count can land below six. Deep soil then takes 7 to 15 per cent of the site depending on its area. An address screen is a filter, not a planning assessment, so test all of this before you buy the site, take an option or buy the licence.

Check the design against your own block

The quickest way to find out whether this pattern suits your land is to run the address and test the lot against every design in the book at once.

Screen your address against every pattern book design on Dudils

The full plan set for this design, with the official site plans and a floor plan for every level, is on the Dudils page for Pattern Book Small Lot Apartments 03.

NSW Pattern Book Small Lot Apartments 03: Six Storeys on a Narrow Lot

An apartment building for one suburban block, from a 16 metre frontage, on an approval path that skips the slowest parts of an ordinary apartment assessment.

What the block has to be

How many homes you get

The approval, and what it costs

What rules a site out

Check the design against your own block

Related guides

Thinking about aproject?

Thinking about a
project?