Services
Affordable housing designed with dignity, delivered through the SEPP
Community and affordable housing for NSW providers and developers, from concept through approval using the SEPP pathways. From $80,000 for three units; start with a $220 consultation.
Housing the Coast actually needs, designed like it matters
Affordable housing has an image problem it does not deserve. The best of it is indistinguishable from good market housing: bright, ventilated, durable, cheap to run, and designed so residents live with dignity and neighbours never think to object. The worst of it was designed to a cost per square metre and nothing else, and everyone pays for that for fifty years.
The difference is not the budget. It is whether the design treats the budget as the brief, or the people as the brief and the budget as the discipline.
What you get
Experience at exactly this scale. Shea was project architect for an 89 unit seniors living development at Long Jetty, approved through the Joint Regional Planning Panel. Her floor space ratio solution found room for twenty more apartments than the client believed the site held, worth millions in additional value, while keeping the design something the community accepted. Housing for people on modest incomes rewards precisely that skill: extracting every home the controls genuinely allow without ever building the block the neighbours dread.
The SEPP pathways, verified not assumed. NSW planning policy offers real incentives for affordable and community housing, but they are detailed, conditional and regularly amended. We check the current provisions against your actual site and project before the feasibility relies on them. Optimism is not a planning pathway.
Design for the owner in year fifteen. Community housing providers keep their buildings, so we design for the whole life: durable materials, generous natural light and passive solar orientation that cuts tenant power bills, landscapes that mature rather than die, and maintenance access that does not require scaffolding. The cheapest building is almost never the one with the lowest construction cost.
The full pathway, concept to approval. Feasibility, concept design, consultant coordination and the DA or CDC documentation, prepared by a NSW Registered Architect (registration 9748) with the declared design obligations of Class 2 work covered under our own NSW Fair Trading registration for Class 2, 3 and 9c buildings.
This is for you if
- You are a community housing provider planning new homes on the Central Coast or elsewhere in NSW.
- You are a developer or land owner exploring the affordable housing incentives and want the feasibility tested honestly.
- You hold a site near services and transport and wonder whether affordable housing is its best use.
It is not for you if you are seeking a design service to minimise quality to a price. The sector's history is full of those buildings, and we will not add to them.
How it works
- Book the $220 Initial Consultation below. It is credited toward your fee if you proceed.
- We assess the site, verify the applicable planning pathways and test the yield with a documented feasibility study where the project warrants it.
- You receive a fixed fee proposal, then design proceeds stage by stage through approval, with costs agreed before each stage begins.
Shea was the project architect for over 80 seniors living units we were the client for. Throughout the project, she communicated and listened to feedback to create a great outcome for the site. Shea created a solution for FSR that allowed us to have an additional twenty apartments, generating millions in additional revenue. She responded to consultant and Council RFIs quickly to facilitate approval with the JRPP as fast as possible. I would highly recommend her as she adds value to any project.
Your investment
Affordable Housing Design
$220 to start
Indicative pricing: from $80,000 for three units. Add $8,000 for each additional unit.
Covers Concept plus DA/CC or CDC. Tender documentation optional at additional cost. Start with a $220 Initial Consultation, credited toward the project fee if you proceed and not refundable if you do not.
All prices are in Australian dollars and include GST. Standard Conditions of Engagement · NSW Code of Conduct (PDF)
Questions people ask us
What planning pathways does affordable housing use?
NSW planning policy provides specific pathways and incentives for affordable and community housing, and which ones apply depends entirely on your site, the housing type and who will manage the homes. We verify the applicable provisions against the current instruments for your specific project rather than quoting generic bonuses, because the rules are detailed and they change.
What do the design fees cover?
From $80,000 for three units, adding $8,000 for each additional unit, covering concept design through the approval pathway: DA and CC, or CDC where it applies. Tender documentation is optional at additional cost. You receive a fixed fee proposal before design begins, and the $220 consultation is credited against it.
Do you work with community housing providers?
Yes, and with private developers delivering affordable housing under the planning incentives. The design conversation differs, because providers carry long term management and maintenance in a way speculative builds do not, and the design should reflect who owns the building in year fifteen.
Why does design quality matter in affordable housing?
Because the residents have the least ability to fix a bad building afterwards, and the owner holds it for decades. Natural light, ventilation, durable materials and low running costs are not luxuries in this sector; they are what keeps tenancies stable and maintenance budgets sane. Good design is the cheapest thing that ever happens to an affordable housing project.
Imagine housing your community is proud of, on a feasibility that actually closes.
Book Initial Consultation