Wellington Street office sites in West Perth could soon be transformed into apartments

Ageing West Perth offices could soon be transformed into more than 40 residential apartments.

The City of Perth has received a request to introduce a scheme amendment over 935-939 Wellington Street to allow the site to be adapted to a mixed-use development.

The application has been put forward by urban Urbis.

City staff have recommended the amendment be adopted as they believe it would have “minimal impact”.

The council will vote at next week’s council meeting.

If approved, the site — which currently has three two-storey terrace buildings used as offices — would be redeveloped to have commercial tenancies on the lower levels and up to 44 apartments on the upper levels.

The apartments would have one-, two- and three-bedroom dwellings, and two penthouses.

According to a council staff report, the buildings are “at the end of their lifespan” and are “not suitable for redevelopment”.

“The neighbourhood priority for West Perth is to increase the residential population to create more vibrancy and activity outside of office hours, while maintaining the neighbourhood’s function as a secondary office area,” the staff report reads.

“The scheme amendment will facilitate a new mixed-use development ... which will deliver additional residential dwellings with diverse housing types.”

Urbis senior consultant Robert Walker spoke at Tuesday night’s agenda briefing and said increasing the plot ratio could help the city meet its residential infill targets.

“The amendment is seeking to facilitate a specific mixed use development on the site that the client and the design team have been working on for some time, and our client intends on progressing to a development application once the scheme amendment process is done,” Mr Walker said.

“The proposed increase in plot ratio ratio is consistent with the city’s local strategy (and would) assist the city in meeting its residential infill targets.”