A WA-first apartment building that generates more energy than it consumes will be built in North Coogee.
Fremantle-based David Barr Architects won LandCorp’s Step Up Housing Design Competition from a field of more than 40 WA architects, designers, builders and developers.
Seventeen apartments designed by the firm will feature in North Coogee’s Shoreline estate, the first precinct of a major redevelopment of the Cockburn coast.
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READ NOWThe design uses a prefabricated approach meaning quick construction periods and cost savings, while allowing for higher-spec finishes and sustainability measures not achievable with standard construction methods.
LandCorp said the project will be the first apartment building in WA to achieve an “average 9-star NatHERS rating, and will produce more energy than it consumes each year”.
Firm director David Barr said his team of consultants, researchers and architects had targeted affordability, sustainability and liveability.
“Our team put a huge amount of work into the competition over the three stages, so we were ecstatic to win,” he said.
“Affordable housing is also a strong focus of our practice, so this project provides a great opportunity to realise our ideas in this area.”
The redevelopment of Cockburn coast will ultimately mean an additional 12,000 residents and 6000 homes along a 1.5km seaside corridor over the next 20 years.
But the area is already booming.
Recent Census data showed North Coogee had recorded the biggest spike in population of any Perth suburb, rising from 577 residents in 2011 to 2388 in 2016.
City of Cockburn planning director Daniel Arndt expected more than 6000 residents would call the area home by 2021.
“The coastal lifestyle on offer, outstanding coastal amenity and premium priced housing is expected to continue to be popular with mature family households (those with adult children), as well as emerging empty-nester households typified as couple-only households,” he said.
“The City’s planning also recognises the importance of trying to attract younger families to the area and focuses on housing diversity and affordability as a way of trying to ensure the community contains a mix of people and families from across a range of lifecycle spectrums.
“This is important to support the emerging retail centre in the marina village of Port Coogee, as well as to provide as much opportunity for people to enjoy the coastal environment.”
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