Urban Taskforce on Friday urged the industry to refrain from tick a box planning assessment process when it comes to designing apartment buildings in Sydney. This is to encourage more innovation and design diversity in the market.
Urban Taskforce CEO Chris Johnson highlighted how Burwood Mayor John Faker, in a recent forum, pointed out the lack of the aforementioned aspects in the developments at present. Mark Raggett of Melbourne architects ARM ARCHITECTURE, on the other hand, negated the idea and explained how a strong culture of architecture in Melbourne has made innovative design the accepted way to design apartment buildings.
The industry group acknowledged the issue raised as an increasingly negative attitude from community groups about apartments seemed to be partly rooted in the dull look of many apartments.
Looking into the problem, the industry group believed that the excessive number of controls and guidelines in the NSW Government’s Apartment Design Guide are being implemented as tick a box requirements by planners in councils. This, perhaps, is also the reason why these homes almost look the same even if architects make an effort to further improve their designs.
Also influencing the outcomes of these apartments are up to 25 specialist reports required by most councils in specialist areas that must demonstrate compliance with even more rules. “Architects at the forum stated that apartment design was being driven by numbers and an excessive number of rules which is eliminating merit based assessment. One architect said that the process was ‘taking away the soul of Sydney,’” Johnson shared.
Strengthening this claim is the agreement from acting NSW Government Architect, Olivia Hyde, who mentioned that the many councils were using guides as rules despite government documents saying this should not occur.
“The Urban Taskforce believes that a special design excellence approval path is required that by-passes the excessive number of rules that are forcing low common dominator designs rather than encouraging innovative solutions through merit assessment. The state government must establish a pathway for innovative apartment building design that local councils can use to enrich their neighbourhoods,” Johnson concluded.
