Adaptive reuse must be part of housing shortage solution

Not every obsolete or heritage building is a candidate for adaptive reuse but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take a harder look at this concept as part of finding solutions to the housing shortage.

Australian cities are among the newest in the developed world so automatically present fewer opportunities for reuse projects. Add to that the vastly different requirements for commercial and residential buildings for example, and the available pool shrinks a lot further.

Chapter Two is well advanced on planning for an office-to-residential conversion at Spring Hill in Brisbane that will turn a tired 1970s building into new luxury apartments in one of the city’s best locations.

The apartments will have spectacular park and city views and we’ll be adding new design touches in keeping with the heritage of Wickham Terrace, plus resident amenity, screening for privacy and greenery that will result in a much more attractive building.

We have always wanted to do this type of project and finding the right site was no easy feat, but that doesn’t mean those in our industry, and the policy makers, shouldn’t keep looking for ways to make adaptive reuse more widespread.

The Brisbane City Council has been very supportive of our plans and genuinely interested in these sorts of innovative projects. As the largest local government in Australia, the council is a strong advocate of design-led development and specifically includes the adaptation and reuse of existing buildings in this vision.

So far there are more examples of adaptive re-use for commercial purposes, such as the Midtown Centre in Brisbane’s CBD, which has been labelled the most environmentally responsive re-use building in Australia.

The award-winning transformation of West Village in the heart of West End has also been a huge success, restoring the Peters Ice Cream Factory for use as retail and commercial space amid the new residential buildings.

Back in the early 1990s, the work on preserving and re-purposing Brisbane’s Woolstore Precinct in Teneriffe was a great early example of adaptive reuse for residential and just the sort of project that should be encouraged.

We look forward to sharing more information about our plans for Spring Hill soon.