Pattern Book For Low Rise Apartment Buildings

The NSW Government has released Pattern Books for low rise apartment buildings (mid rise development), including apartments from 3 to 6 stories high. These are pre-designed apartment buildings, with the plans, services, parking and landscaping already finalised. The
approval time will be reduced. This will make it simpler and faster to build medium density housing in NSW, speeding up the supply of good quality housing stock. Many people prefer to live in smaller developments such as these, that are spacious and have connection with neighbours.

The apartments were designed by architects from Australia and New Zealand in conjunction with consultants, to be ‘beautiful and wonderful to live in’. They are designed to be affordable but can be upscaled. They take into account he Apartment Design Guide, which promotes quality living with minimum room sizes, balcony sizes, cross ventilation, accessibility, heights, energy efficiency etc. There are 9 different patterns, for small lots, corner lots and large lot apartments. The small lots start at a site frontage of 13 metres and a depth of 40 metres, equalling 520 square metres. They apply where residential flat buildings are permissible, (generally in R3 zones) and where the Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy and Transport Oriented Design (TOD) reforms apply.

A Class 2 Architect is required to co-ordinate the project and sign that the design is suitable for the site. Every site is different and not all sites will exactly match the pattern sizes, so there will be variations for each site. These need to be worked through with an architect.

Feel free to contact MM Architects with any queries, we would be delighted to assist.

To learn more about Pattern Books – click here.

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