With the housing crisis reaching catastrophic levels, it has become imperative that governments, their housing bodies, property developers and architects look to alternatives to mitigate social housing waitlists and rising rental rates.

Wollongong’s Northsea development, the first mixed tenure project ever created in the Illawarra, is something of a flagship. A project developed by Traders In Purple and designed by Jackson Teece and Angelo Di Martino, 10 apartments have been purchased by the Land and Housing Corporation, with six owned by Housing Trust, with 38 two and three bedroom apartments able to be purchased by private buyers.

Northsea intends to be a community, not a tower. It will look to integrate people from all walks of life into the one place, something Housing Trust CEO Michelle Bain believes should be replicated everywhere on both a state and national basis.

“One in five of all new dwellings has to be secured and dedicated for affordable rental, that's how big the crisis is, and the real crisis is in the lack of affordable rental housing, not how expensive it is to actually buy a home,” she says at a groundbreaking ceremony attended by NSW Minister for Planning and Minister for Homes, Anthony Roberts, NSW Land and Housing Corporation CEO Deborah Brill and Traders in Purple Directors Charles Daoud and George Geagea.

northsea groundbreaking ceremony

“We would love more developers and builders to voluntarily make contributions to that supply crisis, but where they don't then it should be legislated through a combination of both incentives by way of waiving some of the DA fees and costs and charges.”

Traders In Purple is a multi-award winning national property and construction group with a pipeline of $4 billion. 80 percent of the company is in the private sector with 20 percent in partnerships, with 15 percent of those partnerships carried out with the NSW Government. Traders Director George Geagea sees creating a community as a challenge, but one he believes the developer will accomplish with applomb.

“We thought to ourselves, how on earth would we mix private with social and affordable all in a seaside suburb with apartments to the value of $2.5 million? So for us it was a challenge, but also an opportunity to create more affordable and social homes, which is essentially the charitable part of our business,” he says.

“It isn’t about creating shelter for luxury residents, it's for those most in need. Developing shelter for the community is part of our skillset.”

Traders in Purple Director Charles Daoud says the market response reaffirms the success of the mixed tenure model.

“Once buyers understand that community housing tenants could be friends or family who are key workers such as nurses or teachers, people on disability pensions or those that have just fallen on hard times, they move past the prejudice. Housing affordability is one of the greatest challenges we face in Australia and the recent wave of people leaving cities for the regions has put additional pressure on locations such as Wollongong.”

Architecturally speaking, Northsea is oriented to the north for solar access and cross-ventilation, also coinciding with ideal outlooks with the ocean to the east and escarpment to the west. Jackson Teece opted for a brick facade due to texture and warmth, but also due to requiring minimal maintenance. There’s a darker coloured brick for the base of the podium, with a lighter brick further up the tower.

“The immediate location is very important because this site doesn't occupy a full city block,” says Jackson Teece Director John Gow.

northsea renders

“We needed to consider how the surrounding sites might be developed in the future and how the required setbacks and height controls. When we did our concept design and DA, we did a notional design for the sites to the east and west to ensure privacy and maximise solar access and amenity.”

A solar farm sits on the roof of the tower, with gardens irrigated using recycled rainwater. There’s two outdoor spaces, one on the roof of the podium and another on the roof, with both able to be utilised by all occupants.

Northsea is expected to be completed in late 2023. For more information regarding the development, visit livenorthsea.com.

Jarrod Reedie

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