A new apartment development in Bowden is set to deliver unparalleled levels of environmental sustainability and housing affordability through an innovative partnership between government and the private and not-for-profit sectors.
Renewal SA and SA Housing Authority are partnering with not-for-profit housing provider Housing Choices SA and award-winning, Melbourne-based housing innovator, Nightingale Housing, to deliver up to 34 affordable apartments and in excess of 200m2 of ground floor retail space within the Bowden project.
The new Nightingale Bowden apartments will, for the first time in South Australia, offer carbon neutral housing at the affordable end of the market and will boast a minimum 5 Star Green Star and 7.5 Nationwide House Energy (NatHERS) ratings.
The building design will feature attributes not typically seen in affordable housing developments, such as shared rooftop spaces, productive gardens, solar power and rainwater harvesting.
The apartment building will also encourage a strong sense of community and wellbeing through a number of contemporary, communal spaces and indoor Indigenous plantings.
Each apartment will also have ample bike space and access to shared vehicles, enabling transport choice while notably reducing the reliance on vehicles and further boosting Nightingale Bowden’s enviable sustainability credentials.
An artist's impression of the communal rooftop area.
Importantly, this Adelaide-first collaboration will support the state’s economic recovery efforts and contribute to a robust pipeline of ongoing work for the construction industry. It is also expected to attract interstate private and public investment into the South Australian property market, demonstrating the state’s strength and ingenuity in this sector.
This combination of affordability and sustainability has been made possible through an innovative not-for-profit collective housing model that is a new concept in Adelaide, but that has been successfully delivered in similar versions in Melbourne, Perth, Europe and other parts of the world.
The collaboration is expected to spark a revolutionary change in the way that urban housing is delivered and demonstrate that affordable housing can lead the charge in environmentally responsible, sustainable development.
An artist's impression of the building's exterior.
Those who are finding it hard to break into the housing market will have the opportunity to either purchase or rent an expertly designed one-bedroom or two-bedroom apartment that meets the state government’s affordable housing criteria, with at least 75% of the development allocated to Affordable Housing. That means one- and two-bedroom apartments will be priced at $419,750 or less.
Located on the corner of Second Street and Drayton Street in Bowden, the apartments will be ideally located near the Bowden train station, tram line, Outer Harbor Greenway and the Adelaide Parklands, and only a short walk away from Plant 4’s thriving marketplace.
The Bowden development will be Nightingale Housing’s first South Australian project, having earned the reputation as an industry leader for previous work such as the award-winning ‘Nightingale 1’ in Melbourne.
*All but one of the 14 affordable apartments sold out in just one day, with the final apartment selling two weeks after they hit the market.