6 10 ways to reduce NSW apartment costs 1 APARTMENT SIZES The biggest impact by far on the cost of NSW apartments comes from minimum sizes required for studios, one bed, two-bed and three-bed apartments. The NSW Apartment Design Guide (ADG) provides mandatory minimum sizes for each of these apartment types that are well above what can be built in our neighbouring state of Victoria. The average sale price for an apartment in metropolitan Sydney is around $10,000 a square metre. So a standard that is 10 square metres higher than that possible in Victoria would add $100,000 to the cost of an apartment. In the current unaffordability environment in Sydney a saving of this order is very significant. $100,000 SAVED IF VICTORIAN STANDARDS USED 7 SOLAR ACCESS The NSW ADG requires 70% of apartments to get 2 hours of direct sunshine between 9am and 3pm in mid-winter to balconies and living rooms in the Sydney Metropolitan Area. In built up high-rise urban areas this becomes very difficult to achieve. The Victorian standards call for “solar access to north-facing windows to be maximised”. 8 NATURAL VENTILATION The NSW ADG requires 60% of apartments in the first nine storeys to be cross ventilated while the Victorian standards only require 40% to be cross ventilated. 9 CEILING HEIGHTS FOR KITCHENS The NSW ADG requires all habitable rooms to have a ceiling height of 2.7 metres which must include kitchens. The Victorian standards clearly allow a lower ceiling over kitchen areas to accommodate drainage and exhaust systems. The NSW standards also require a floor to ceiling height of 3.3 metres for ground and first floor development where shop top housing is proposed. $4,400 SAVING IF VICTORIAN STANDARDS USED 10 NUMBER OF APARTMENTS PER LIFT CORE NSW design criteria limit the number of apartments off a circulation core to 8 and for buildings over 10 storeys a maximum of 40 apartments can share a lift. The Victorian standards are much more general with statements like; “The authority must consider the useability and amenity of internal communal areas…” $24,000 SAVED IF VICTORIAN STANDARDS FOR APARTMENTS PER FLOOR + CROSS VENTILATION + BUILDING DEPTH + SOLAR ACCESS $157,200 OVERALL SAVING ON A TWO BED, TWO BATH APARTMENT IF VICTORIAN STANDARDS USED 6 CAR PARKING The NSW Apartment Design Guide says that “on-grade car parking should be avoided.” Many Sydney councils however require car parking to be underground which adds significant costs to a project. $25,200 SAVING IF MORE ABOVE GROUND PARKING 2 BUILDING DEPTH The NSW ADG requires a glass line to glass line depth to not exceed 18 metres. This assumes that other devices like slots into the building will not occur. The Victorian standards would allow a 22 metre building depth leading to overall cost savings to the purchasers of each unit. 4 COMMUNAL OPEN SPACES In NSW communal open space must be 25% of the total site area and 50% must receive 2 hours of sunlight per day. The Victorian requirements are for 2.5 square metres of communal open space per dwelling or 250 square metres, whichever is the lesser. On most large projects the Victorian requirements are less onerous. $3,600 SAVING IF VICTORIAN STANDARDS USED 5 DEEP SOIL ZONES Both Victoria and NSW have guides/ standards for deep soil zones. The NSW ADG has a minimum of 7% of the site area with a design guidance for 15% over 1,500 square metre sites. Victoria requires 10% deep soil over 1,500 square metres but then qualifies this with alternative options where this cannot be achieved. 3 BUILDING SEPARATION The NSW ADG treats a commercial neighbour as though it was a residential building therefore requiring a set-back of 6 metres from the boundary while the Victorian standards would allow a 3 metre set-back from a commercial building site boundary. The NSW ADG requires 24 metres between a residential and a commercial building while the Victorian standards are more flexible.