The City of Adelaide is set to deliver 50 new adaptive reuse dwellings every year in the CBD and North Adelaide through its new Adaptive Reuse City Housing Initiative (ARCHI).
The program is utilising $500,000 of State Government grant funding over two years to help reach the target, which will have a significant impact on tackling the ongoing housing crisis. Adelaide has the lowest rental vacancy rate in the country at 0.6 per cent.
The City of Adelaide has extended its existing incentive schemes for sustainability, heritage and noise management to provide a range of funding support streams for residential adaptive reuse projects.
The ARCHI program was officially launched on 29 July in Leigh Street, where several buildings were repurposed through adaptive reuse.
City of Adelaide staff have been working hard developing ARCHI, which largely is aimed at transforming vacant space above retail and commercial premises in the Adelaide CBD into rental or permanent residential living.
City of Adelaide Lord Mayor, Jane Lomax-Smith, said that ARCHI is all about unlocking the dwelling potential in vacant and underutilised buildings within the City of Adelaide.
“The City of Adelaide has a population target of 50,000 people living in the city by 2036 which requires a significant increase in housing supply,” Mayor Lomax-Smith said.
“In addition to the various market responses to supply, adaptive reuse has been recognised as an additional pathway to create housing outcomes and can have the added advantage of being quicker than new builds in a number of instances.
“We have targeted 50 adaptive reuse dwellings to be delivered annually, with added social, environmental and placemaking benefits to help deliver housing outcomes and to play our part in addressing the housing crisis.
“In our current housing crisis, even small numbers are important in addressing the housing supply challenge.
“As I have said many times over the past 12 months, if we can put a man on the moon we can put a family above a shop.”
South Australian Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Nick Champion, said that adaptive reuse is an innovative approach to increase both the supply and variety of properties available.
“There is extremely high demand for housing in the CBD and North Adelaide and adaptive reuse provides a point of difference in the market,” Mr Champion said.
“Converting vacant space above shops into possible housing is a genuine option that will appeal to many people wanting a cosmopolitan and vibrant lifestyle.
“We will continue to look at removing the regulatory barriers to enable investors and developers to look at adaptive reuse as a realistic option, if it’s economically viable.”
The launch of ARCHI includes a new City of Adelaide homepage dedicated to the project, with details of a new ARCHI Incentives Scheme and ARCHI Guide Notes.
The explanatory guides have been prepared for shop top scale adaptive reuse projects up to four storeys in height to clarify and simplify the adaptive reuse process for building owners.
“Since we formed ARCHI, staff – with the assistance of students from the Cities and Housing postgraduate course at the University of Adelaide – have undertaken a city-wide building audit to understand the raw potential for adaptive reuse,” Mayor Lomax-Smith said.
“This audit has included desktop research, visual surveys and a suitability assessment process against key criteria – 148 records have been collected to date.
“We also have reviewed regulations and potential barriers to residential adaptive reuse. This work is ongoing, requiring engagement at a local, state and national level.
“Work is also ongoing on a review of completed local and interstate adaptive reuse projects to understand lessons learnt and demonstrate best practice.”
Image: GagliardiPhotography/shutterstock.com
