Friday - 16th May 2025

In this Edition...

1. Develotek lodges first HDA SSD pathway application!

2. HDA's seventh meeting

3. Civic square dream nears reality...again

...and much, much more.

4. Federal Cabinet continuity reflects growing housing supply urgency
5. 3D-printed homes good start ... but much more to be done to make Modern Methods of Construction a reality
6. Inner West: 35,000 new homes to match TOD Plan
7. Holding Redlich summarise the EP&A Bill recently passed through the NSW Parliament
8. Council Watch - The best and worst
9. Quote of the week
10. Members in the news

1. Develotek lodges first HDA SSD pathway application!

Exciting times for YIMBYs as the first State Significant Development Application (SSDA) under the Housing Delivery Authority (HDA) pathway was lodged this week. The media was abuzz as Minister for Planning, Paul Scully, released a statement championing the project and the new HDA planning pathway.

The project is led by Develotek, a leading Australian property development and investment group, known for their legacy of designing and delivering high-quality apartments across Sydney. It will see a 7-8 story Residential Flat Building supplying 106 diverse apartments, with a portion of affordable housing, in close proximity to Gordon Railway Station.

Develotek lodged an expression of interest application in February, receiving an HDA recommendation to the Minister soon after and official declaration as an SSD project on 18 March. Since that time, the team have worked miracles to turn around a fulsome development application before mid-May.

Congratulations to Develotek for utilising the new HDA pathways and aligning with the Transport Oriented Development principles and controls, responding to Ku-ring-gai Council’s DCP objectives, the Apartment Design Guide and the Government Architect’s Better Placed Design Policy.

The project has become a welcome example of the benefit of an aligned focus of state government agencies and the private sector.  We now wait with baited breath for the SSDA assessment to be completed and for the approval to drop out the other end so Develotek can start building houses!

The DA lodgement received extensive online media coverage and even mention in the Legislative Assembly; Planning Minister, Paul Scully, boasted about the speed of this first lodgement, with the just over 100 days from HDA’s call for expressions of interest.

The development application will move through public exhibition starting this month. Public exhibition starts today.

2. HDA's seventh meeting

Further to the good news on the first HDA SSDA lodgement (who needs words when there are so many wonderful acronyms), the details of the seventh meeting of the Housing Delivery Authority were released this week, accompanied by yet another welcome SSD Declaration Order from the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces.

This time, the HDA considered 47 EOIs (3 had been previously considered in other meetings) finding that 18 applications met the Housing Delivery Authority State Significant Development Criteria and would be recommended to the Minister, with the remaining 29 proposals not qualifying.

The Minister this week signed off on the declaration of 16 of these and previous applications, representing 5,400 dwellings, should all proposed dwellings be permitted and delivered. The Minister’s media release this week also noted that 34 proposals had been issued Secretary’s Environmental Assessment Requirements.

Under the HDA rules, development proponents have 9 months to prepare and lodge the paperwork as an SSDA. With the Government’s commitment to assess applications within an average of 275 days, if a two-year timeframe is assumed for construction, then most of these HDA projects will only be completing at the very end of the National Housing Accord.

That’s not a reason to stop – but it is a reason to look to boosting housing supply at every possible opportunity.

*Editor’s note: The folk etymology of the word “sabotage” is commonly linked to Dutch workers throwing their wooden clogs or ‘sabots’ (the French word for clog) into machinery to deliberately break it during labour protests.”

3. Civic square dream nears reality...again

The City of Sydney has unveiled a long-anticipated transformation: the creation of Town Hall Square – AGAIN!

With the Federal election campaign dominating the media now over, Lord Mayor Clover Moore hailed it as the next chapter in a vision “three decades [and 117 announcements] in the making,” promising a civic plaza to complement the pedestrianisation of George Street.

The council plans to fast-track demolition by 2028 and complete the square by 2031, so look out for the opening some time before 2050.

But if the City of Sydney wants to make a genuine contribution to Sydney’s civic pride, they should begin by immediately demolishing their cityscape besmirching, brutalist concrete council office administration building. This monstrosity of pebblecrete towers over the Sydney Town Hall and historic St Andrews Cathedral, obscuring their neoclassical grandeur and detracting from the otherwise memorable urban vista.

4. Federal Cabinet continuity reflects growing housing supply urgency

The Hon. Claire O’Neil being sworn in on the 14 May 2025

This week’s reappointment of key ministers in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s new Cabinet is vital for providing the stability to tackle Australia’s housing crisis. This decision to ensure continuity in leadership, especially Clare O’Neil retaining her role as Minister for Housing and Homelessness, with the added Cities portfolio, this is a clear sign of the government’s continued focus on housing.

With the Albanese Government comprehensively securing re-election, we need immediate action to accelerate housing supply. NSW needs to urgently unlock infrastructure-linked growth if we are going to maintaining and proximity to the state’s Housing Accord target.

Urban Taskforce, in a media release this week, outlined a five-point housing plan that calls for:

• fast-tracking promised infrastructure projects to unlock land for new homes
• rapid rollout of the third round of the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF)
• a shift of policy beyond just social housing with government collaborating with developers to reduce costs and boost productivity
• incentives for state governments to cut planning delays, taxes, and charges—particularly by promoting prefabricated housing
• the expansion of Housing Australia’s role to act as a bulk buyer of new homes, ensuring affordable housing supply while supporting builders with guaranteed demand

With portfolios set and Parliament back in motion, it’s now time to deliver on promises and homes.

5. 3D-printed homes good start ... but much more to be done to make Modern Methods of Construction a reality

The Minns Labor Government has delivered NSW’ first 3D-printed social housing project, completing two sustainable, energy-efficient homes in Dubbo in just 20 weeks—half the usual build time.

Built with 70 tonnes of Contourcrete - a 3D-printable concrete mix - each home’s structure was printed in just 16 days by local firm Contour3D, the two-bedroom homes will soon house Aboriginal social housing tenants.

Minister for Housing and Homelessness, Rose Jackson, highlighted the potential of 3D-printing to quickly deliver quality homes in high-demand regional areas.

The project was a partnership between Aboriginal Sustainable Homes, Contour3D, and the NSW Aboriginal Housing Office, and underscores how innovation, government, and industry collaboration can help drive much needed productivity to tackle the housing crisis.

While the government’s support for alternative methods of home construction is positive, it would be good to see modern methods of construction enabled across Sydney Metropolitan area by removing the planning prohibition on land lease estates.

This model is widely used outside of Sydney, in Queensland and across Australia, but land lease low-cost housing is banned in NSW by planning and local government regulation.  Land lease estates are readily able to take advantage of off-site pre fabrication, off-site manufacturing, and even 3D printed homes – all modern methods of construction worth supporting.

With the ban in place, it is as though the Government really does not want affordable homes in Sydney. The answer is simple – remove the ban.

6. Inner West: 35,000 new homes to match TOD Plan

Inner West Council has unveiled its response to the NSW Government’s TOD Policy plans, aiming to add 35,000 new homes across the region over 15 years. Titled A Fairer Future for the Inner West, the proposal was accompanied with a media release that emphasised denser development near transport hubs and town centres, with buildings up to 11 storeys.  Clearly the YIMBY forces in the Inner West are having an impact on the rhetoric, at least.

Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne says the plan’s development included consulting “independent experts” and included reference to a commercial viability study. The plan has been positioned as an alternative to the NSW Government’s TOD and LMR reforms.

In a startling piece of self-congratulatory hyperbole, Mayor Byrne called it “the most comprehensive response to the housing supply crisis by any council in NSW”, while pledging a more equitable distribution of new housing.

The plan provides incentives for not-for-profit housing on church-owned land with intentions to procure affordable housing targeting essential workers and lower-income residents, through developer contributions. The treatment of heritage is complicated and will require detailed site by site review.

But not all parts of the Inner West will see growth. The Mayor acknowledged “adjustments” will be needed. A proposed uplift in Croydon is likely to be scrapped due to misalignment with neighbouring Burwood Council’s plans. This will mean downzoning in some areas and missed opportunities. So as always, the devil’s in the detail and the documentation is vast.

Community consultation is open until July - so the challenge now lies in turning the plan into feasible housing supply.

7. Holding Redlich summarise the EP&A Bill recently passed through the NSW Parliament

Thomas Kwok and Katharine Huxley from Holding Redlich

Holding Redlich has prepared a concise summary of the changes passed through Parliament in the recent EP&A Amendment Bill. Holding Redlich advise as follows.

This Amendment introduced significant reforms to the state’s planning laws in direct response to recent court decisions. Touted as a move to "restore certainty in planning decisions," the Bill underscores the dynamic relationship between Parliament and the judiciary.

Three major amendments to the EP&A Act address legal uncertainties created by landmark cases:

First, the Bill clarifies that later-stage development applications can proceed even if inconsistent with an existing concept consent—provided conditions require the earlier consent to be modified or surrendered. This amendment affirms the approach taken in Castle Hill Panorama Pty Ltd v The Hills Shire Council.

Second, the Bill overturns the restrictive interpretation in Ku-ring-gai Council v Buyozo Pty Ltd, reinstating the ability for applicants to seek changes to consent conditions without needing to modify the development itself.

Third, the Bill addresses confusion arising from Filetron Pty Ltd v Innovate Partners Pty Ltd. It confirms that only submissions made during the formal exhibition period count towards determining the appropriate consent authority, though councils may still consider late submissions.

The article advises that while these changes are not yet in force, they signal a clear legislative intent to streamline and clarify NSW’s planning framework - potentially reshaping how councils and developers approach future applications.

8. Council Watch - The best and worst

ABS data on dwelling approvals by LGA, published this week, re-enforced the diversity of the efficacy of local council administration and their planning policies.

These ABS data looks at the first 9 months of the Housing Accord, from July 2025 to March 2025, and presents a reality of devastating under-performance by some councils, while showcased a few which are doing very well.

The good news is that all the top performers have exceeded their pro-rata targets, demonstrating that even in these early stages of NSW planning reforms, it is possible to delivery to the targets.

Following Burwood’s leading performance, outstripping their target with a 220% of pro-rata target performance, comes Hawkesbury (145%), Cessnock (108%), Canada Bay, (105%) and Maitland (103%) councils.

The worst underperformance was again recorded by North Sydney Council, which has managed to deliver only 6% of their pro-rata quota.

9. Quote of the week

10. Members in the news

*Please note these articles may be paywall protected

"… Leading Australian developer and builder Coronation Property today will officially open its multi-award winning Mason & Main housing and retail precinct in the heart of the revitalised Merrylands CBD – delivering 849 new homes into the Western Sydney market. Designed by renowned, global architects Woods Bagot, the dynamic mixed-use development features Stage One x 434 Build-to-Rent and Stage Two x 415 Build-to-Sell apartments, premium amenities including a pool, a vibrant retail and ‘Eat Street’ dining area and one of Sydney’s biggest gyms...read more... 

To read more, click here:                                     The National Tribune, 10 May 2025

"…… A planning pivot from warehouse to hyperscale data centre would reshape a key Western Sydney site under a $1.1-billion proposal now on public exhibition. Global industrial property group Goodman is behind the development, known as Project Pluto, which proposes one two-storey data centre on a 71,710sq m site at 132 McCredie Road, Guildford West...read more...

To read more, click here:                                   The Urban Developer, 13 May 2025

“The developer behind a proposed two tower residential apartment block in Sydney’s west, touted as the litmus test to solving the housing crisis, has lodged an application to increase its height by four storeys. Mayfair on Penrith, a two towered, 10-storey Urban Property Group development which borders on the northern edge of Penrith train station, was approved in February 2024. The development promised 287 apartments, a portion of which would be deemed “affordable housing”, as well as rooftop pools on either building. …”

To read more, click here.                                      The Daily Telegraph, 12 May 2025

Follow our new LinkedIn Page