Nightingale Anstey will deliver 54 apartments in a mix of sizes over 8 levels and continue the development transition of the Anstey Urban Village and Brunswick Activity Centre in Melbourne. It reinforces the pedestrian oriented development approach of the broader precinct and continues to make a strong design statement for Brunswick.

The multi-residential building is broken up into 2 communities; a Laneway community housing 31 apartments and a Station community housing 23, with apartment types ranging from 3 bedrooms to Teilhaus apartments. These are studio-style apartments, approximately 27sqm, which maximise daylight and solar access, outlooks and privacy in order to provide a high level of amenity for the resident.

There are separate secure entries and each have dedicated rooftop spaces with laundry facilities, gardens and communal bike storage and waste rooms. Through the inclusion of large trees and greenery within the crevices, the mass of the site is visually reduced.

The project will also provide a pedestrian connection between the Southern laneway and the Upfield Bike Path, through an activated south courtyard adjacent retail space, public bike parking, a publicly accessible bike repair station and large mature trees.

Hansen Partnership worked with Nightingale Housing to develop an approvals strategy that allowed an amendment of a previous Town Planning permit.

The matters before the Council in this case related to the built form response to DDO18, the overall scale of the development, the acceptability of the interface with the Upfield cycle path and the access and connectivity through to Anstey Railway Station, management of apartment design and layout, environmental design and sustainability as well as the ever contentious full waiver of car parking.

The project also required key stakeholder management; including VicTrack, Moreland City Council and the broader Brunswick community in order to ensure timely approval and avoidance of VCAT.