Early Plays Pay Off in Sydney’s Eastern Reform Shake-Up

Sydney’s eastern suburbs have rarely given emerging developers much room to move. Tight zoning, tight streets, tight politics—the kind of environment where ambition hit a ceiling long before it reached a height limit. It’s also a place where resistance arrives early —protest groups, council pushback, neighbours mobilising before drawings are finished. And, occasionally, complaints about new buildings interrupting someone’s preferred nude-sunbathing routine. The smallest changes to development rules turn personal, fast. Reform is shifting the ground. New South Wales has moved faster than any other state, creating the first real test case for what its Low and Mid-Rise Housing reforms can unlock—and giving the rest of Australia a glimpse of what may come next. Antipodean Building Group director Adam Touma didn’t wait. Before policy was even locked in, he was already assembling land—early moves now steering two major plays in Sydney’s east. Those moves have grown into a potential 170 homes across a 10-lot corner site in Kingsford and a two-lot scheme in Randwick. Kingsford: One house becomes 10 Kingsford was the first step. It began as one house at 118 Botany Street, bought in late 2021 when the land only allowed a single home or duplex. ▲ Antipodean consolidated 10 lots across Botany and Wallace streets into a 4200sq m Kingsford site now progressing as a 142-home SSD application. Around this time the Randwick Council released a draft planning proposal flagging possible medium-density housing in selected areas. “It was a risk—nothing was approved yet—but the proposal suggested R3 zoning with 16.5m of height and a 1.6:1 FSR,” Touma tells The Urban Developer . “I decided to acquire the site and wait.” The Randwick Council adopted its Comprehensive Planning Proposal in 2023, rezoning this Kingsford South pocket from low-density controls to R3 Medium Density and enabling small apartment buildings where only single homes had been allowed. Two years later the state widened the window again through its LMR reforms, permitting six-storey housing—and more height with affordable units—in selected suburbs. As policy shifted, so did the opportunity. “We started talking to all the owners in around 2023,” Touma says. Conversations stretched across Botany and Wallace streets. “It took several years, multiple agents and a lot of patience.” Piece by piece, the 1000sq m lot became a 10-lot corner site—118-124 Botany Street and 58-60 Wallace Street—now more than 4000 square metres. ▲ Early massing diagrams for the Kingsford SSD outline the proposed eight-storey envelope. Studio Johnston is preparing the architectural scheme. Antipodean has begun a State Significant Development application for the site, with Studio Johnston’s eight-storey concept for 142 apartments, including affordable homes and a mix of one, two and three-bedroom units. Close to UNSW, Prince of Wales Hospital, Cbus Property’s evolving 5ha Newmarket precinct and strong transport links, the location underpins the scale. “What drew me to Kingsford was its location and the opportunity to do a bigger building than what we are used to delivering in the Eastern Suburbs,” Touma says. Randwick: Reading the shift early The Randwick site came through a different set of signals but the same instinct to move early. ▲ A Studio Johnston rendering of the eight-storey design for 25–27 Church Street, Randwick, filed under LMR reforms. “The first property (27 Church Street) came to market in February 2025 as a deceased estate,” Touma says. “We acquired it prior to auction.” The 500sq m site is in the north Randwick pocket near Centennial Park. Wanting more room, Touma approached the neighbour. “I decided to door-knock next door, and letterbox-dropped them, with a letter outlining my interest,” he says. “After a few months negotiating, we exchanged the property directly with the family’s solicitor.” The two homes became a 1000sq m site ready for a midrise scheme under the Low and Mid Rise Housing reforms. Studio Johnston’s filed plans propose an eight-storey building with 27 apartments—almost all large three-bedders—and five affordable units. Two basement levels would provide 35 car spaces, with landscaped edges and a communal rooftop on Church Street. “I’ve had strong advice investors aren’t touching one-bedders in this climate,” Touma says. “What’s performing is the twos, the two-plus-study and the threes.” ▲ The consolidated two-lot subject site at 25–27 Church Street at Randwick. Early feedback reflects the area’s sensitivities, including a neighbour worried the proposal might interrupt his long-held nude-sunbathing routine—a hyper-local snapshot of how personal change becomes in this part of Sydney. A family builder waiting for the rules to shift Antipodean’s story began decades earlier. Touma grew up in a family building business run by his father, Paul, and uncle, Michael, who migrated from Lebanon. “My father, Paul, started building and developing back in the 1980s in Sydney,” Touma says. “They came from humble beginnings … they were factory workers and teamed up with as much family as they could to raise the capital to start doing small projects.” Touma studied commerce and law at UNSW, joined the family business and delivered three projects with cousins John and Jason before the partnership split in 2020. “So now the business is just me and Antipodean Building Group was established,” he says. ▲ The ‘nude sunbather’s nightmare’ at Randwick would rise eight storeys and replace two old houses on Church Street. Ambition was clear. “I always wanted to scale the business and work on exciting projects … but I found it hard in the Eastern Suburbs with the zoning and height limitations.” Policy provided the opening. “When I got wind of the Randwick Comprehensive Planning Proposal, I knew this was the time to scale up,” Touma says. “Then once the state government started talking about Transport-Oriented Development and LMR Housing, it was clear there would never be a better time for me to invest.” Where uplift meets friction The projects work only because the rules moved. Kingsford shifted from one-and-two-home outcomes to small apartment buildings in 2023, then to midrise housing under the state’s 2025 reforms. Randwick moved under the same policy. “Without question, these policies made the projects viable,” Touma says. “The LMR Housing reforms and the Housing SEPP were the single most important factor.” But uplift does not erase complexity. “You get the height and [floor space ratio] FSR, but you still have to deal with building separation and overshadowing,” he says. “On small lots you cannot physically comply. It’s impossible.” The state now allows taller buildings on smaller lots but older design rules—including separation distances and overshadowing—still apply. On narrow sites, meeting everything at once is impossible. Touma expects most councils to refuse early applications. The first wave of projects using the new rules will likely land in the Land and Environment Court, he says, where the boundaries of the reforms will be tested. “Once the early cases reach the court, we’ll see what’s acceptable,” he says. Community opposition is already forming. “We’ve already seen a resident campaign against the Randwick DA,” he says. “It’s Sydney. The sentiment is ingrained.” Two projects, two pathways The reforms unlock what can be built, not who assesses it. Randwick remains a standard development application with The Randwick Council but the 4200sq m Kingsford assemblage is large enough to move through the State Significant Development pathway—a step into a more demanding tier of design, consultation and scrutiny. The shift has shaped the way Touma works with his team. “Studio Johnston really bring an open, collaborative approach,” he says. “It helps shape something unique.” For Touma, the pathway difference is practical as much as procedural. “You get the height and FSR from the reforms but you still have to follow the right planning pathway,” he says. “Kingsford goes to the state. Randwick stays with council.” A careful step into a larger tier The next three years will be spent delivering both projects—about 170 homes in total. “It’s a big jump,” Touma says. “I need to manage it carefully. If all goes well, I’d like to keep scaling—maybe into Melbourne or Queensland. But I try not to get ahead of myself.” For now, Antipodean stands among the early case studies of Sydney’s LMR shift, moving early where others waited and showing how timing, reform and persistence can redraw what is possible—even in suburbs where resistance has often been loudest.

Early Plays Pay Off in Sydney’s Eastern Reform Shake-Up

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Early Plays Pay Off in Sydney’s Eastern Reform Shake-Up

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