[+] Vertical ‘Backyards’ Go Next Level to Hook Apartment Buyers

Apartment living is on the rise but Australians are by no means ready to give up the open space they are traditionally accustomed to in the suburban backyard. Instead, as house prices have soared and the densification of urban areas has continued, they have been demanding more from the buildings they live in. At the same time, the pandemic has led to a significant shift in the collective mindset and how people want to live. It is now as much about the diversity of lifestyle amenity within the landscape of a multi-level residential development as it is about apartment size and the location. Resort-style rooftops with pools, yoga lawns, gyms, playgrounds, urban forests and so-called pocket parks, off-leash dog parks, magnesium plunge pools and spas, steam rooms, infrared saunas, outdoor communal gathering and dining areas with fire pits, barbecues, pizza ovens and teppanyaki grills. You name it, they’re thinking of it and already building it into the vertical landscape of apartment developments. “You can choose your own adventure,” Arcadia Landscape Architecture principal Alex Longley says. “You can go and have a glass of wine and watch the sunset. Or you can go up to the opposite end, and you've got far more activity and velocity, if that's what you're seeking. “And people do want to have all that. It's what's selling these developments now. “Apartment living has taken a significant shift … the two components of life—work and home—have been blurred and these lifestyle offerings are far more important. “Our delivery of these spaces in the outdoor environment is very common now. “We’ve also got a mixture of developments where we’re starting to actually design conditioned pavilions within the landscape where you can sit on a cold winter’s Melbourne day and be able to work in that space. “I think some of that Jetsons level of amenity we saw on TV is actually starting to come to life in some respects, where you've got sky gardens throughout apartment developments and more significant communal spaces.” Project management specialist Riye Arai-Coupe, co-founder of Brisbane-based Bluebird Property, says from a developer’s perspective, landscaped amenities and other offerings such as resident rooftops have set a new standard in expectations from apartment buyers. “In every new high-density development, you will see that these are now the standard and many buildings continue to set new benchmarks in design and inclusions. “We’re also seeing a growing trend for smaller boutique buildings including higher quality shared amenities, especially since Brisbane City Council introduced the rooftop gardens and landscaped greenspace amendment to the City Plan earlier this year. “Many new CBD and inner-city commercial buildings are also providing landscaped rooftop amenities, an increasingly sought-after inclusion for employees’ benefit and staff engagement. “From a return on investment perspective, when done correctly, a development’s landscaped green spaces and shared residential amenities provide a triple bottom line benefit—improved brand reputation, more significant social and environmental impacts, enhanced customer demand and satisfaction, all while making a positive impact on our environment. “As our cities continue to densify, there is a growing importance of the provision of green open spaces and communal amenities. Building rooftops is a great opportunity to deliver this need.” Longley agrees but also says “if you want to be drawing a unique outcome and proposition in any facet of development ... you've really got be starting to think 'okay, what's next?' not 'what did that guy do that was successful?' “It'll continue to evolve that the environment and lifestyle are a major driver in peoples' quality of life, particularly the millenial age group,” he says. “We saw in the last federal election that millennial group, you know, they want the planet to be looked after. And they're the people that are going to be continuing to buy and to rent these buildings. “Their growing aspirations will far outweigh developer feasibility and if developers want to put their heels in the ground they'll run into problems.” However, just as well for developers looking for a point of difference in a highly competitive market, consumers are now willing to pay much more for lifestyle than they ever have been. “Consumers will pay an extra $50,000 or more for an apartment that has within its actual private communal open spaces greater levels of offerings,” Longley says. “Certainly, the desire for diversity is huge.” Developer Cavcorp’s project sales manager Jimmy Huynh says the Brisbane-based company aims to “push the boundaries with every building … but providing that resort-style amenity, particularly on the rooftop, is an expensive exercise”. “To do that, you typically have to also construct a service level underneath as well for all the pumps, plant equipment and irrigation tanks,” he says. “So, you’re essentially having to build two levels to provide a high quality rooftop amenity space.” ▲ Resort-style lifestyle amenity in new high-density development is now the standard with many buildings setting new benchmarks in design and inclusions. Cavcorp’s Luminare apartment project in Brisbane’s inner-city Newstead features more than 1300 sq m of residents’ amenities, including a cantilevered rooftop pool. “As a rule of thumb, it might be an extra $50,000 to $100,000 per apartment in order to provide that amenity and so you’re having to sell the apartments higher in order to accommodate those additional costs,” Huynh says. “It only stacks up with scale. So you do need some density within the project in order to make it feasible. “But it’s one of those things. It’s a standard for us for all our projects and consumers do expect that level of amenity these days and they're willing to pay for it when it's done correctly. “It really does build a community. We’ve seen the benefits with resale values, repeat buyers as well as renters turning into owners. And that then translates to better sale prices in your future buildings. “Importantly, just because you’re doing rooftop amenities doesn’t mean you sacrifice the quality and the size of your apartment layout,” Huynh says. “I think that’s where a lot of developers go wrong. “You’ve got to have both ... so, there is a fine balancing act.” Landscape architect Matt Durning, a director at Aspect Studios, says the shift towards resort-style lifestyle amenity in apartment developments largely was focused around health and wellbeing. “People still want a backyard and somewhere to connect back to nature and that’s about providing these functional rooftops for significant landscape to thrive,” he says. Fellow Aspect Studio director Katherine English adds: “It’s really about taking all the amenity that you’d find in a suburban neighbourhood and offering it in the vertical neighbourhood that is an apartment building. “So that's kind of where landscape architecture with these apartments has become so incredibly important. “And because there is a push for more sustainable developments, and developments that are very conscious of their local settings, that's where our understanding of environment comes into play. “It has definitely come a long way from 10 or 12 years ago when any amenities provided with apartments were pretty stock standard, like a pool and barbecue area and not much else. “Now, you can have everything in a high-density building that you could get in suburbia ... including a backyard. It just might be shared with other people but, at the same time, you're not the one cleaning the pool, pruning the shrubs or mowing the lawn.” You are currently experiencing The Urban Developer Plus (TUD+), our premium membership for property professionals. Click here to learn more.

[+] Vertical ‘Backyards’ Go Next Level to Hook Apartment Buyers

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