Concord Co-Living Tower Plan Tests Metro-Era Parking

Plans for a 16-storey co-living scheme that pares parking requirements back to the bone have been filed for Sydney’s Inner West.

The $44.6-million mixed-use project of 180 co-living rooms is planned for a Parramatta Road site at Concord, 11km from the CBD.

The proposal spans 55-59 Parramatta Road and 1A Broughton Street across a 1880sq m site about 250m from the future Burwood North Metro Station on Sydney Metro West.

Sydney Metro lists 2032 as the target opening for the station.

The site comprises seven allotments occupied by a drive-through cafe at 55 Parramatta Road and a single-storey brick commercial building across 57-59 Parramatta Road with associated parking.

At 1A Broughton Street, a large former factory building houses automotive services, offices and a martial arts gym. Demolition of all structures is proposed.

▲ The site at 55-59 Parramatta Road and 1A Broughton Street, Concord.

Plans filed by DPG Project 59 detail 4888sq m of gross floor area, including 156sq m of ground-floor retail and just 26 car spaces—nine allocated to car share. The total is equal to about 0.14 spaces a room.

For context, an August 2024 NSW Treasury-commissioned Centre for International Economics report identified average parking requirements across nine Sydney councils of 1.3 spaces an apartment in midrise residential buildings.

Parking adds $93,000 a space to construction costs and is “approximately a fifth of total construction costs”, the report found.

Co-living developments are assessed under separate planning provisions, which permit lower parking rates in well-serviced locations.

Designed by Fuse Architects, the scheme falls within the Burwood–Concord precinct under the Parramatta Road Corridor Urban Transformation Strategy, where controls introduced in 2022 permit increased height, with design excellence required above eight storeys.

Included in the 55.6m proposal is a 3.6m variation to the precinct’s 52m incentive height limit, mainly associated with lift overruns and a roof feature forming part of the competition-winning design.

▲ A Fuse Architects rendering of the proposed 16-storey co-living tower at Concord.

Residential floors span levels 4 to 15 and total 4732sq m, with rooms from 22sq m to 30 square metres.

Twelve accessible rooms are proposed.

Shared amenity would comprise 382sq m of internal communal space and 846.23sq m of communal open space.

Two retail tenancies address Parramatta Road and Broughton Street frontages.

Access to a double-storey podium carpark would be via Frankie Lane.

Consolidation of seven allotments is proposed, along with land dedication to Transport for NSW for road widening, public access easements to Parramatta Road and Broughton Street and a 26m right of carriageway to extend Frankie Lane.

A design competition held between July and September last year selected Fuse Architects and Lenamore Design Studio, followed by a Design Integrity Panel review in November.

Determination of the $44.6-million scheme will rest with the Sydney Eastern City Planning Panel.