Eastern Sydney Luxury Apartment Plans Refused

Plans for a three-building residential complex at Bellevue Hill in Sydney’s east have been refused by the local planning authority.

Woollahra Municipal Council rejected the plans for the site at 186-192 Old South Head Road over its size and the mix of apartments.

According to plans initially filed in January, the apartment buildings on site would be of five to six storeys. A trio of units would also have private pools, according to plans from Chanine Developments.

However, the council said that the proposal was inconsistent with some design quality principles. 

It said that the bulk, form and scale of the amended proposal would be “inconsistent ... and unsympathetic” to adjacent sites in the neighbourhood and of a bulk and scale that is “intrusive, overbearing and incongruous” with the streetscape. 

According to the initial development application, the surrounding area consists of a mixture of residential flat buildings, multi-home buildings and single houses, generally from two to nine storeys with limited landscaping. 

The council continued that there was “poor internal amenity” and landscape design that failed to enhance the development’s environmental performance. 

Additionally, “excessive bulk, scale, non-compliant setbacks and poor floor plan configuration and solar access” would result in unacceptable adverse impacts for residents.

It also failed to achieve a mix of apartment sizes, provide house choice for different demographics, living needs and household budgets, the council said.

This is far from the only project knocked back by a Sydney council recently. 

An “overdeveloped” Sydney tower was refused this month as Sydney councils and the NSW Building Commissioner call for better quality and more appropriate and diverse developments to meet housing supply targets.