When Melbourne developer Michael Piccolo sat down with his design team at the outset of 385 Gore Street, the question he kept returning to wasn’t what to put inside the building. It was what was already outside it.

“You’ve got to look at your local amenity,” he says. “We’re in Fitzroy. I’ve done a count—there’s probably about 20 wellness centres and gymnasium facilities all within 500 metres. So why build these spaces when you’ve got them there at your doorstep?”

It’s a simple idea, but one that cuts against the grain of an industry that has spent a decade racing to pack apartment buildings with pools, gyms and wellness centres.