OtherEditorial DeskWed 12 Jul 23

Nightingale Housing’s Dan McKenna: Meeting the Times

Rarely have developers faced more challenging times as the housing and climate crises combine to create a new level of pressure.

For Nightingale Housing, however, it is a large part of why they exist.

Founded on a commitment to sustainable and affordable developments, the not-for-profit housing provider has successfully delivered 411 homes in Victoria, WA and SA.

Ahead of Urbanity 23, chief executive Dan McKenna, who is among the 50-plus presenters at the three-day event on the Gold Coast, spoke to The Urban Developer.

From its earliest days McKenna said Nightingale had evolved from a team of two working from an architect’s office to a staff of 18. The developer has 254 homes under construction currently with another 380 in the planning stage.

Mckenna said the housing crisis had put extra focus on the industry, and a growing impetus on core sustainability targets.

“I’m really encouraged by a growth in market pressure for developers to provide housing that is well designed, inclusive, and that considers the climate crisis as priority,” he said.

“We have great relationships with a number of Community Housing Providers.

“Thanks to them, we deliver up to 20 per cent of our homes to people who would otherwise be locked out of quality housing.

“Housing Choices Australia and Women’s Property Initiatives are the organisations we work with the most and there are some great success stories of their tenants and owner occupiers living really happily side by side in Nightingale communities.”

McKenna said Nightingale was “scaling up to have more impact in more places”.

▲ Nightingale Bowden, the first project in Adelaide by the developer.

He cited its first project in Adelaide, Nightingale Bowden, delivered in 2022, as an example, with a second project in the city planned for next year.

The developer is also considering further north with Brisbane described as a “watch this space”.

The rapid take-up of build-to-rent has not bypassed Nightingale with one project, in Sydney’s Marrickville, in the pipeline. However, McKenna said, they were not rushing to get more underway at this stage.

“Although we believe creating affordable rental properties is essential to solving the current housing crisis, at the moment Nightingale Marrickville is the only build-to-rent project in our pipeline,” he said.

“We’re looking forward to following the project’s success and the market’s appetite for another Nightingale build-to-rent offering.”

Pressure of delivery was the biggest challenge for 2023 so far, he said, but he remained optimistic.

“We are hopeful that with continued support from our joint-venutre partners, community housing partners, government and collaborators, this will start to ease towards the tail end of this year,” McKenna said.

Known for its focus on sustainability, he said reductionism, incorporating elements that enhance building performance while maintaining affordability, was key for Nightingale.

“Sustainability doesn’t need to be hard or more expensive,” he said.

“We focus on taking out the things that don’t add any value and putting things in that make a building perform really well, like quality windows and insulation.”

Urbanity, Australia’s premier conference for the property industry, brought to you by The Urban Developer, will be held August on 29-31, 2023 on the Gold Coast

Highlights include: