Apartment Plans Revealed for Brisbane’s Bulimba Barracks

The next step in Brisbane’s Bulimba Barracks transformation into a new riverfront neighbourhood has been revealed with plans filed for the first of its planned 800-plus homes.

Planning documents have been lodged by developer Shayher Group for two apartment buildings rising up to three storeys and comprising 69 one, two and three bedroom units.

The low to medium-rise scheme has been designed by architecture firm Buchan and is earmarked for a 6382sq m portion of the 20ha former naval base.

It sits next to a sprawling, heritage-listed fabrication workshop, which is to be refurbished and adaptively reused with a view to creating “a focal point within the Bulimba Barracks masterplan and fostering a new community hub”.

Under the plans, the historic shed is slated as “the main component of the precinct centre” and will be the subject of a separate development application.

It would house retail and other community amenities within the existing building envelope and be linked to the proposed Apollo Road Apartments via a planned shared laneway.

“A sensitive design approach has been undertaken to ensure the workshop shed heritage values are not only preserved but celebrated,” the documents said.

The shared laneway is designed to enhance pedestrian pathways between the historical retail and residential uses and riverside park.

An Urbis town planning report said the proposed development would deliver “high-quality residential apartment living on a corner setting within a prominent location of the Bulimba Barracks masterplanned site”.

“The intent is to start creating a new neighbourhood as envisioned in the masterplan approved in 2022, which seamlessly integrates with adjoining neighbourhoods and surrounding residential areas providing new opportunities for connectivity and access to the riverfront,” it said.

▲ Renders of the apartment buildings proposed for the Bulimba Barracks site.

According to the report, the two apartment buildings would feature a central communal recreation area, including a swimming pool, sauna, community garden, cabana daybeds and outdoor dining areas.

“The two buildings ‘read’ as separate complexes with a building scale equivalent to the previous warehouse buildings that occupied the site previously,” it said.

“This similar scale is seen to be an important element of historic character that has been reflected in the design.

“The new residential buildings … will be located, designed and constructed to reflect the footprint, overall bulk and scale of these World War II buildings.

“The intent of the development is to integrate with the surrounding area (both internal and external), enhancing connectivity between the community and the riverfront to the north.”

Arbour structures in the residential ground-floor private courtyards have been designed to tie in with the structural grid relating to the historical significance of the fabrication shed’s timber frame. 

▲ Render of the apartment buildings proposed for the Bulimba Barracks site redevelopment.

Overall, the apartment buildings would include a mix of 10 one-bedroom, 38 two-bedroom and 21 three-bedroom units as well as a total of 1101sq m of communal open space.

Two basement levels would provide 332 residential and commercial carparking spaces.

“The proposed subdivision advances the next stage of redevelopment of the Bulimba Barracks site,” the documents said.

“The project aims to become an iconic destination within the larger masterplan. It will offer diverse housing options to the Bulimba area while complementing the adjacent fabrication workshop.”

Shayher Group’s preliminary masterplan incorporates apartment blocks up to five storeys as well as three-storey townhouse complexes and detached two-storey hosuing. Its target yield for the site is 855 homes.

The latest development application follows Shayher Group submitting plans in April for public space spanning more than 500m along the Brisbane riverfront, including a network of walkways and cycleways, a shipyard-themed playground, covered picnic areas, a viewing deck and grass fields for the site.