Sydney developer Deicorp has gone back to the drawing board on a residential complex it first put forward more than six years ago to bring the plans into line with contemporary needs.
The development application for the residential development at 3 Farmhouse Road, Westmead, 26km west of the Sydney CBD, was lodged in 2016 but modifications to the original plans are now being exhibited.
The changes, aimed at “refinement and improvement”, would result in an additional four floors being added to buildings D and F of the residential development.
Eight of the planned apartments would be scrapped in favour of new communal facilities, lounge areas, a gym and wellness area, and multi-function meeting rooms and coworking spaces.
Planners Sutherland and Associates Planning and Turner Studio architects said that it was not a “radical” transformation as it did not alter the fundamental nature of the approved development.
However, the move highlighted the prioritisation of amenities in residential developments designed in recent years.
Developers have been looking at hotel and concierge-style services with communal entertainment spaces and a move to make working from home a differentiated experience.
Competition from the build-to-rent space has also focused around amenities provision and prompted a drive toward quality.
Deicorp’s new building complex will range in height from six to 24 storeys and consist of 405 units over basement carparking.
Development consent was granted to the initial development application lodged, which would have delivered heights from six to 20 storeys and 344 units.
The updated plans cut the number of studio apartments from four to two, with 207 one-bedroom apartments (from the initially proposed 209), 175 two-bedroom units (formerly 178) and 13 three-bedroom apartments, shaving off one planned.
The area, within the Westmead Strategic Precinct of Parramatta, has a “growing role as a mixed-use location with a dynamic mix of employment, health, educational, recreation, retail and housing uses”.
The site is next to Western Sydney University’s Westmead campus, and there is an additional Innovation Centre planned in the wider development associated with the university.
The latest tower is stage two of Deicorp’s Westmead Rise masterplanned residential community, with its Highline Westmead building on 5-7 Maple Tree Road under way as stage one.
Deicorp has recently broken ground on four further towers in Sydney at Castle Hill's Showground precinct after ramping up its apartment pipeline last year.
