Luxury 10-Storey Perth Apartments Greenlit

A luxury apartment development in Perth’s Nedlands area has been given conditional approval despite fears of  its “excessive” height.  

The development at 1A Thomas Street, dubbed Forêt Nedlands, will deliver 27 units, according to the development application from RAD Architecture on behalf of C&N Unit Trust, a vehicle of Capital Way Interiors.

It will offer 9 two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments, 17 three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments, and a four-bedroom, three bathroom penthouse. 

Plans also detail ground-floor communal co-working space and three levels of basement parking with 58 residential and five visitor bays, as well as a fitness room, sauna and steam room and outdoor lounge areas.

However, it was touch-and-go for the development.

Plans were first considered by the WA development assessment panel in May after being submitted in late 2023, at which time it deferred the application to allow for matters of height and plot ratio to be addressed 

The development’s future again hung in the balance at the meeting this month [August 2024] after it was recommended for refusal because the development was “not consistent with the desired future scale and character of the street and local area”.

The recommendations said the development was “excessive” and might have a detrimental impact on residents in surrounding low-density housing. 

It was suggested that the development would “encourage even taller development closer to Stirling Highway which will not be in keeping with the desired future character of the area”. 

However, an alternate motion was made resolving to conditionally approve the development, with members of the development assessment panel for the City of Stirling satisfied that the 10-storey height responded to the overall vision and objectives of planning in the area. 

The panel said it was well-articulated and designed, given that the Design Review Panel had supported the overall project design, with no detrimental impact on amenity.

Nedlands has been attracting a trickle of development, with projects such as Atrio Property’s 31-unit project and a quartet of apartment projects lodged for the area late last year.