Victoria has delivered nation-leading innovation and leadership in apartment development excellence, with an aged-care retrofit, long-term shelter for family violence survivors, housing for the  homeless and a Nightingale Housing revival of a dilapidated site, among the award-winning projects.

Australian Apartment Advocacy (AAA) CEO and founder Samantha Reece, speaking at the inaugural Victorian Apartment Awards for Excellence, said that of all the states, Victoria demonstrated the greatest depth and diversity of entries. The AAA Awards categories include Diversity in Housing Choice, Affordability, Luxury, Precinct Rejuvenation and Heritage and Community Culture.

There were 18 winners in 14 award categories, with four Pioneering winners and two in Heritage and Community Culture. There were 40 entries from 25 companies overall.

“All of the winners were first-class but I would like to highlight some of the exceptional winners, including The Alba, by FK Australia and Australian Unity, a complex aged-care retrofit that has allowed aged-care high-rise in Melbourne’s CBD with independent and supported living through to palliative care in the one complex,” Ms Reece said.

“Viv’s Place, Australia’s first longer-term apartment facility for survivors of family violence, was designed by ARM Architecture and is managed by Launch Housing. It caters for 60 adults and 130 children, with self-contained studio to four bedroom apartments as well as communal kitchen, dining, social facilities and wrap around support services.  

“Another visionary project, Make Room, a collaboration between the City of Melbourne, i2c Architects and Unison Housing, repurposed the heritage-listed archive building into long-term housing for the homeless, with 50 apartments and 24/7 wrap around services.

“Also Nightingale Village on Duckett Street, Brunswick, has 203 apartments and eight commercial outlets. Nightingale appointed six architects to create a mews effect from a former industrial site, recycling 90 per cent of the demolition waste, installing cost-effective power supply, recycled water for residents’ toilets and acheiving a NatHERS rating of 7.8-9 for all buildings.

“Nightingale liaised with community housing providers Housing Choice Australia and Women’s Property Initiative to allocate 27 homes to for those in need.”

AAA is a national not-for-profit organisation advocating for better consumer protection for apartment buyers and owners and accountability and transparency for builders and developers.

The AAA Apartment Awards for Excellence, to be held in Queensland in October, are designed to encourage quality, innovation and longevity in the residential apartment sector, with apartments rapidly overtaking standalone homes as the preferred housing choice of Australians.