A new audit has identified more than 80 unoccupied and underused buildings in the city’s CBD that are “really ripe” for residential redevelopment.
The demand for office space in Melbourne’s CBD has remained weak since the COVID-19 pandemic, with property giant GPT’s latest results reporting a vacancy rate of 16.2 per cent in Melbourne.Bakker pointed to City of Melbourne census data from 2021 that identified 1.4 million square metres of unoccupied office space. While some of this space had since been occupied, she said it was likely there would be even more unoccupied buildings if that data was collected again.
The audit found 1323 buildings fit the criteria, so the firms narrowed the parameters to buildings of 10 storeys or more. “We wanted to make sure that the apartments that we were talking about creating here are going to be of high quality and therefore fully comply with the better apartment design standards that we have that govern the quality of our apartment design,” Bakker said.“The magic number here is that nine metres’ depth from window to the rear wall in the living space.”
There are a number of hurdles to overcome with residential conversions, including planning, heritage, location and design issues, and getting the building owners onside.“If anyone is working in one of these buildings it’s not going to be converted into a home tomorrow,” she said. “Please don’t stress out.”
Health fund Australian Unity recently redeveloped a St Kilda Road office block into two retirement and aged care buildings, The Alba and The Grace.
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