Collective #7 – Barkly St StKilda

Our seventh collective of seven members commenced in 2017 with the purchase of 60 Barkly Street St Kilda. For the second year running we managed to purchase a site just before Christmas, so while everyone was winding down for the holidays, we were busy kicking off our first deliberative development south of the Yarra.

Situated on the eastern side of Barkly Street before the dip toward the Inkerman St and Grey St intersection, the elevated nature of the 655m2 site affords these homes sweeping bay views to the south. From the top storeys you can see to Caulfield in the east to Williamstown to the west.

The property also abuts an upgraded public park on Waterloo Street which added to the appeal. Our strategy with our seven membres was to develop 7 x 3 bedroom three storey townhouses on the property.

A task we anticipated would be made slightly easier by an existing permit for 16 apartments over 3 levels which was approved with over 80% site coverage. However the change in planning legislation in March 2017 to incorporate the mandatory 35% garden area for properties over 650m2 meant we had to rethink our initial design approach.

This scheme features a consolidated carpark in the centre of the site with two dwellings sitting ontop of the carpark. While two units are situation on grade to the east and three units on grade to the west. The consolidated carparking includes two sets of car stackers, one of which is a puzzle stacker. All the members of the Collective were keen for 1 car per dwelling, however Council wouldn’t provide us with a dispensation, so we were forced to introduce stackers.

Click here to download a copy of the submitting town planning drawings.