Pattern Book Corner Lot Apartments 01: the NSW corner apartment design explained

The design is built around a corner block with two street frontages. It cannot be used on a mid block lot, and battle axe blocks are excluded. The smallest block that works is 15 metres wide and 35 metres deep, which is 525 square metres.

From that minimum the design grows in set increments to suit corner blocks up to 21 metres wide and 50 metres deep, which is 1,050 square metres. Lot width is measured at the front building line, and the frontage orientation is measured from the short facade.

The pattern adapts to a level change of up to 3.8 metres along the site with a split level core, so carefully check the site contours. A 3.8 metre maximum is a pretty flat site. Have a look and make sure the fall is under that limit.

Type your address to load your actual block from the NSW cadastre, including its boundaries, zoning and planning layers. Dudils screens lot size, orientation and slope to find patterns that could work. Dudils screens slope from the national elevation model, which is indicative and not a survey, so confirm the fall across your site against the limits above from a current survey. Also check your local council mapping to confirm the land is not flood prone or bush fire prone. Even the lowest BAL rating of 12.5 is not compliant. Heritage land, landslip risk land, land affected by a registered easement, coastal hazard land, foreshore land, unsewered land and battle axe blocks do not comply either.

The mid rise patterns only apply in the areas the NSW Government has opened up for more homes: low and mid rise (LMR) housing areas around selected town centres and stations, and transport oriented development (TOD) areas around selected railway and metro stations, where a residential flat building or shop top housing is permitted in the zone. You can look these areas up on the NSW Planning Portal map, or type your address above and the lot finder checks them for you.

The pattern pathway does not apply on land the policy identifies as unsuitable. That includes bushfire prone land, certain high risk flood land, State and local heritage items, and heritage conservation areas.

Where the pattern applies, its development standards prevail over inconsistent local controls, so the lot size, height and setback numbers on this page hold even where a council plan says otherwise.

On the minimum block the base design is a six storey building holding 18 apartments plus one commercial tenancy: 1 studio, 7 one bedroom, 5 two bedroom and 5 three bedroom homes. Larger blocks change the mix, four bedroom apartments appear on blocks 20 metres or wider, and no more than 55 percent of homes may be a single type.

The ground floor corner is flexible. It can be a commercial tenancy for retail, food and beverage or office use, which makes the building shop top housing, or it can be fully residential with a private corner courtyard.

Every home is reached by a lift and a distinctive open external stair that gives the corner its character. Apartments are planned front to back with external breezeway corridors, so homes get daylight and cross ventilation from multiple sides, and many have windows on three sides.

The roof is a shared outdoor space with a shade structure, planting and room for solar panels. Communal open space must be at least 25 percent of the site, and the base design achieves 28 percent. Parking is at grade behind the building with EV charging, entered from the primary street, or can be left out where a town centre location suits; the basement holds services and bike parking only.

These are the internal areas of the base design, with ceilings of at least 2.7 metres in habitable rooms. Every apartment has a private balcony or courtyard, and site expansion types extend the range, up to four bedroom apartments of 120 to 124 square metres on the widest blocks.

The pattern is a kit with strict rules rather than a single fixed building. The corner block anchors the intersection, and a linear tail extends along the longer street as the site grows.

What you can change: the site width from 15 to 21 metres in one metre steps, the length through added tail modules, the storey count (four, five or six), and the whole design can be mirrored to suit the corner and the sun. There are three material palettes: Earth (warm red and ochre brick), Eucalypt (pale brick with sage green metalwork) and Forest (pale masonry base with dark green metal cladding above).

What stays fixed: the room layouts, the entries to the building and each apartment, and the bathroom dimensions and clearances. Every change, even within the allowed range, must be declared in the design verification statement that accompanies the development application.

Dudils screens lot size and orientation to identify patterns that could work. It does not confirm full planning eligibility. Before buying a site, placing an option on it or purchasing the pattern licence, check the current State and local council mapping and obtain professional advice.

The pattern does not comply on bush fire prone land, even at the lowest BAL rating of 12.5, or on excluded flood prone land. Heritage items and conservation areas, landslip risk land, registered easements that affect the proposed building area, coastal hazard land, foreshore land, unsewered land and battle axe blocks also need to be ruled out.

Check the survey contours carefully. The maximum permitted fall is 3.8 metres along the site, and Dudils screens slope from the national elevation model, which is indicative and not a survey. Check sewer location, easements and other title restrictions against the proposed footprint as well as the mapped planning layers.

We recommend asking Good Architect to undertake a site feasibility study before buying the land or pattern licence. The study can test the planning constraints and draw the proposed building envelope before you commit.

These are the key numeric controls for the pattern. They sit in the Housing SEPP and prevail over inconsistent local controls where the pattern applies.

The pattern was solar tested across eight orientations of the corner, and neighbouring homes must keep at least 3 hours of sun to half their private open space on 21 June, evidenced with shadow diagrams in the application. This is something to watch out for. A block north of existing houses can easily overshadow neighbours to the south, which can limit how many storeys you can build. We recommend a feasibility study before purchasing so a rough model and shadow diagrams can be checked. Good Architect offers Feasibility Plans for $5,500.

Homes are all electric with ceiling fans, cross ventilation in line with the Apartment Design Guide, rainwater tanks that reuse roof water on site, and a roof sized for a large solar array. Every application must still demonstrate BASIX and NatHERS compliance.

Every apartment meets the ABCB Livable Housing Design Standard (the silver level of the old Livable Housing guidelines), the lift gives step free access to all levels, and several one and three bedroom types can be adapted to the Australian Standard for adaptable housing (AS4299) for residents who want to age in place.

Using the pattern starts with the NSW Government pattern licence: licence from $15,000 per lot. The fee buys the full technical drawing package in PDF and DWG formats, technical guidance, an editable design verification statement and a unique identification number for your application. We highly recommend completing a feasibility study before purchasing the site or design, or placing an option on the site, to make sure the pattern works first.

You then engage an architect or building designer to adapt the drawings to your site. The design verification statement must be completed by an architect on the NSW Register of Architects, confirming every fixed and adapted feature of the pattern is carried into your application.

The application is lodged as a development application under Chapter 7 of the Housing SEPP. Reduced assessment means the slow parts of a normal apartment DA are removed because the design questions are already answered: no design review panel, no reassessment against the Apartment Design Guide or the Schedule 9 design principles, usually no local planning panel, and fewer requests for further information. The NSW Government has not published a fixed number of days for the mid rise pathway, but councils are directed to prioritise pattern book applications.

Keep in mind the pattern drawings are indicative designs for planning approval, not construction drawings. After consent you still need full construction documentation, engineers, and a practitioner registered under the Design and Building Practitioners Act for Class 2 buildings.

Before committing to the land, licence or development application, start with Good Architect's site feasibility study to test whether this pattern can be responsibly adapted to the site.