Terraces for todays world

12/03/13 6:32 AM

Terraces for todays world

PUBLISHED: 11 Mar 2013 PRINT EDITION: 11 Mar 2013 Gift Article: 100

Terrace houses at Thornton, a new suburb alongside Penrith, in a region usually associated with suburban sprawl. Photo: Rob Homer Robert Harley NSW Planning Minister Brad Hazzard calls them the terrace houses of the 21st century. But they are not in the inner city. They are at Thornton, a new suburb alongside Penrith, at the base of the Blue Mountains, 55 kilometres west of the CBD in a region usually associated with suburban sprawl. Similar housing is emerging elsewhere in Sydneys outer suburbs and in other cities, as the aspirations which drove the sprawl make way for different imperatives. Around the country, developers are tapping a demand for smaller houses, affordable mortgages, and more focus on the community than the car. The Urban Development Institute of Australia reported the trend to smaller lot sizes around the country in its latest analysis, entitled State of the Land. The largest land developer in NSW at the moment, the state governments UrbanGrowth NSW, has responded to the change with a 21st Century Living Program.The aim is to work with builders and private sector developers to create a range of compact lot and specialised housing options across Sydney. They include terraces, duplexes, triplexes, loft or garden apartments, sometimes known as fonzie flats, as well as housing for those with disabilities. On Monday, Mr Hazzard and the chairman of UrbanGrowth NSW, John Brogden, will launch the program at Thornton. The suburb, created from 40 ha of long empty Department of Defence land, is just north of Penrith railway station. Eventually it will have 1000 new homes including 200 terraces, 450 compact lot houses and 350 apartments. Mr Brogden said the 21st Century Living Program aimed to develop new and adapted housing types for lots of 150 sq m to 350 sq m.
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Terraces for todays world

12/03/13 6:32 AM

Our aim is to improve the delivery of quality housing on smaller lots and increase housing diversity in new developments, he said. Thornton is a community that has been meticulously planned to ensure residents live close to public transport, jobs, shops and parks, he said. The terrace homes have been designed to make the best use of living areas, particularly by reducing corridors to a minimum. And the space over the car has been used to create garage top studio or loft apartments that will have their own strata title. Of course, smaller is not better if the facilities and amenity are not an improvement on those in a traditional large-lot outer suburban estate. At Thornton, the Penrith transit interchange is no further than a 700m walk and on the other side of the interchange is the Westfield mall and other facilities of one of Western Sydneys regional centres. UrbanGrowth NSW also plans to include additional facilities in Thornton itself with over 10,000 sq m of commercial space, 4500 sq m of retail and 1.2 ha of industrial land. Prices start from $330,000 for a two-bedroom home and $450,000 for a three-bedroom property. Mr Hazzard said the NSW government aimed to increase housing supply and put downward pressure on home prices. Terrace housing is being taken into the 21st century by UrbanGrowth NSW, he said. UrbanGrowth is also hosting a conference at Penrith on Monday to address housing supply and affordability. Speakers include the chief executive of the Real Property Association of Canada, Michael Brooks. The Australian Financial Review

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