Affordable Housing
Designed in a Day

What if an affordable housing project could be designed to Development Application stage in a single day? That was the proposition we put to the Illawarra Property Council—quickly embraced by Shoalhaven City Council through the provision of a demonstration site. 

Grounded in a prior co-design process with prospective tenants, our team translated lived experience into built form—testing appetite for shared facilities, defining spatial priorities and embedding dignity into the brief. The live workshop brought together Council, planners, landscape architects, community housing providers, a private developer and a quantity surveyor to iterate design, planning and cost in real time. 

Viability was tested alongside urban design outcomes, ensuring ambition remained deliverable. The result was more than a compliant scheme—it was a coordinated, cross-sector model for accelerating affordable housing supply. 

Importantly, the prototype did not remain theoretical. The project has since been delivered in partnership with Southern Cross Community Housing, with tenants now living in the completed homes. What began as a demonstration of possibility has become a built reality—evidence that aligned leadership and collaborative procurement can translate policy ambition into tangible housing outcomes.