1. 40 greensmart
sustainablecities
DISRUPTER
HOUSING MARKET
DISRUPTER
HOUSING MARKET
DISRUPTERThe Nightingale model
demonstrates affordable and
sustainable urban housing
in Australia is no longer an
urban myth.
story > Laura Valic
ousing that’s stylish,
sustainable, affordable and
liveable, as well as conveniently
close to the amenities offered
by our cities? This enviable concept
may sound like an impossible dream
in Australia’s heated and speculative
property market, but for an exciting
initiative spreading across the country –
Nightingale Housing.
Spearheaded by a group of socially-
conscious architects, the Nightingale
model is all about delivering beautiful,
well-built and well-sized – not over-
sized – homes for real life. Much of
the excitement for home buyers lies in
the potential freedom from having to
settle on profit-driven developments
that dominate housing supply in cities;
usually built with little consideration for
people, community or the environment.
Jessie Hochberg, general manager
of Nightingale Housing, says that
sustainability is at the core of this
replicable model.
‘There’s no specific design that is
Nightingale…[it] is a system used to
produce housing,’ she explains.
H
Photo:AndrewWuttke

2. greensmart 41
‘Buildings are built with the intention
of reducing operating and maintenance
costs over its lifetime. One other key
part is urban contribution; it responds
to specific contexts and gives back to the
community in which it’s located.’
This housing market disrupter
started with Breathe Architecture’s The
Commons, an award-winning housing
development in Melbourne. Completed
in 2013, the five-storey dwelling stands
out for what it doesn’t offer. And its
striking simplicity forces us to reconsider
what we actually need from our homes
to live comfortably.
You can hear about this development
in more detail from lead architect,
Jeremy McLeod’s TEDx talk. But in a
nutshell, designing the 24-apartment
building with passive solar features,
double-glazed windows and insulation
eliminated the need for air-conditioners
(a $200,000 saving). And without
a second bathroom or plasterboard
ceilings, and a shared laundry on
the rooftop garden (this reportedly
has increased socialisation amongst
neighbours), the units are more spacious
than expected. Plus the savings mean
lower unit prices for buyers.
The Nightingale model adopts
many of these ideas, and with a triple
bottom line approach strives for social
health, environmental sustainability and
financial resilience when building multi-
residential housing.
Jessie says a big part of its appeal is
the point at which a buyer is brought
into the design process and the amount
of input they’re given.
‘People who are going to live there
get an informed say on what the design
outcomes are,’ she says. ‘They’re given
real cost information about lifecycle costs
and based on that they can make key
decisions about the design of their home.’
While material reductionism ensures
construction savings, every development
needs finance to be built, and the
Nightingale model is no different.
However, investor profits are capped
at 15 per cent – usually a minimum
of 20 per cent – ensuring profit is not
prioritised at quality’s expense.
Overall, this breakaway from the norm
hasn’t deterred interest. Many projects
are still in the conceptual phase, except
‘THERE’S NO SPECIFIC DESIGN
THAT IS NIGHTINGALE...
[IT] IS A SYSTEM USED TO
PRODUCE HOUSING’
>
Jessie Hochberg
Apartment living at The Commons
The Commons residents
on their rooftop garden
Project photos: Andrew Wuttke

3. 42 greensmart
for Nightingale 1.0 which is located
across the road from The Commons and
is now out of the ground with the slab
down. At least three others in Victoria
are in various stages of approval, while
across state borders one project now has
a site in Fremantle, Western Australia,
and two others have been given the
green light in Sydney.
The designer-led movement
isn’t without its challenges though.
Identifying suitable land is one, and so
far they’ve found planning processes
don’t recognise triple bottom line
development as being different from
speculative development.
But these issues aren’t
insurmountable, and Jessie says the
future appears bright.
‘The one thing that I’m really excited
about is that we’re starting to see
governments recognise Nightingale
as a potential procurement model for
new housing.’ Jessie also notes that
the incoming ACT Government has
recently declared this a priority action
for the territory.
‘At the moment we operate within
the full market conditions but we’re
looking at partnerships with social
housing providers so that we can offer
that real combination of market and
social housing integrated together. Our
purchasers have responded positively to
that any time it’s been proposed.’
With resale restrictions on Nightingale
Housing (owners can only sell for the
average price rise in the suburb on top of
purchase price), you don’t buy into these
developments to make quick money.
But for everyday Australians facing a
volatile housing market where home
ownership seems like an impossible
reality, progressive change that addresses
housing quality and affordability is the
really exciting prospect. gs
sustainablecities
‘BUILDINGS ARE BUILT WITH
THE INTENTION OF REDUCING
OPERATING AND MAINTENANCE
COSTS OVER ITS LIFETIME’
Photo: Peter Clarke
The Commons’ bike
basement
Nightingale 1:
Breathe Architecture
Nightingale 3:
Austin Maynard Architects