Six-star "vertical village" apartments come to Brighton: Genevieve Brannigan

Architecture firms that are mixing residences and retail in low-rise vertical developments are striking a new accord between planners, developers, consumers and environmentalists.  

In premium suburbs, the cost of land is starting to prohibit horizontal retail development. Meanwhile, high-rise development is also restricted.

The answer?

Vertical mixed-use developments, with retail real estate in Brighton is among the most expensive in Melbourne. It’s right in the heart of the leafy south-eastern suburbs, close to the beach, and the city.  

Developers and retailers there face a common problem: keeping their prices reasonable. As more local councils impose height restrictions, the problem of providing affordable houses and shops increases.

“Vertical mixed-use” development is providing part of the answer; increasingly, developers are building residential apartments over retail precincts.  

Now a new trend is taking the vertical mixed-use trend a step further – architects are designing “super basements”, extending retail and amenities deep underneath some new residential.  

A project in Bay Street Brighton by architecture firm ROTHELOWMAN is a case in point.

Named 380 Degrees and scheduled to be finished in November, the development will include 95 six-star apartments, mostly one- and two-bedroom, but with 13 three bedrooms.

On the ground floor, a 4,200 square meter full-line Coles supermarket. Deep below, going down four levels are all the amenities – storage, air-conditioning, loading and delivery bays – that the supermarket needs to run smoothly, and the car parking for the residents.  

The success of this kind of project is contingent on the quality of the design. The big challenge is to make sure the retailers and the residents don’t get in each other’s way. The supermarket wants to be in and operating after 18 months, but the apartments will take another five months to finish building.

The construction work has to go on without hindering the retailers, the residents and consumers.  

Shane Rothe, the managing principal of ROTHELOWMAN, says: “There’s a lot of complexity in the design because we need to separate not only the different uses, but also the servicing, the access and the exits. The facilities need to be designed in a way that doesn’t impede or affect the residential. It’s very interesting from a design point of view.”

Consumers are taking to the idea – all apartments at 380 Degrees are sold – making vertical mixed use development a happy solution for retailers and developers, as well as for town planners, who are increasingly concerned with keeping building heights to acceptable levels and with intensifying development around activity centres.  

As yet, there is no data on the vertical mixed-use development trend, according to Property Council CEO, Peter Verner. But there will be soon. Vertical mixed-use are the subject of a University of Queensland research project by Dr Iderlina Mateo-Babiano, who will investigate the attributes that make vertical mixed-use developments successes (or failures).  

Verner says more and more developers are interested in this option, including the possibility of pushing the retailer down a level – below ground.  “Some developers are experimenting, and consumers will make their choice,” Verner says.  

“It is all about convenience, variety and value.”  

Environmentalists also believe “vertical villages” will be an important part of an urban future that involves less travel.