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Conciliation has opened the way for a Bondi Junction residential tower.
Reworked plans for the 11-storey building of 46 units filed in 2024 have been approved on appeal by the NSW Land and Environment Court.
The proposals were lodged by Bondi Road Development Pty Ltd, an entity associated with Vaucluse-based Constantinos Charalambous, director of Charas Constructions.
The development is to rise at 7-19 Bondi Road, around 6km east of the Sydney CBD in the sought-after suburb, where median unit prices are $1.3 million and median rents are around $900 a week.
MHND Union designed the “elegant” built form of the project.
The project will include 11 affordable housing units, taking advantage of the latest NSW Housing SEPP changes which allow height and floor space ratio bonuses for an allocation of affordable housing.
Plans for the project were filed in August last year but the Waverley Council did not determine the development in time and it was deemed refused.
The developer appealed to the NSW Land and Environment Court and undertook a conciliation conference with the council.
They hashed out the details of the plans after issues were raised regarding inadequate setbacks, design excellence and the lack of a Community Housing Provider for the affordable element of the plans.
Residents’ concerns about overshadowing and building separation, traffic and parking were also considered.
Design amendments reduced the building’s bulk, improved setbacks and separation, and adjusted the balcony geometry.
The developer also showed that surrounding properties could be redeveloped in isolation—a criticism of the council—to the scale anticipated by the development controls of the area.
As well as including affordable housing, the project site is also within 400m of a defined commercial centre, as per the NSW Low and Mid Rise Reforms, giving it an upscaled height and floor space ratio.
The court upheld the developer’s appeal, and consented to the development which adds additional housing and housing diversity to the east Sydney suburb.
Once built, it will join the growing number of developments in the wider Bondi area, including Central Element’s $150-million project which also recently secured court approval, and a reworked 31-unit shoptop on Hall Street.
