PlanningxChange 112: Converting office buildings into residential with Jessica Lee of FK Architects

In PX112, our interview guest is Jessica Lee, a principal architect at Fender Katsalidis Architects (https://fkaustralia.com).

Jessica discusses the ‘Alba’ project, the conversion of a 1970’s former office building into 150 rooms of age appropriate housing (retirement accommodation and aged care). The site is located within South Melbourne, an inner city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria Australia. The cost of the conversion was $125m (AU). Whilst not being significantly cheaper than a rebuild there were environmental savings according to Jessica.

In the interview Jessica discusses the project from start to finish. There was the initial ‘whats the building like’, ‘’whats under the surfaces’, to scoping the logistics of conversions (very different from a vacant site), finding a suitable builder (not all high rise builders have the equipment or skill set to do this type of work), services upgrades and the intricate details of providing contemporary residential accommodation (along with the end user needs). 

Jessica indicates that a review of the Melbourne CBD found only 6% of sites are candidates for such conversions. Frequent killers of such projects are the depth of a site and the position of lift cores, the reasons being apartments need natural light unlike office buildings. Also the ‘bones’ of a structure building in terms of structure and floor to floor heights may not be suitable. Applying contemporary safety and environmental standards are also difficult to satisfy.

The interview explores the design concept as well as the ’nuts and bolts’ and up close descriptions of the building project. At times it is like being on site mid project with hard hat, boots and vest.

The conversion of office buildings to residential has been touted in many planning publications and strategies as a solution to various housing crisis. The interview reveals that such conversions are possible but not many sites are suitable and there are specialist requirements in undertaking the challenge. Jessica provides a clear eyed view of a not well understood issue.

One insight from the interview is that blanket planning policies or government subsidies promoting such conversions at the expense of complete rebuilds may not be cost effective, environmentally benefical or practical.

A terrific interview subject with a great passion for buildings, cities and life.

In podcast extra / culture corner, Jessica recommends 

Rob Adams - Urban Choreography Central Melbourne 1985 - MUP https://www.mup.com.au/authors/rob-adams

Jess N recommends: Duolingo ‘Learning Italian’: https://www.duolingo.comthe 

Pete recommends: Break Point on Netflix (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Break_Point_(2023_TV_series) and celebrates his sporting triumphs over 2023

Audio production by Jack Bavage. Podcast released 2 January 2024. Happy New Year to all our listeners.