New South Wales needs more homes, and the way we design them will shape how people live together for generations. The NSW Government’s Housing Delivery Authority (HDA) offers a streamlined State Significant Development (SSD) pathway for major housing proposals that are high-yield, well-located, supported by infrastructure and able to be built quickly. Where current planning controls need to change, proponents can seek a concurrent rezoning alongside the development application. By 31 July 2026, 493 proposals had been declared SSD on the HDA’s recommendation. Together they could create close to 153,000 homes. Fourteen had been approved, unlocking more than 2,500 homes.
fjcstudio has worked on 15 HDA-recommended projects in Chatswood, North Sydney, Castlecrag, Edgecliff, Wentworth Point, St Leonards, Macquarie Park, Mona Vale, Pyrmont, Randwick and Waterloo, with combined capacity for more than 6,800 homes. In Waterloo, Coronation’s 826-home build-to-rent precinct was approved in August 2026 through the HDA pathway. At 3 Halifax Street, Macquarie Park, we used the HDA pathway to amend an existing approval for a residential tower. The amended scheme, approved in March 2026, increases the tower from 24 to 46 storeys and from 231 to 437 apartments.
Homes, not units
We hold that design is a social and ethical act, and in housing it is critical: these are the spaces we live in every day. A home’s daylight, outlook and cross ventilation, the quality of its spaces and its sense of place shape daily life far more than its yield. We plan apartments around these qualities first. We also plan the shared spaces that turn a building into a community: lobbies, gardens and rooftops where neighbours meet, and ground floors that welcome visitors and the wider street.
Beginning with place and Country
The sites that can deliver significant new housing are rarely simple. They sit beside heritage buildings and established neighbourhoods, on steep or irregular land, along foreshores and transport corridors. What every site shares is that it sits on Country: Earth, Water and Sky, with cultural, spiritual and ancestral connections that long predate any building. We seek to understand that Country, along with the landform, history, street and neighbours each project joins. We test many options early, then develop the scheme that delivers more homes while giving back to Country, the street, the neighbours and the public domain.
Answerable to the public
A faster pathway does not lower the bar. Design merit sits at the centre of how these projects are assessed, and we treat design review as part of our accountability to the public. We engage early with design review panels, including the NSW State Design Review Panel, and use their independent expertise to test and strengthen each scheme. Our teams carry that care from feasibility and Expression of Interest through design, public consultation and assessment, to documentation and construction.
Built to last, built to be built
Housing only makes a difference once it is built. Building costs have risen and market conditions continue to shift, so we design for buildability and cost from the outset, using repeatable modules, prefabrication and other modern methods of construction where they suit the project. Efficient structural and services strategies, considered layouts and durable materials help each scheme keep its quality through construction and over the life of the building. Together they shorten construction time, reduce waste and disruption to neighbours, and lighten each building’s climate footprint.
One studio, every discipline
Our HDA projects draw on the full studio:
- urban design and masterplanning that test built form, environmental impacts and public benefit early
- apartment planning built on efficient layouts with strong daylight, cross ventilation and liveable spaces
- facades that respond to orientation, heritage context and the character of each street
- interiors, landscape and placemaking designed with the building, not after it
- SSD applications, design excellence strategies and coordination of large consultant teams.
Places people are proud to live in
We measure a project’s success by how well it serves the people who live there and the community around it, not by its scale. Our completed housing shows the standard we work to. King & Phillip Residences in the Sydney CBD was shortlisted at the 2022 World Architecture Festival (Housing) and for the 2023 NSW Architecture Awards (Multiple Housing). Wonderland at Central Park won Multi-Family Housing at the 2020 Chicago Athenaeum International Architecture Awards. Charlie Parker, a build-to-rent project at Harris Park, is now open. As the HDA pipeline moves from declaration to approval and construction, we will bring the same care to each new home.
Find out more about our Housing Delivery Authority capability.
