Tallowwood Apartments is an 11-storey mixed-use development consisting of 80 residential apartments, two ground floor commercial tenancies, and basement car parking for 28 vehicles including GoGet car share parks. The operations will be managed by City West Housing.

Tallowwood’s landscaping design by Nguluway DesignInc acknowledges the land’s traditional custodians, the Gadigal and Bidjigal people of the Eora nation, through its sustainable design and planting selection.

The development application was approved on 22 December 2022. While the approval requires a minimum of 80% of the apartments to be used as affordable housing, City West Housing will make it 100% affordable rental housing for low to moderate income residents, including low-income workers, allowing them to live close to where they work. Residents will pay a maximum 74.9 percent of market rent, with rents capped at 30% of household income.

• Demolition of the pre-existing buildings was completed in late 2023.
• The Versatile team will commence construction works in mid-2024. 

Tallowwood Apartments are located at 427-429 Princes Highway, Rockdale within the Bayside Local Government Area. The site is conveniently located in the heart of the Rockdale Town Centre near Rockdale train station, bus stops and other local amenities. The site’s traditional custodians are the Gadigal and Bidjigal people of the Eora nation.

Using City West Housing’s Approach to Design, the project has been created specifically for long-term affordable rental housing with a focus on residents’ cost of living and amenity. Tallowwood Apartments provides:

• Purpose-designed 100% build-to-rent affordable rental apartments
• Apartment mix representative of local demand
• Eight adaptable apartments
• 3-bedroom apartment on lower floors
• Majority of the apartments have dedicated work/study areas
• Designing with Country approach for the landscape and public domain strategy to provide quality spaces for our residents and the local community
• Use of passive design principles to improve resident comfort and reduce energy costs, including double glazing
• Long-term sustainability initiatives including: solar PV panels, no natural gas, and rainwater harvesting reuse
• On-site provision of 6 GoGet carshare spaces for use by the building residents and the greater Rockdale community

Developer, Owner and Manager: City West Housing

Architect: AJC Architects 

Builder: Versatile

Planner: Urbis 

Landscape Architect: Nguluway Design Inc.  

Quantity Surveyor: Rider Levett Bucknall

Environmental Consultant: Edison Environmental & Engineering

Site Auditor: JBS&G

Structural and Civil Engineer: Enstruct 

Building Services Engineer: JHA Consulting Engineers

City West Housing strives to minimise our environmental impact and reduce operating costs for our residents.  Tallowwood Apartments is one of City West Housing’s first developments to be all-electric, reducing our reliance on fossil fuels like natural gas, while also reducing costs for our residents. Other sustainability initiatives at Tallowwood Apartments include:

General

• Ceiling fans, fly screens and blinds to reduce reliance on air-conditioning
• High-efficiency water fixtures
• Usable common spaces with natural shading
• Retaining 4 existing native trees and planting an additional 23 new trees
• Rainwater harvesting reuse
• Native and drought-resistant landscaping

Energy

• Use of passive design principles to improve resident comfort and reducing demand on heating and cooling sources, thus lowering energy costs
• Solar PV panels with SolShare ability
• NatHERS ratings of 6.4-9.2 with a project average of 7.6
• A sector-leading strategy to “de-gasify” apartments to lower carbon emissions through the use of:
  – solar-powered electric instantaneous hot to replace gas for heating water
  – induction cooktops to replace gas cooktops

Transport

• Green Travel Plan encouraging reduced reliance on car usage
• 400m to Rockdale train station (5-minute walk)
• On-site car share operated by GoGet providing residents and the local community access to a range of vehicles
• Modest parking allowance
• Resident and visitor bicycle parking for 52 bicycles

If you are interested in writing an article about our project or City West Housing, please contact us.

Media

• 7 News: Government attempts to find quick and feasible fix to Sydney’s housing crisis
• St George & Sutherland Shire Leader: Rockdale’s $50 million affordable housing project
• Approval for mixed tenure build-to-rent housing in Rockdale
• St George & Sutherland Shire Leader: ‘$29.5 million highrise affordable housing plan for Rockdale town centre’ February 2022
• CWH article: ‘New Rockdale Development on Exhibition!’ February 2022
• CWH media release: ‘City West Housing is expanding its operations outside the City of Sydney LGA with a Site Acquisition in Bayside LGA’ July 2020

Social media

• Twitter post about Tallowwood Apartments DA approval