Some of the most important decisions affecting a development are made long before a Development Application is lodged and often before the project brief itself is fixed.

For CKDS, the value of early architectural involvement is particularly evident during feasibility and early-stage development concept design.

At this point, the role of the architect isn’t simply to establish a theoretical maximum yield. It’s about understanding what a site can realistically deliver.

By analysing site-specific planning and environmental constraints, testing development options and drawing on experience across apartment design, the Apartment Design Guide (ADG), urban design, design excellence and State Significant Development pathways, an architect can help establish a clearer picture of development potential before significant investment occurs.

But the highest number on a feasibility study doesn’t necessarily represent the best development outcome.

Early options testing provides an opportunity to examine the relationship between yield, planning risk, amenity, urban form, buildability and design quality while there is still flexibility to change the approach.

CKDS’s work across a number of projects demonstrates how that early thinking can materially influence the development strategy.

Dairy Farmers Corner – 191 apartments

CKDS was engaged from the outset to establish the maximum yield and apartment mix achievable on the site while exploring opportunities to avoid a design competition.

Early testing identified that a single tower would be overly dominant and occupy too much of the site.

Instead, CKDS developed a two-tower strategy that delivered improved ADG, urban form and public domain outcomes.

The work helped demonstrate design excellence and the objectives of a competitive design process, supporting a design competition waiver and creating a clear pathway towards DA.

Vivacity Darby Street – 85 apartments

At Vivacity Darby Street, CKDS was brought in early to test a significant uplift beyond the site’s existing 2.5:1 FSR and 14-metre height controls.

Early work explored the site’s constraints, planning risks and the design implications of achieving the targeted uplift across a site with approximately two storeys of level change.

Testing established tower footprints, apartment yield, podium, basement and height strategies across both compliant and uplift scenarios.

This work subsequently informed the decision to pursue the Housing Delivery Authority pathway, with the emerging scheme targeting approximately 3:1 FSR and a 39-metre height.

Peninsula Villages – 131-room RACF

Sometimes early architectural input isn’t about increasing yield at all.

CKDS was engaged at the business-case stage to test the development potential of the Peninsula Villages site and establish a viable resident-room yield.

The team tested an alternative to the initial H-shaped arrangement, instead reorienting the building wings north/south.

The resulting approach maintained a feasible 131-room yield while improving resident amenity, the entry sequence, street address, courtyards, open space and the northern orientation of communal areas.

Importantly, it also helped establish a viable business case.

Horizon on the Harbour – 102 apartments

CKDS became involved in Horizon on the Harbour (in collaboration with Hill Thalis Architecture + Urban Projects) even earlier as part of the EOI team before the client had secured the site. The initial target was 102 apartments.

Testing showed that a single building would create a monolithic form, limit sight lines and result in a large building footprint.

CKDS instead developed a three-building strategy, creating greater permeability, smaller footprints and more opportunities for landscaping and communal space.

The resulting design improved outcomes across a broad range of ADG metrics and contributed to the successful EOI submission that secured the site and project.

These projects are very different, but the underlying principle is consistent. Early architectural advice gives clients greater certainty about what their site can deliver while there is still an opportunity to improve the outcome.

It allows constraints to be identified, options to be tested and opportunities to be explored before the project strategy becomes fixed and significant time and money are invested in design and approvals.

For developers and landowners, that’s not simply a design exercise. It’s about making better-informed development decisions from the outset.

Considering the potential of a site or development opportunity? Speak with CKDS about early feasibility and concept design.