photography credit: Robert Frith

Architecture Australia magazine recently described our Hope Street Housing project (designed with Officer Woods Architects) as “the sort of project that gives cause to politicians to start announcing townhouses as the solution to the housing crisis.”

“Hope Street Housing is the sort of project that is equally good for developers, residents and community – high amenity, cost effective, win-win”, writes Emily Van Eyk in Architecture Australia’s July 2025 issue.

“It could be a pattern book all of its own: go no further, the answer is here,” she adds.

The article – which you can read online here traces the project back it its roots, when MDC Architects founder Matt Delroy-Carr spotted the potential to increase the number of homes on a site that had been earmarked for just 10 new dwellings.

Matt told longtime collaborators Salander Property about the site, and Salander acquired the land and engaged MDC Architects and Officer Woods to partner on the design.

Emily Van Eyk describes what happened next.

“Under the original zoning, the site would have likely offered, at best, 10 dwellings. The new Hope Street scheme has resulted in 28 townhouse and walk-up-apartment dwellings, while featuring 60 percent open space (including 40 percent deep planting zone) and vegetation in every remaining crack. Though perhaps not the streamlined planning process often touted as the way forward, it helped hone the greater sense of direction and goals integral to the high-quality architecture that emerged. The support of the intrepid Salander Property was also invaluable.”

There are so many benefits that have flowed from this approach, including:

• More homes for diverse types of residents – young couples, families and empty nesters – across seven different plan configurations;
• Generous landscaping including retention of existing trees, to blend the site into its leafy established surroundings
• Passive solar design that maximises northern orientation for key living areas in all dwellings, and
• Lower construction costs thanks to material selection, hardcore rationalisation of planning and clever detailing.

Outlining how the project acts as an exemplar for future suburban density, Emily writes:

“In his 2023 Quarterly Essay, ‘The Great Divide: Australia’s Housing Mess and How to Fix It,’ financial journalist Alan Kohler summarises several changes needed from the supply side: site consolidation, rethinking yield, and local authorities that assist, rather than resist, development. Hope Street does all these things, and shows that even if architects cannot control tax breaks, they can step in as robust leaders while creating joyous, amenity-rich homes.”

We are always on the lookout for great sites and partners to deliver more sustainable and affordable housing options.

So if you’re a developer who is keen to make a difference by creating highly sought-after homes for buyers who might otherwise be locked out of the market, we’d love to chat about how we can help.

You can get in touch with us via the contact form here or email INFO@MDCARCHITECTS.COM.AU.