Through the Adaptive Reuse City Housing Initiative (ARCHI), a program led by the City of Adelaide, more than 150 buildings across Adelaide and North Adelaide have been identified as having potential for conversion into housing.
The project aims to encourage owners of vacant buildings in Adelaide and North Adelaide to consider adaptive reuse opportunities. It is guided by a steering group comprising members from council, state government, universities and built environment professions.
ARCHI firstly focused on identifying vacant smaller-scale, shop-top style buildings with raw potential for adaptive reuse into housing, then expanded to other building uses that could also be converted for residential use. To determine viable buildings, the team gathered information on building vacancies by analysing a range of City of Adelaide datasets, including property rates data and historical audits. They also researched real estate listings. After analysing the datasets, the team then conducted ground-truthing to verify their findings and eliminate buildings unsuitable for residential use - such as those with floorplates that were too small, had accessibility issues or were too dilapidated and aged.
Project manager Ellen Liebelt said their research identified approximately 150 potential buildings, but noted that this figure "represents a point in time as vacancy rates are not static."
Liebelt described the project as "a beast," noting that developing the right methodology was a challenge in itself. "Rates data relies on information provided by building owners about how their properties are used, so while it's a useful indicator, it's not necessarily a hugely reliable source." She added that real estate listings proved to be surprisingly valuable resource, helping to identify not only vacant buildings but also providing information on their floor plates.
The list of potential buildings is not publicly accessible but was shared with stakeholders able to influence or drive policy, research and advocacy.
As for the research collated by ARCHI, Liebelt said it is something to be proud of. "This data demonstrates that there are opportunities there," said Liebelt. "When we began this project, I did some early research to see if similar studies has been conducted in other state or council areas to see what we could learn from others but I couldn't really find anything comparable."
Running in parallel to this research is the ARCHI Incentives Scheme, a grant program delivered through the City of Adelaide - with funding from the state government - that incentivises property owners in the City of Adelaide to adaptively reuse existing buildings into housing.
More dwellings would assist the City of Adelaide in meeting its strategic target of a residential population of 50,000 by 2036. As of the 2021 Census, the population of the city was 25,026.
Two funding streams are available as part of the incentives program. The first stream provides up to $25,000 in funding for design and documentation for the development approval process, while the second offers up to $50,000 for construction works.
"During early conversations with built environment professionals, building owners and the project steering group, it was highlighted that the cost of preparing a development application for an adaptive reuse project is higher because consultant input is needed early on. And we really want people to use consultants for these kinds of projects because there is more certainty [of achieving a good outcome]. To encourage that, the scheme provides funding toward design and documentation for the DA process. That funding can help partially cover the fees for an architect, a building designer, a heritage consultant if needed, or any other relevant consultants," said Liebelt.
"We wanted to encourage people to deliver dwellings at scale. […] So, if you're delivering one to three dwellings, you can get up to $10,000 for a shop-top. But as your building gets bigger and the supply of dwellings increases, so does the grant. The second funding option supports construction costs and offers up to $50,000, depending on the project type."
Another form of assistance provided by ARCHI is a series of publicly accessible guidance materials developed in collaboration with Phillips/Pilkington Architects. These materials include input from various project consultants, including building surveyors, acoustic engineers and access consultants, who each provided advice on costs and key considerations for adaptive reuse projects.
Information about the incentives scheme or guidance materials can be found on the ARCHI website. Read a recent article about a group of South Australian architects, builders, academics and regulators - including ARCHI - advocating for national policy reform to prioritise adaptive reuse.
