Australia, Aug. 19 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on July 18:

1. COMMISSIONER: This is an appeal pursuant to s 8.7 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EPA Act) against the deemed refusal of development application DA/530/2024 (DA) by Randwick Council.

2. The DA, as amended, seeks consent for partial demolition, alterations and adaptive re-use of existing buildings at 11-13 Abbotford Street, demolition of existing building at 9 Abbotford Street, and the construction of a 9-storey co-living development comprising 120 co-living rooms, two (2) basement levels, communal areas and open space, spread across the three (3) properties at 9, 11 and 13 Abbotford Street Kensington, legally known as SP 12920 Lot 2 in DP 786825; and Lot 1 in DP 786825 (site).

Conciliation and agreement between the parties

3. The Court arranged a conciliation conference between the parties under s 34(1) of the Land and Environment Court Act 1979 (Court Act), at which I presided. The conference was held on 25 June 2025.

4. The parties now propose resolution of the proceedings in accordance with the terms outlined in their executed s 34 written agreement dated 24 June 2025. The terms include further amendments to the plans. The council, as the consent authority, consented to the amendment of the application pursuant to s 38(1) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021 (EPA Reg). The plans and documents comprising the amended application are listed under condition 1 of the conditions of consent at Annexure A. Broadly, the amendments are as follows:

1) Reduction of the street wall height from 7-storeys to 6-storeys to Abbotford Street, through increased setbacks to level 6 and reconfiguration of co-living apartments on levels 7 and 8;

2) Increasing the front setback of the new building to Abbotford Street, to align with the front building line of the heritage item;

3) Increasing the rear setback to Abbotford Lane, by removing protruding balconies and replacing these with windows and/or Juliette balconies;

4) Conversion of the co-living apartment adjacent to the communal open space on level 4, to become a communal living area;

5) Revised lift core location to assist compressing the building footprint;

6) Relocation of the first stair and OSD tank within the eastern setback, with increased landscaping along the eastern setback; and

7) Fencing changes in the south-western corner to provide greater communal open space;

8) Additional drawing DA304 to demonstrate floor to ceiling heights; and

9) Additional details in solar access diagrams relating to properties across the road to the south on Abbotford Street

5. Under s 34(3) of the Court Act, I must dispose of the proceedings in accordance with the parties' decision if that decision is one that the Court could have made in the proper exercise of its functions. The decision agreed upon is for the grant of development consent subject to conditions of consent pursuant to s 4.16(1) of the EPA Act.

6. The signed agreement is supported by a jurisdictional statement that sets out the matters the Court must consider prior to the grant of development consent. I have considered the contents of the statement together with the documents referred to therein, including the Class 1 Application and its attachments, the bundle of documents provided by council (council bundle), the documents provided in Exhibit RK-01 (Exhibit RK-01), and the documents that are referred to in condition 1 of Annexure A. Based on those documents, I have considered the matters required to be considered pursuant to s 4.15(1) of the EPA Act.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/19810a8be1a6f81e65043910)

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