New Zealand Commercial Design Trends Series NZ Commercial Design Trends Vol. 33/04C | Page 73

Below:Built in 1922, the Dalgety
Wool Stores is an historically
significant building on Fremantle’s
eastern gateway. An innovative
adaptive re-use project has seen
it converted to an apartment
development that makes the most
of its character features.
When the recent drive to increase the number
of inner city residential units began a couple of
decades ago, historical buildings were often in
the demolition spotlight. Though located in prime
positions, they were deemed expensive to reno-
vate, with no easy way for developers to maximise
returns by packing units into the available space.
Luckily, not all of those heritage buildings fell
victim to the wreckers ball, and some are again
being considered for adaptive reuse.
One such prominent building on Fremantle’s
eastern gateway is Dalgety Wool Stores, recently
converted to Heirloom apartments by Match.
Match parent company M/Group managing direc-
tor Lloyd Clark says the Wool Stores were one of
Western Australia’s most recognised buildings.
“Although a significant development challenge,
the inherent classic warehouse form was proving
extremely popular across Australia as an apartment
environment,” says Clark.
“The features of the building were such that you
could not replicate them in any new apartment
project. They were part of the building’s structure
and heritage, and the prospect of incorporating
them into apartment buyers’ homes was just an
enormous opportunity.”
But the biggest challenge in undertaking the
conversion was still the commercial viability.
“By their very nature, heritage buildings are
expensive to adapt and reuse, so finding a way to
do that while maintaining viability was critical,” he
says. “But at the same time, retaining, reusing and
capitalising on the existing fabric was a priority.”
Working with architects Cameron Chisholm
Nicol, Match went through a number of iterations
for the project including looking at adding an extra
floor to increase the number of apartments.
“However, from a heritage point of view, this
would have been extremely invasive, as well as
structurally catastrophic.”
Instead, Match took the unusual approach of
working within the building’s existing structure.
While this significantly reduced the number of
apartments, it also reduced construction costs.
search | save | share at