Central Coast architecture firm CKDS wins NSW Architecture Awards for Verve Residences
COVID-19 has seen a drop in commercial development on the coast, however leading architecture firm CKDS – who is up for a national award – said the decline creates opportunities in our region.
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Leading Central Coast-based architect firm CKDS has been closely watching the industry’s movements since the COVID-19 pandemic hit and says there’s real opportunities across the region.
CKDS Director Caine King said the industry had been up and down since the pandemic hit.
“At first everyone was in shock but things have started to build up again and gain momentum,” he said.
“There’s definitely been a shift with less commercial work, however an increase in industrial as well as residential with more people working from home. It’s really interesting how everything moves, we have retail and commercial clients reassessing due to the current situation.”
CKDS, which is up for a national award for Verve Residences in Newcastle, is the architect firm behind big developments such as Bonython Tower as well as Rockpool Apartments and Sé at Terrigal.
“It’s been an honour to play a big part in the changing city scape,” Mr King said.
“West Gosford and Erina, as the satellites, need to be looked after as well. At the moment a lot of commercial opportunities are on hold. No one really knows what commercial is going to look like down the track, there will most likely be a reduction.”
He said there were opportunities for places such as Erina and West Gosford in terms of companies setting up satellite offices to enable people to work locally.
“That’s where we think things are going to go,” he said. “It makes a lot of sense.”
He said NorthConnex was also a huge advantage for the coast in terms of attracting more industries and manufacturers to the coast.
CKDS and its collaborators, Hill Thalis Architecture and Urban Projects, recently collected a raft of honours at this year’s NSW Architecture Awards and the Newcastle Architecture Awards for their design of Verve Residences.
Their work on the residential and commercial development took out the Aaron Bolot Award for Residential Architecture – Multiple Housing, as well as the Blacket Prize for design excellence in a regional context at the NSW Architecture Awards.
CKDS Directors Caine King and Stuart Campbell both praised their team and project partners for the honour.
“It’s amazing and quite spectacular to get two awards for a building in a regional area,” Mr King said.
“The award-winning projects showcase the extraordinary breadth of talent in the Central Coast - Newcastle architecture community and the ingenuity of local architects working within constrained budgets.”
Mr King said his next big venture was his own three bedroom home which will be totally “off the grid” and self-sustainable.
“More and more people are thinking sustainable these days,” he said. “It’s in the front of minds. We are also finding commercial developers following suit.”
Mr King said he had also noticed a recent surge in the migration of people moving out of Sydney and to the coast.
“A lot of people are moving back to the coast or coming here for the first time,” he said.
‘It’s an interesting time, with real opportunities surfacing.”