380-room apartment complex for nurses proposed near hospital
A DEVELOPER has proposed a 380-room apartment complex filled with affordable housing for nurses around the Northern Beaches Hospital project. But first the 12-storey proposal has to get through council.
Manly
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A DEVELOPER has proposed a 380-room apartment complex filled with affordable housing for nurses around the Northern Beaches Hospital project.
The plan, which has been labelled a boarding house by Northern Beaches Council, has the backing of the hospital’s provider, Healthscope, and the Nurses and Midwives Association.
John Aspinall of Urbaine Architecture, which has put the plan forward, wanted to deflect any misconceptions about his proposal for the Warringah Rd site, saying it was not a boarding house but rather, serviced apartments.
“The hospital is being built, it is going to be privately run and, as a result of that, there has been no provision for nurses’ accommodation,” he said.
“The front page of the Manly Daily is very often looking at key worker accommodation which is possibly the greatest shortfall in society at the moment.”
The rental rooms would charge 30 per cent of the salary of health professionals earning $60,000 or less.
Mr Aspinall said they had saved about 30 per cent in production costs by building the units in modular form and by using the existing air rights above the property at 323 to 327 Warringah Rd.
The area would need to be rezoned to allow for an uplift in height, to mirror the new hospital at 12 storeys.
NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association general secretary Brett Holmes said he supported the plan.
“There is an existing problem for nurses and midwives to obtain accommodation close to their workplace,” he said.
“Our association has been campaigning alongside Sydney Alliance and other community groups to highlight the need for appropriate, affordable housing.
“There is an increasing trend of nurses and midwives travelling considerable distances to and from work.
“This increases risk not only to their health, especially given shiftwork requirements, but can also place additional stress on family relationships.”
A Healthscope spokeswoman said there was a need for projects such as this.
“From discussions with clinical and non-clinical staff who already work on the northern beaches, affordable housing would be welcomed by future staff of Northern Beaches Hospital,” she said.
“Healthscope appreciates that not every member of staff wants to live immediately next to their place of work and therefore affordable housing in various locations would be wonderful.”
Submissions have closed and the proposal will be considered by Northern Beaches Council.
Mr Aspinall said the company stood to make a “very minimal” profit.
“There are no share houses and the proposed transport link from Dee Why to Chatswood is not there,” he said.
“Typically we are looking at nurses and police sometimes travelling three hours a day and the feeling is these key workers deserve so much more than they are getting,” he said.
“They are on nominal salaries but they are serving very expensive places to live.”
Mr Aspinall, who sat on the council’s affordable housing committee, said rooms would have self-contained bathrooms and be 32-36sq m as opposed to about 12sq m in a boarding house.
“The masterplan for Frenchs Forest around the new hospital is a 20-year plan,” he said.
“We already have a massive problem finding housing for key workers now.”