Affordable housing wins design award

A James Brown Memorial Trust project aimed at housing disadvantaged South Australians has won the inaugural Exellence in Design award at the Aged and Community Services South Australia & Northern Territory (ACS) 2010 Awards.

Alan Graham, ACS (SA & NT) chief executive officer said, “Our panel of judges was impressed by the standard of the nominations and agreed that the Mansfield Park redevelopment demonstrated the dedication and commitment essential for designing affordable housing for older and disadvantaged people”.

Chairman Brian Waite accepted the inaugural Design Award on behalf of the Board of Trustees and paid tribute to the efforts of Flightpath Architects and Pascale Construction, which built the project.

“This housing project is a great example of how the Trust approaches its commitment to quality and yet affordable housing; it’s truly amazing what can be achieved when the community all works together in partnership,” Mr Waite said.

“The twenty new units have become home to people who don’t yet have stable and secure housing and will give them a solid foundation to go on and achieve other things including education and employment.”

The James and Jessie Brown Affordable Housing redevelopment at Mansfield Park used to consist of 15 single-room flats built in 1964. It has been redeveloped to become 20 purpose-designed units for people at risk of homelessness.

Each unit is environmentally efficient with innovative design including rain water tanks, storm water retention, drought tolerant landscaping, solar hot water, solar-voltaic cells for electric power generation, solar powered night lights, polished concrete floors and wide eaves and reverse brick veneer to keep units cool in summer and warm in winter. Recycled products have also been used for fencing.

The project was built on the Trust’s own land, and constructed using funding from Trust resources assisted by Housing SA’s Affordable Housing Innovations Grant, while soft furniture and white goods were also purchased with assistance from Community Connect.

The project will also attract incentive payments from the Commonwealth’s National Rental Affordability Scheme.

James Brown Memorial Trust chief executive officer, Dennis Chamberlain, said the project had excellent outcomes.

“The most exciting thing about this project is that, with clever use of the available land, we have been able to increase the number of units from 15 to 20, which is a 33% increase in affordable housing for high needs individuals,” Mr Chamberlain said.

“Receiving this Award from our peak body in the first year of the award’s operation is a great thrill. We have designed and created a home for at-risk people which has been affordable to build, very affordable to rent out, and affordable for the Trust to maintain in the long term. A great success story!”