Co-living accommodation in New South Wales

Co-living is one of the six streams we deliver, and the word carries two meanings that are worth separating.

In NSW planning, co-living housing is a defined land use under the State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021. In supported accommodation, co-living describes residents who share a home, often with support from a provider. The design questions are the same in both: how much is private, how much is shared, and how the two sit together.

How planning treats it

The Housing SEPP introduced co-living housing as its own type of development. It describes a building with private rooms for residents, shared communal facilities such as a living area, kitchen or laundry, and a manager responsible for the place.

The policy sets its own standards for these buildings, and whether a site can use that pathway depends on the zone and the proposal. That question belongs at the very start of a project, as set out in [planning pathways for special-use accommodation in NSW](/blog/planning-pathways-for-special-use-accommodation-nsw).

Co-living in supported accommodation

When the residents receive support, co-living overlaps with Supported Independent Living. The household arrangement and the support arrangement are related but separate, which is explained in [SDA and SIL, the difference](/blog/sda-and-sil-the-difference).

Accessibility and support design carry straight across from Specialist Disability Accommodation. A co-living dwelling designed to the SDA standard is already over-compliant for a household that does not need the full level of provision today, and ready for one that will.

The private room

The private room is a resident's own home within the building. It is where they sleep, keep their belongings and close the door.

A good one has space for a bed, storage and somewhere to sit, a window with a real outlook, and in most cases its own bathroom. Where residents use mobility aids, the room and its bathroom need the clear floor space to turn, and the doorway needs the width to enter without difficulty.

The shared space

The shared kitchen, living area and laundry are where the household actually becomes a household. They are sized for the number of residents, with enough bench space for two people to cook at once and enough seating for everyone to eat together.

Where the shared space opens onto outdoor space, residents use it more. In special-use design, a connection to green space is a baseline.

Separation between rooms

Residents who share a building still need privacy. That makes acoustic separation between rooms, and between private rooms and shared spaces, a design requirement from the first plan.

Depending on the building class, fire separation between rooms may also apply. Both are covered in [fire and acoustic performance in modular](/blog/fire-and-acoustic-performance-in-modular).

Management and staff space

A co-living building needs somewhere for the person who runs it. In supported settings that extends to space for support staff, which may include an office, a place to store records and somewhere to rest on an overnight shift.

Leaving it out of the plan does not remove the need. It moves staff into a resident's space.

Why it suits a modular build

Co-living repeats the same private room many times across a building. Designed once to the highest standard and then replicated, that room suits factory construction well, with each one built and checked to the same tolerance.

The shared spaces and the base structure are then planned around the site, which is how Hybrid Volumetric Modular fits a co-living project to real ground.

MADEmodular / MADEbetter.

What we deliver. Discuss a project.