Urban Digest

An amended residential development at 9–17 Balfour Street, Lindfield is on exhibition, proposing a 10-storey building with 117 apartments, including 24 affordable housing dwellings.

The State Significant Development application was lodged by TryonRd Development Pty Ltd in January 2026. The original proposal comprised 121 apartments, including 28 affordable dwellings, before amendments were made following public exhibition and requests for further information from the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure.

The amended scheme proposes 117 apartments comprising four one-bedroom, four two-bedroom, 99 three-bedroom and 10 four-bedroom or penthouse dwellings. Of these, 24 apartments would be provided as affordable housing.

Affordable housing represents 17% of the project’s residential gross floor area. Three dwellings, accounting for 2% of GFA, would be retained as affordable housing in perpetuity, while a further 21 dwellings would be provided for a minimum of 15 years.

The project seeks to apply both the Transport Oriented Development and in-fill affordable housing provisions of the Housing SEPP. The proposed FSR of 3.25:1 comprises a base TOD FSR of 2.5:1 together with a 30% affordable housing bonus. Total proposed gross floor area is approximately 18,455 sqm.

The building would reach a maximum height of 33.2 metres, exceeding the applicable 28.6-metre maximum height by 4.6 metres. According to the Amendment Report, the exceedance relates primarily to rooftop lift, screening and service elements, while the highest point of the roof slab exceeds the control by 3.35 metres.

Three basement levels would provide 182 car parking spaces. The amended scheme also provides 130 bicycle spaces, including 38 floor-mounted spaces and 92 spaces within basement storage cages.

Changes made following the initial exhibition include increased upper-level and boundary setbacks, revisions to apartment layouts and the dwelling mix, additional rooftop communal open space, increased deep-soil and landscaped areas, and changes to the basement and vehicle access arrangements. The number of apartments has reduced from 121 to 117, while the number of affordable dwellings has reduced from 28 to 24.

The original application was exhibited from 5 to 18 February 2026. The Response to Submissions records 26 public objections, one public submission in support, comments from two government agencies and an objection from Ku-ring-gai Council, as well as one late public objection. Issues raised included building height, overshadowing, bulk and scale, biodiversity, heritage, traffic, parking and privacy.

The site has an area of approximately 5,679 sqm and is located around 400 metres from Lindfield railway station. The applicant is TryonRd Development Pty Ltd, with PTW Architects as architect and Gyde Consulting as planning consultant.

For more information, search application SSD-85974227 on the NSW Planning Portal.