Former Forest High site now open for business
The NSW Government is calling on developers to express interest in building 1,000 houses on the former Forest High School site – with 150 dedicated for key workers.
The appeal comes five months after the school moved to its new home in Allambie Heights, with Premier Chris Minns challenging developers to deliver the maximum amount of affordable housing at the site.
A registration of interest campaign begins in June to gauge private sector investment, with consideration given to the amount of affordable housing that providers can deliver, as well as ensuring value for money.
Wakehurst MP Michael Regan welcomed the announcement on 27 May, and said it was ‘a once in a generation opportunity for our community.’
“I welcome the government’s commitment to use its levers to maximise affordable housing here. The minimum target of 150 affordable homes should be the floor, not the ceiling,” Mr Regan said.
“The Northern Beaches is facing a serious housing affordability crisis. Too many essential workers are being priced out of the communities they serve.”
Premier Minns opened the new Forest High on 15 May, and then visited the school’s old site on Frenchs Forest Road West with Mr Regan. The premier also met with local essential workers including bus drivers, hospital staff and police.
The premier said the 150 affordable homes would be solely for key workers, including frontline health staff working next door at Northern Beaches Hospital.
“We’re laying down the challenge to housing providers: the more affordable housing you can deliver, the stronger your proposal will be,” Mr Minns declared.
The old school site is integral to the Frenchs Forest 2041 Place Strategy, which will create a new town centre, and generate 2,000 jobs.
“We need to keep essential workers in our community,” Mr Regan said. “When nurses, aged care staff, teachers, police, and bus drivers can no longer afford to live near where they work, local services suffer, and we see the impacts directly through cancelled bus routes, critical worker shortages and pressure on essential care.
“Housing affordability is a key reason why we are seeing these issues explode.”
The 6.3-hectare site has a developable footprint of 3.3 hectares zoned for mixed use, with a height limit of up to 40 metres. The remainder of the site is zoned commercial and public recreation, ensuring that accessible green open space will be available to current and future residents.
“This will be a game changer for our community if we get this right.” said Mr Regan. “We need to think big. This is the only site across the Northern Beaches that can deliver a solution at scale to make a dent in the chronic lack of affordable and key worker housing. This is a make-or-break opportunity. Everything else is just tinkering at the edges.”
Pittwater MP Jacqui Scruby thanked Mr Regan for his advocacy. “This is a huge win for our nurses, teachers, police, bus drivers and other key workers who will now have the opportunity to access essential worker housing in Frenchs Forest,” Ms Scruby said.
“This is a solution that directly addresses the issue that has been a growing concern to the whole community – because the housing market alone won’t be able to (fix it). We don’t need $5 million apartments at Frenchs Forest, we need diverse housing with some of that housing reserved for key workers.”
Interested parties can submit a registration of interest via the NSW Government’s tendering portal: buy.nsw.gov.au