Furniture

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For a limited time, Melbourne developer Hallmarc are offering a $10,000 furniture voucher to new buyers in their recently completed Highett apartment development Vista Apartments in Melbourne’s south.

The offer is in its final weeks, only lasting until February 28, and allows new buyers in the 154-apartment bayside project to furnish their new homes.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=3303]

Hallmarc’s Chief Executive Officer, Michael Loccisano, says at Vista they have focused the design specifically to the owner occupier market, which he says has been very well received.

"Apartment living requires more thought as to how it's configured and we’ve incorporated just that - larger layouts, dedicated home office areas and open plan living, creating bright and welcoming spaces," Loccisano says.

<a href="https://www.urban.com.au/buildings/vista-apartments-9-remington-drive-highett"><img alt="" height="788" src="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/vista_highett_2.jpg" width="1200"></a>

He also says that beyond Vista is the suburb of Highett, where everything is on Vista's doorsteps.

"It is a bustling area with a strong sense of community and so much to offer."

The development has never to be built out views of Sir William Fry Reserve and is a short walk to Southland Shopping Centre and Sandringham Beach.

<a href="https://www.urban.com.au/buildings/vista-apartments-9-remington-drive-highett"><img alt="" height="718" src="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/sir_william_fry_reserve.jpg" width="1200"></a>

Nearly all of Vista'a remaining apartments also qualify for the 50 per cent stamp duty concessions. Prices for two bed apartments start from $699,500 to $1,120,000 and range from 89 sqm to 118 sqm.

As well as direct access to impressive parkland and walking paths, residents can also take advantage of resort-style swimming pool and fully-equipped gymnasium.

<h2>What the buyers say:</h2>

<h2> </h2>

<blockquote>
"My friends that have come to visit are so impressed with my apartment and the quality, they can’t get over how gorgeous it is and how comfortable it feels. The ample storage and excellent planning that has gone into the layout and floor plan has been excellent, and I’m very fussy!"

Owner Occupier: Jan
</blockquote>

 

<blockquote>
“Suits [our] lifestyle perfectly – [we] have everything on [our] doorstep, no need to leave the area which has been a blessing.”

“Design elements of the apartment are superb – particularly open plan living and separate laundry. Private gym and pool was a major tick”

Owner Occupiers: Brad and Crystal
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The offer only lasts until February 28 and allows new buyers in the 154-apartment bayside project to work to spend a $10,000 voucher furnishing their homes.

Joel Robinson

Developer Hallmarc offer $10,000 furniture vouchers for buyers in Melbourne apartment development Vista Apartments

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The Clifton Hill warehouse of Schots Home Emporium has been listed for sale given their closure plans next year.
Schots have opened newer stores in Geelong and Moorabbin in Melbourne's South.
The landmark red brick building at <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/%20https:/www.realcommercial.com.au/property-offices-vic-clifton+hill-503241878" target="_blank">380-406 Hoddle Street</a> is leased to Schots until April 2020, with options for only two x one month extensions.
Schots bought the building with 5,305 sqm floor space for $613,000 in 1994. It's expected to fetch upwards of $20 million.
It was built as a shoe and boot factory in 1913.
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2019/7/2/Schots%20Hoddle%20Street%20Clifton%20Hill%202.jpg" alt="">
The building sits on a prime 2,140 sqm plot described as an island site by Colliers International agents Peter Bremner, Ted Dwyer and Andrew Ryan given it has four street frontages to Hoddle, Noone and Parslow Streets, as well as a rear lane.
The three storey building has been called "the most exciting opportunity to hit the market in the Melbourne City Fringe so far in 2019" by the Colliers team.
It will be sold with a short-term holding income of $800,000 per annum until the end of the lease in April. 
 
 
 
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Schots Home Emporium list their Clifton Hills store

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The RBA has acknowledged the decline in housing turnover over the past year had "weighed on demand" for items such as household appliances and furnishings that are more likely to be purchased when moving into a new home.
"More generally, the decline in household wealth associated with falling housing prices has likely put some downward pressure on consumption growth," the February RBA statement of monetary policy noted.
"However, these recent falls have followed several years of very strong growth in prices," the RBA suggested.
"If households take a longer- term perspective of their wealth, they may look through the recent declines; even if they do react, it is unclear how quickly this might occur," the central bank advised.
The bank also noted the high level of household debt also remains a key consideration for household consumption. 
"In general, more indebted households are likely to be more sensitive to changes in their expected income growth and household wealth; consumption growth may be weaker for a time if households become concerned about their debt levels and choose to pay down debt more quickly. 
"It is also possible that households that are highly indebted or credit-constrained will be more sensitive to falling housing prices than to rising prices.
"Weaker housing construction and prices could have pervasive economic effects, it said.
The statement n monetary policy also noted there are a number of channels other than consumption through which housing market conditions can affect economic activity. 
"These channels have been incorporated into the central forecasts, but the effects are uncertain, particularly when there is uncertainty about the outlook for housing prices.
"The decline in housing prices will have a direct effect on dwelling investment but the timing and magnitude of the effect is uncertain. 
"The pipeline of work to be done is large and is expected to support dwelling investment for some time even though residential building approvals have already declined considerably.
The extent of the support from the pipeline could be more protracted than currently expected.
"But there is a risk that dwelling investment declines sooner and by more than currently forecast.
"This would have flow-on effects to the outlook for employment and household income.
"Very weak conditions in the earlier stages of residential development identified in business liaison point to further downside risk to dwelling investment in 2020 and beyond.
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There are also a number of indirect channels through which a decline in housing prices could affect the economy. 
"Lower housing prices could limit how much small businesses can borrow when using housing as collateral."
The report noted the decline in housing market turnover associated with the decline in housing prices has implications for business and household services, such as real estate and legal services.
"Changes in housing prices and turnover can also affect public demand through their effect on state government stamp duty revenue."
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Uncertainty on house prices set to impact on demand for appliances and furnishings: RBA 

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GUEST OBSERVER
Increasing urbanisation, denser city living, more expensive apartment prices and higher rents are reshaping our access to and use of urban space. Room-sharing websites are one sign that the cost of city living is driving people to consider sharing rooms with strangers out of necessity. Those flats are not homes anymore.
If people can’t spend time in their flat – because it is too crowded, too noisy or not safe enough – they end up spending more time in public spaces like libraries or quasi-public spaces like gaming arcades or shopping malls. Dutch Prizker Prize-winning architect Rem Koolhaas calls this Junkspace. Or they are spending time in the street, plazas and parks.
How does the city cater for people in these places? Imagine a home furnished with the kind of furniture we typically see on the street. Would it feel comfy?
Generally the design of this kind of public furniture has a strictly defined scope. It has to be vandal-resistant, easy to install, require little to no maintenance, not encourage littering, tie in with the style of the precinct, etc.
Public furniture also has an established typology – benches and seats mainly. This restricts what we can do in public (sit down with a straight back, we can’t lounge). These are part of the design considerations to provide a bench for people to sit on.
What if we want to do more than just sit?
The spacing, positioning and location of furniture in public space play a big part in deciding what I can look at, with whom, for how long and how I’ll feel while sitting there.
But what if I want to do more then just sit there? Where, for instance, do I plug in my phone or laptop to recharge?
It is also not easy to wash my hands in a public space. For example, I’ve sat down and eaten an orange on a bench, my hands are sticky and I’d like to wash them. Perhaps I’ve also taken off my coat while sitting there. What now?
I’ve got to seek out the nearest public toilet and use the hand basin, but where to put all my other belongings while doing that? On the toilet floor?
A basic human right is access to water and utility services. We need to provide this access in the public sphere, and not just in commercial environments like coffee shops.
Filling up a water bottle is not easy, buying water is – if you can afford it. This is not an equitable solution. It adds to the already significant financial burden of paying high rents and city living.
Think about how design can expand our options
While we have furniture for the street, the street, parks and plazas lack other services. Design embeds a narrow social script in the current range of street furniture. The design of new public furnishings needs to adapt and offer citizens a wider, more diverse range of options for being in the city.
For example, people should have access to facilities to carry out basic healthy living practices, such as washing hands. They also need access to power – perhaps even a facility to heat up food, like a home-made lunch, or a pre-prepared meal from the supermarket.
Furnishing a public space with such new public appliances could transform it, soften it, bring familiarity, comfort and a sense of domesticity to it; a public backyard. The opportunities for a smart city are not just large-scale infrastructure, public transport and traffic monitoring, but also exist at a finer-grained level.
These new kind of street furnishings can be made available to users via a contemporary, digital version of the old city gate. It can require them to log in or authorise them to use equipment via a unique identifier. We already practise this on e-commerce and sharing economy websites.
This new kind of public street furniture can have sensors embedded that monitor and respond in real time to their use. Interactive furniture can be part of a larger dedicated data system. It can inform relevant authorities if the power point is drawing excessive power, or if the noise level at this power point is too loud for the time of day and, in response, turn off the lights and the power.
Parameters can be tested and the calibration of use and user patterns can be explored in line with neighbourhood expectations. The system can then autonomously react to the data gathered.
Street furniture can be reconceived as connected and interactive appliances. These would then provide a gateway that gives people access to everyday utilities. And, by doing so, these new facilities could provide quasi-domestic-style amenity in the public realm, making the city a more equitable and welcoming place for all.
Christian Tietz is senior lecturer in industrial design at UNSW.
This article was originally published on <a href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/people-friendly-furniture-in-public-places-matters-more-than-ever-in-todays-city-83568" target="_blank">original article</a>.
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