Plans to raise 10 apartment towers to meet the tsunami of housing demand forecast to hit a coastal Perth suburb thanks to the trilateral AUKUS defence pact have been revealed.
Sirona Urban has acquired a 4.2ha development site at Rockingham and plans a residential precinct.
Sirona managing director Matthew McNeilly said the site at central Rockingham would position the company to help meet future demand for homes generated by major defence, industrial and infrastructure investment in Perth’s southern coastal suburbs.
McNeilly said the acquisition gave Sirona control of one of the largest undeveloped landholdings in central Rockingham.
Bounded by Civic Boulevard and Central Promenade, the block has remained largely undeveloped for four decades despite being identified in the 1970s as part of Rockingham’s civic centre.
Sirona is progressing plans for a billion-dollar mixed-use development there that will incorporate housing, retail, commercial and community uses.
The company anticipates that construction of the project’s first stage—415 build-to-rent apartments across four towers—would start in late 2027, subject to approvals.
The broader masterplan would deliver 1100 apartments, commercial office space, short-stay hotel rooms and retail uses.
The site is near the Rockingham train station, a regional shopping centre, South Metropolitan TAFE, a southern outpost of Murdoch University and the beach.
“Few sites offer this combination of scale, connectivity and proximity to employment centres, transport and services,” McNeilly said.
In September last year, prime minister Anthony Albanese announced the first “down payment” of $12 billion toward building a $25-billion defence precinct at the Australian Marine Complex at Henderson, just north of Rockingham.
An $8-billion expansion of the HMAS Stirling naval base at Garden Island off Rockingham is under way to support UK and US nuclear-powered submarines as part of the AUKUS pact.
The WA government anticipates that Federal AUKUS funding commitments will create 10,000 direct jobs around Rockingham over the next 20 years.
