• City’s 12-storey Stirling Towers to be developed into an affordable apartment offering.
• The Highgate development site was built in 1970 and has been empty since 2014.
• A community housing provider is being sought to redevelop the precinct.

Western Australia’s state government is launching a build-to-rent development initiative that will offer social, affordable, and market-price rental apartments in the city.

The WA government is set to demolish the 12-storey Stirling Towers, which was previously public housing on Smith Street in Highgate, and replace it with the more affordable apartment offering.

An invitation for expressions of interest is set to be released via Tenders WA in March 2022.

The ageing Stirling Towers, were built in 1970 and sit just a few kilometres from the Perth CBD have been empty since 2014.

WA’s Department of Communities is now seeking to partner with a community housing provider (CHP) or a consortium led by a CHP to redevelop the site.

The precinct is one of 12 state-owned parcels of land that have been released under the government’s Housing Diversity Pipeline aimed at providing better housing diversity and boosting the availability of social housing.