Cross Street Residential PPP — Double Bay

The Project

The Cross Street development in Double Bay is a $200 million Public Private Partnership between Built+Axiom Properties and Woollahra Council, designed to transform a strategic site in one of Sydney's most prestigious suburbs. The scheme combines public and private car parking, a Palace Cinema, retail tenancies, and premium residential apartments, addressing both the council's public infrastructure needs and the developer's commercial aspirations within a single integrated development.

The Challenge

A PPP of this nature demands the careful balancing of competing interests. The council has community service obligations, the developer has financial requirements, and the Woollahra community has strong expectations about what gets built in Double Bay. Progressing through an intense Expression of Interest campaign meant every design decision had to satisfy multiple stakeholders simultaneously, while the Project Delivery Agreement between Built+Axiom and the council added legal and commercial complexity that sat alongside the architectural work.

My Approach

I worked as Project Architect within the FJMT team, developing and documenting the concept design through the EOI process. My role involved balancing the scope requirements of the PPP structure across the building's mixed uses, making sure public car parking, cinema, retail, and residential components all worked together without compromising any single element. I coordinated the consultant team, prepared the stakeholder presentations, and worked through the commercial and planning terms of the delivery agreement. It was my first real exposure to development management thinking, and to understanding how the commercial, planning, and legal negotiations that underpin complex projects are just as important as the architecture itself.

The Outcome

The project advanced through the EOI stage with a well-resolved architectural proposition for this high-profile site. What stayed with me most was the experience of working within a PPP structure, learning how to navigate the negotiation, agreement-making, and design management challenges that arise when a private developer and a public authority must jointly govern a complex development. That understanding of how to balance competing stakeholder interests and manage the commercial realities alongside the design ambition is something I apply to every project at Yaxley Studio.