A 156 apartment tower opposite Campsie’s new metro station has been approved through the state’s Housing Delivery Authority pathway. The approval came quickly.
A 33 storey tower opposite Campsie station has been approved in a matter of months, over the formal objection of the local council.
The NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure approved the mixed use development at 10 London Street and 43 North Parade, Campsie, on 25 September 2026. The developer is Arada, a UAE based master developer, and it is the company’s first approved project in Australia.
On paper it is one tower in Sydney’s inner south west. In practice it is a clear look at how the state’s fast track is working, where the friction sits, and what still stands between an approval and a finished building.
What has been approved at London Place
Arada has branded the project London Place. According to the company, it will contain 156 apartments across 33 storeys, designed by Woods Bagot, with 18 set aside as affordable housing. The mix runs from two to four bedrooms, including penthouses, over ground floor retail.
Arada puts the gross development value at $220 million. It is targeting a construction start in the second quarter of 2027 and completion in the fourth quarter of 2029.
The site sits directly opposite Campsie station on the Sydenham to Bankstown line, which is being converted to metro. Sydney Metro says the Southwest Metro will open in the second half of 2026. As of early October, no opening date had been confirmed.
How the Housing Delivery Authority pathway got it there
The project came through the Housing Delivery Authority, the panel the NSW Government set up in December 2024 to fast track large residential proposals. The authority does not approve projects itself. It recommends which proposals the Minister should declare State Significant Development, which moves assessment from council to the state.
Once an application is lodged, the department aims to finish its assessment within 275 days, including public exhibition. Arada says London Place was approved in under four months. The public record is consistent with that: submissions on the exhibited application were lodged in July, and the determination is dated 25 September.
The application also ran alongside changes to the site’s own planning controls, rather than waiting for council’s rezoning of the wider town centre to be finalised.
What does State Significant Development mean for housing?
State Significant Development is a NSW planning category where the state, not the local council, assesses and determines a project. Through the Housing Delivery Authority pathway, large residential and mixed use proposals can be declared State Significant and assessed by the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, with the option of changing the site’s planning controls at the same time. Council can make a submission, but it is not the decision maker.
Council objected to the height, the density and the affordable housing terms
The City of Canterbury Bankstown lodged a formal objection during exhibition. Its submission, dated 23 July 2026, set out the gap between what council had planned for the site and what Arada sought.
Council’s Campsie Town Centre planning proposal, which it resolved in May 2026 to send to the department for finalisation, set a height of 67 metres and a floor space ratio of 6:1 for the site. The application sought 114 metres and a floor space ratio of 10.89:1.
Council’s central concern was midwinter overshadowing of Anzac Park and Anzac Mall, around 115 metres south of the site. It also said no public benefits had been offered to balance the extra density, and that cumulative traffic from other state significant projects nearby had not been addressed.
Affordable housing was the other sticking point. Council’s framework sought 4 per cent of residential floor area dedicated to council in perpetuity. As lodged, the proposal offered 10 per cent, the 18 apartments, for a minimum of 10 years.
Campsie is filling up with state led projects
London Place is not the only tower in the queue. Council’s submission identified two other state significant applications under assessment nearby, including a second Arada application on Beamish Street.
Arada says London Place is the first of five projects it is planning for the area, and that its Australian pipeline has grown past 6,000 homes since it entered the market in 2024.
The company has also moved to control its own delivery. In May 2025 it acquired the NSW business of Sydney contractor Roberts Co, with a $20 million recapitalisation, saying at the time that the deal would give it greater control over its future Australian projects. Who will build London Place has not been announced.
Why approval speed is no longer the main constraint
A fast approval is not the same thing as a fast building.
The Housing Delivery Authority’s published criteria ask proponents to show they can commence within 12 months of approval. Arada’s own target of the second quarter of 2027 sits inside that window.
Between now and then, a tower of this size still needs construction certificates, finance and, typically, presales. Those are the stages where much of the Sydney apartment pipeline has stalled. Research by Urbis, cited by the Property Council of Australia earlier this year, found three in four apartments approved in Metropolitan Sydney since 2020 had not progressed to construction.
For builders and trades, the effect is a shift in where the pressure lands. Approvals can now arrive in months. What follows, from structure through facade and fitout, still runs to the timetable of finance, labour and materials. Arada’s own program allows roughly two and a half years from start to completion.
A decision in months, and a council that disagreed with it.
Other states are running their own fast tracks, with different rules for councils
NSW is not alone. Victoria’s Development Facilitation Program lets the Planning Minister decide significant residential projects that include affordable housing, with thresholds of $50 million in Melbourne and $15 million in regional Victoria and at least 10 per cent affordable housing.
Western Australia’s permanent Part 11B Significant Development Pathway opened on 1 March 2024 for projects valued at $20 million or more in Perth and Peel, and $5 million or more elsewhere. Applications are assessed by the state and are required to be determined within 120 days unless otherwise agreed.
Queensland has moved in the opposite direction. It reworked its State Facilitated Development pathway in March 2026, broadening eligibility to most residential projects. State guidance now says the pathway is only available where the local council has endorsed the request.
Each model trades some local control for speed, in different measure. Campsie shows what the NSW version looks like on the ground: a decision in months, and a council that disagreed with it.
What the Campsie approval tells us about the pipeline
London Place is evidence that the state pathway can move a large, contested application quickly. That part of the system is now working as designed.
The harder measure is the one that matters to builders, trades and buyers: whether approvals like this one turn into homes on the timetable promised. Campsie is worth watching, because the metro, the master plan and several state led towers are all arriving in the same few blocks at once.
THE GOOD BUILDER TAKE
The fast track has done its job here. The open question is everything after it.
Approvals that outrun finance, presales and trade capacity do not remove the queue. They move it from the council desk to the site gate.
We will keep tracking how many of these state approved towers actually start within their 12 month window. That number will say more about housing supply than any approval count.
For more on how the housing pipeline is moving, subscribe to The Good Builder newsletter and listen to The Good Builder Podcast.
Frequently asked questions
London Place is a 33 storey mixed use tower at 10 London Street and 43 North Parade, Campsie, in Sydney’s inner south west. Developer Arada says it will contain 156 apartments, 18 of them affordable, over ground floor retail. It was designed by Woods Bagot and approved by the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure on 25 September 2026.
Arada says the approval took under four months. The NSW Planning Portal is consistent with that, showing public submissions lodged in July 2026 and a determination dated 25 September 2026. The department aims to assess Housing Delivery Authority projects within 275 days of lodgement.
In its July 2026 submission, the City of Canterbury Bankstown said the tower departed significantly from the 67 metre height limit and 6:1 floor space ratio in its own Campsie Town Centre planning proposal. It raised midwinter overshadowing of Anzac Park and Anzac Mall, the absence of public benefits, cumulative traffic, and affordable housing offered for 10 years rather than in perpetuity.
The Housing Delivery Authority is a panel established by the NSW Government in December 2024. It evaluates expressions of interest for large residential projects and recommends which should be declared State Significant Development, moving assessment from local councils to the state.
Yes. Victoria’s Development Facilitation Program lets the Planning Minister decide significant residential projects with affordable housing. Western Australia’s Part 11B Significant Development Pathway has operated since March 2024. Queensland’s State Facilitated Development pathway was reworked in March 2026 and, under state guidance, now requires council endorsement.
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Last updated: October 2026
General Information Only: This article is intended for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal, planning or financial advice. The Good Builder is not a law firm, planning consultancy or licensed financial adviser. Readers should seek appropriate professional guidance before acting on any information contained herein.
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