“Scape” buildings have quickly become a staple of Sydney’s skyline, but while these lavish student accommodations are offering students 24/7 security, cinema rooms, and community, local councils are pushing back.
In the first Randwick City Council meeting of 2026, councillors unanimously voted to stall future commercial student housing developments, citing a “lack of diversity of housing for families, workers and non-students”.
The Council is fighting for stronger controls on building scale, and has appealed to Minister of Planning Paul Scully to terminate the State Government’s student housing development incentives. These incentives allow for the creation of high density rooms that would otherwise violate space design and parking requirements.
This comes as over 5,200 student accommodation rooms have been approved along Anzac Parade between Kensington and Kingsford over the past six years, a stark contrast to the meager 500 residential homes developed in that time.
Proponents of student housing, among them Scape CEO Anouk Darling, argue that high-density student rooms remove pressure from the housing crisis, enabling international students that would otherwise flood the local rental market to access alternative accommodation.
Alongside providing critical housing infrastructure that supports one of Australia’s major exports, tertiary education, Scape boasts its direct contributions to the Australian economy on their official website.
“Scape employs more than 800 people and is the largest investor in Australia’s higher education sector, with $6 billion (AUD) in capital committed since 2018.”
However, with a fourth Scape building projected to grace the already student-monopolised Kensington to Kingsford corridor this year, Randwick Major Dylan Parker has called the 10:1 development ratio “hard to justify”.
As Randwick City Council refocuses on affordable residential housing for locals, Scape co-founder Stephen Gaitanos and his wife welcome the purchase of their new $50 million Bellevue Hill mansion.
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