Warehouse &
Church Conversions

Two churches already converted into homes. Yours could be next — feasibility first.

Book a Feasibility Session or call +61 3 9663 8331

Fixed Fees | 35+ Years | 59+ Heritage Approvals | Registered Architect (FRAIA)

PROOF, NOT PROMISES

Two churches. Two approvals.
Both now homes.

Alphington — 8 dwellings, approved in 7 months

An early-1900s Gothic Revival church became eight dwellings across a single site — church, hall and rear yard all carrying homes — with approval won in seven months on an application a previous designer had already lost once.

Westmeadows — won at tribunal

A church under a Heritage Overlay became affordable housing: a twelve-month path with a tribunal in the middle of it, ending in approval.

Conversions are architecture at its most demanding: structure, heritage, planning and light all argue at once. We keep choosing them anyway. Registered architect Barbara Yerondais FRAIA draws them; the record behind the studio runs 35+ years, 400+ projects across Victoria and 59+ heritage approvals.

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BRING THE BUILDING — THE HONEST READ COMES DRAWN

Red brick building with tall arched stained glass windows, white trim, and pointed rooflines. Outdoor lights illuminate the entrance and surrounding courtyard at dusk.
Modern open-concept living and dining area with white sofas, dark wood floors, dining table with black chairs, kitchen island, wall art, and decorative elements. Bright, spacious, and elegantly furnished.

THE CRAFT

What makes a
conversion succeed

The shell must be worth itRobust structure, generous volume and honest materials are the inheritance; feasibility establishes whether your building has them before romance spends money.

Light is the whole gameChurches and warehouses were built to keep the world out; conversions live on how cleverly you invite it back in — courts, roof glazing, mezzanines placed where the sun already is.

Services are the hidden halfPlumbing, heating and acoustics threaded through fabric that never expected them, designed early or paid for late.

The mezzanine questionHow much floor to add and where decides whether the volume that made you love the building survives its own conversion.

APPROVALS

The approval reality,
told straight

Conversions usually stack approvals: change of use, heritage where the building is protected, and neighbour amenity where homes arrive in unexpected places. The craft answer is architectural, not administrative.

The change-of-use case

Rests on amenity you can draw: daylight, acoustics and private open space conjured inside old walls.

The heritage case

Rests on which fabric stays legible and how the new work defers to it.

Settled in the drawings

Both are settled in the drawings long before any decision letter, which is how our two church conversions carried their stacks to approval. Records, not promises: every building and council is its own case.

Found a shell with something in it?

Bring the building; we will tell you plainly what it can become.

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THE STOCK

The stock, and
where it hides

Melbourne's conversion stock runs wider than the famous warehouse precincts: churches and halls retired by shrinking congregations, corner shops with storage floors, small factories in residential streets, substations and depots. The inner north and west hold the densest supply — our Collingwood and Richmond pages walk those streets — but the opportunities surface everywhere the last century built solidly and this one changed its mind.

What owners end up with: a home, or a building of homes, whose volume, light and history are entirely its own. An approval pathway navigated by people who have carried church conversions, the notoriously difficult kind, through to approval. Fees fixed from the start, and the feasibility verdict frank enough to walk away on when the building does not deserve you.

Architectural drawing showing east, south, and north elevations of a building, with detailed notes indicating design features, materials, windows, doors, rooflines, and structural elements for each elevation.

COMMON QUESTIONS

Conversion questions,
answered honestly

Can any warehouse or church be converted to housing?

No, and knowing early matters: structure, contamination history, overlays and the change-of-use pathway decide it. Feasibility gives you the plain yes, no, or yes-if before serious money moves.

How long does a conversion approval take?

Our two church conversions ran seven and twelve months respectively, the second including a tribunal. Statutory clocks are shorter on paper; conversions earn their timelines, and we program truthfully.

Do conversions cost more than building new?

Sometimes, and they buy what new cannot: fabric, volume and location. The feasibility session prices your building's actual condition rather than a rule of thumb, with the fee fixed before design begins.

What if the building is heritage listed?

Then the design case matters more, not less, and it is our home territory: the practice holds 59+ heritage approvals, and both church conversions above were won inside Heritage Overlays. Protection shapes the design; it rarely ends the project.

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE

Useful resources

Planning Victoria

Change of use and overlay basics.

Victorian Heritage Database

Your building's listing and grading.

Heritage Council Victoria: At Home with Heritage

The owner's guide to protected buildings.

START THE CONVERSATION

Before you buy it,
or after

Good shells sell to whoever moves first; the feasibility read exists so you can move first with your eyes open. Best done before purchase; valuable at any point. No obligation.

A full one-hour feasibility session, in person, where Barbara sketches your design live while you work through logistics, budget and planning timelines together, so all parties leave aligned; the drawn concept is yours to keep.

Start the Conversation

Every project begins with a deep inquiry into site, heritage, and vision. Let’s discuss the strategic potential of your next work.

SCHEDULE A FEASIBILITY SESSION →

A PRELIMINARY CONSULTATION TO EVALUATE HERITAGE CONSTRAINTS, SITE POTENTIAL, AND PROJECT FEASIBILITY.