Bridging Accessibility and Sustainability in Apartment Retrofit

Existing apartment buildings face increasing demands for both sustainability and accessibility improvements. These objectives are important for decarbonisation, ageing in place and inclusive housing, but they are addressed through different areas of policy and practice. This paper examines where accessibility and sustainability retrofit remain institutionally separate and where their implementation pathways converge within New South Wales (NSW) Australia strata housing. It draws on a rapid review of the Australian apartment-retrofit literature published between 2021 and 2026 and a policy case study of 30 NSW-specific and relevant national instruments. The rapid review identified 21 relevant works, of which 19 focused primarily on sustainability-related retrofit and 2 directly addressed accessibility-related retrofit. This distribution is specific to the bounded apartment-retrofit literature reviewed, with relevant accessibility research also found in adjacent fields. The policy analysis shows that accessibility and sustainability are supported through largely separate policy, funding and regulatory arrangements. However, where interventions affect existing strata buildings, both can encounter common governance arrangements involving common property, collective decision-making, costs, ownership and maintenance responsibilities. Drawing these findings together, the paper proposes that substantial repair, replacement, renovation or upgrading can provide decision points for the coordinated consideration of future accessibility and sustainability needs.