What happens when an architect develops their own projects, stops chasing profit, and starts designing for people, planet, and purpose? Jeremy McLeod, founder of Breathe and Nightingale Housing, shares how a single prototype sparked a housing movement in Australia. From ditching car parks and private laundries to designing rooftop commons and slow elevators, Nightingale flips the development playbook — proving that sustainability, affordability, and community aren't just compatible, but catalytic. With a waitlist over 21,000 strong, this conversation reveals how one radical idea changed the market and inspired a new model of ethical housing.

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Keywords

Jeremy McLeod, Nightingale Housing, affordable housing, nonprofit developer, ethical development, triple bottom line, sustainable housing, Melbourne architecture, car-free housing, shared laundries, rooftop commons, housing affordability crisis, build-to-sell, housing without profit, real estate innovation, alternative housing models, climate-resilient design, housing as a human right, community-focused development

Chapters

0:00 — Why Profit Gets in the Way

2:00 — Building the Prototype Without a Developer

5:00 — When 1,000 People Lined Up

8:00 — Launching Nightingale from a Manifesto

10:00 — Triple Bottom Line: Sustainability, Community, Affordability

14:00 — Nonprofit Development in a For-Profit World

17:30 — Why Australia's Housing Market Is Broken

21:00 — The Rising Cost of Homeownership

24:00 — Designing for Community, Not Just Residents

28:00 — Rooftop Laundry, Not Penthouses

31:00 — Slow Elevators and Street-Level Encounters

34:00 — System Redesign: Finance, Rules, and Ballots

36:00 — Powering Every Building with Renewables

38:00 — The Market Starts Paying Attention

41:00 — Ditching Car Parks for Shared Cars

44:00 — Lessons in Scaling: Trade-offs and Adaptations

51:00 — Designing Meaningful Imperfection

54:00 — What It Takes to Start Something Bold

56:00 — The Future Will Ask: Why Didn’t We Fight Harder?

Links

Jeremy McLeod (LinkedIn) - https://au.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-mcleod-architectNightingale Housing - https://www.nightingalehousing.org/Breathe Architecture - https://www.breathe.com.au/Let My People Go Surfing - https://www.patagonia.com/product/let-my-people-go-surfing-revised-paperback-book/BK067.html