Brisbane’s historic Queenslander houses can be saved from falling into disrepair by allowing them to be transformed into medium density unit blocks, according to a property developer.

Red and Co director David Laverty said his company works with character homes that have been neglected; by preserving them and giving them a new lease of life, they are able to save the original house with minimal disruption whilst also developing the land to incorporate apartments.

Mr Laverty said the redevelopment of land was an inevitability.

“It’s not realistic that huge Queenslanders can sit on huge blocks of land so close to the city, because land will become so valuable over time.”

He cited a recent project at 41 Drane Street, Clayfield, which was originally a house on a good-sized block, built in 1886 by bureaucrat John Drane.

The property now holds the four-bedroom Queenslander at the front, with nine apartments at the rear.

“We’ve done lots of them. We’ve done about 16 of those projects,” he said. “We personally like [the Queenslander style] and we try to preserve it,” he said.

But not everyone feels this method preserves character. The application to develop the Drane Street site drew considerable opposition from local residents and sparked a last-minute application for heritage listing, which was eventually denied.

Prominent Brisbane architect Don Watson has been an outspoken critic of this type of development in recent years.

He and two other architects successfully challenged a development application of New Farm heritage home “Fenton”, which sought to shift the house forward on the block and build a three-level complex behind it.

Mr Watson said turning Queenslanders to unit blocks was “lamentable”.

“If that is the way to protect our heritage, there is no hope for it,” he said. “The Queenslander house was once considered to be one of Australia’s most distinctive architectural traditions – it’s fast being lost and will soon be gone.

“It is as if these houses are hated.”

However, Mr Laverty said it was inevitable large blocks of land close to the CBD would be developed or subdivided.

“It was going to happen anyway, whether it was a home renovator or us doing some development around it,” he said.

Often when Red and Co bought an old Queenslander, it wouldn’t be in the best shape.

“[The house at Drane Street] was a rental property prior to that. It wasn’t like someone was focused on maintaining it, it was rental that was going to die a slow death,” Mr Laverty said.

“We’re doing [a development] in Annerley where it’s two houses that are in disrepair.”

However, Mr Watson remained a purist. “I am in favour of conserving these buildings and their gardens, not mutilating them,” he said. “Overseas destinations we admire do not permit such desecration.”

Mr Watson said keeping the structures as true to their original design was the way to preserve their cultural value to the community.

“Thirty years ago I escorted numerous interstate and international visitors around these suburbs but it now embarrassing to do so.”