The bust-up surrounding how Nightingale Housing is run has played out on social media in the past week.

A collaborator and former board member of the group, architect Andrew Maynard, posted a string of criticisms on Instagram last week.

Nightingale Housing, an architect-led group set up to create a way of providing sustainable and affordable housing at cost, offered a new way of working - in part by bypassing developers. The first project was The Commons in Brunswick, which was finished in 2013.

Several more developments followed, mostly in Melbourne, with an apartment block now in the pipeline in Adelaide too.

Nightingale Ballarat was the group's first regional project. It was confirmed this week that all the apartments have now been sold more than six months before it is due to open.

Mr Maynard said too much power was going to too few individuals, and was critical of the way architects were appointed. In particular, he targeted Breathe Architecture, the company behind the design of the Nightingale Ballarat apartment block - and whose owners were also founding members of Nightingale.

Mr Maynard highlighted how many recent projects Breathe Architecture had designed.

The Courier contacted Nightingale to ask if there was likely to be any impact on the project in Ballarat, which was first considered in early 2019.

A spokesperson said there would be no effect on residents moving into the new Ballarat apartments.

They also directed The Courier to a statement on the governance of Nightingale, which was originally set up as a not-for-profit company, changed to a social enterprise, then switched back to not-for-profit status in April.

Another statement explaining the way architects were appointed to projects also referenced Ballarat and why Breathe Architects took on the job.

"This project was our first foray into a regional city, uncharted territory for us, and we had to de-risk the project by taking the architects that had successfully delivered Nightingale 1 on time and on budget," the statement read.

More recently Mr Maynard posted a more conciliatory message saying "positive discussions" were now happening "to create a governance structure that better reflects the community."

All the projects were being delivered by "dedicated ethically driven architects," he also wrote.

Signed off by councillors at a special planning meeting in late 2019, the Nightingale Ballarat project is still being built in Davey Street in the city's CBD on a site formerly occupied by a warehouse.

Breathe Architects' MD Jeremy McLeod attended the special planning meeting in person to talk about the project, which was approved by a majority of councillors.

It proved a striking example of the tensions between a project that fulfils the goal of providing more diverse housing types in the city and the concerns of existing residents. One of the most memorable submissions came from a woman whose 87-year-old mother - a long-term resident - was going to be directly affected by the construction.

There were also contributions from would-be residents of the apartment block, who talked about the appeal of the project's sustainable design.

The site was originally found and flagged to Nightingale by locally based company Hygge Property.

Well known local builders H Troon were appointed to construct the four-storey block last June, with their company crane now a highly visible landmark over the site.

A "topping out" ceremony was held with project leaders and residents on May 15.

All of the apartments have now been sold, a Nightingale spokesperson also confirmed. They said the search for a commercial occupant for the ground floor anchor site - intended to be a café - was still underway.

"A tenant for the ground floor café has not yet been secured but our office is in discussion with a few interested local operators," they said in an emailed response.

Occupants are due to move in to the 27-apartment block this December.

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