Thousand-Home Plan Approved for Perth Quarry Site

A major medium-density housing project in Perth is progressing at the former site of a quarry and now-demolished “infamous” public housing. 

The Western Australian Government has approved the Bentley Redevelopment Masterplan and Scheme, after the launch of the plans and community consultation in 2024. 

The project will deliver between 800 and 1000 homes, according to the approved masterplan, with a focus on medium-density typologies that include detached homes and apartments. 

It focuses on promoting a diverse mix of private, affordable and social housing. Twelve per cent of the area will be dedicated to public open space.

The masterplan also has a goal of 30 per cent tree canopy coverage.

The wider blueprint provides guidelines on how the area will be transformed, including high-density housing of up to eight storeys and mixed-use elements towards the southern end of the site. 

The apartments will be interspersed with medium-density housing including apartment blocks up to four storeys, as well as townhouses and terraces, while there will be low-density detached and semi-detached homes in the north.

▲ The draft masterplan has been approved by the state government.

There will be 380 detached homes, 130 grouped development homes and 410 apartments, according to the overall masterplan.

There is also 2000sq m of retail and commercial floorspace allocated across 1.5ha of the site.

The 31ha site at Bentley, 8km south of Perth CBD, was formerly home to a sand quarry and the “infamous” twin 10-storey Brownlie Towers. The site was earmarked for residential development last year.

It is mostly state-owned with 21ha under the control of the government via DevelopmentWA, and the remaining fringe land owned privately.

▲ Bentley is 8km south of the Perth city centre.

As a result of the approval, the planning authority has formally transitioned from the City of Canning to DevelopmentWA.

Stage 1 of the masterplan has also been unveiled and plans to deliver three development sites and 41 residential lots. Expressions of interest for the stage have opened.

The masterplan, dubbed Heartwood Bentley, is on the traditional lands of the Whadjuk Noongar people and represents a “bold vision” for an “underused site”, state planning minister John Carey said. 

▲ The Brownlie Towers in 1980. Photo: The City of Canning

Mining was carried out on site from the 1940s to the 1970s. While the old quarry was backfilled, it will require remediation to support residential development.

The approved masterplan replaces a previously approved 1500-home project, Bentley360.

Work had begun on the plan, including the demolition of Brownlie Towers in 2019, but the scheme was scrapped after a private developer could not be found to take it on.

The towers were built in 1970 but within decades had been labelled a slum as well as a symbol of the failure of high-density living.

More than half of the 300 apartments were almost uninhabitable by 2016 due to plumbing issues, according to reports by national broadcaster the ABC.