Gold Coast Planning Boss Faces Up to Herculean Task

“Note: The opinions expressed in this section are mine and do not necessarily reflect views held by the City…yet.” Yes, pay attention. The maverick planning boss of one of Australia’s fastest growing cities is about to throw down the gauntlet to a roomful of Queensland property industry leaders. And in so doing, provide a glimpse of what he hopes will become policy in the short and medium-term to drive much-needed residential development. Hence, straight-shooting Gold Coast councillor Mark Hammel’s waiver. Projected onto the big screen behind him halfway through his presentation at the Property Council’s Homes for Gold Coasters event, he wryly mused it was to avoid “scaring the living daylights” out of any council officers in attendance. Hammel, hailing from the canelands in the Gold Coast’s northern growth corridor, was tapped last year to take on the hot seat role of council’s planning committee chair. The Gold Coast, as he is acutely aware, is facing no small task . Its predicted growth is the equivalent of more than the entire population of the Sunshine Coast upping stumps and moving south to the Glitter Strip within 20 years. Amounting to a forecast influx of about 390,000 new residents, it will push the city’s population to more than a million by 2046. ▲ The Gold Coast’s Coomera in 2022. The city’s population will top a million people in 20 years. “We’ve all heard the figure plenty of times and everyone in this room knows we’ll hit it quicker than that,” Hammel says. To cater for such rapid growth, at least 160,000 new homes and 174,000 extra jobs will need to be created. Putting that into context from a development perspective, Hammel says that is the equivalent of 160 of billionaire highrise king Harry Triguboff’s 1000-plus apartment Cypress Palms tower projects in Surfers Paradise, or 45 of the city’s biggest greenfield development, the 3500-lot Skyridge estate at Worongary. And to further underscore the enormous impetus for the city to develop a new fit-for-purpose planning scheme, all he needs to do is look a little closer to home. Pointing to an aerial photograph of his “neck of the woods” —Pimpama, Coomera, Upper Coomera and Hope Island—Hammel adds: “You all know how amazingly fast the growth has been in that area in the past 20 years. “We will have to replicate every single dwelling, which was about 53,000 in the last census, and times that by three … 160,000 new dwellings is not an easy task.” Meanwhile, new Urbis research commissioned by the Property Council indicates the Gold Coast’s supply of new apartments risks falling off a cliff within the next few years. Which, of course, will be highly problematic. Under the South East Queensland Regional Plan, apartments are slated to make up 62 per cent of the Gold Coast’s “non-negotiable” housing target over the next two decades. “We are running out of space on the Coast,” Urbis director Paul Riga says. “So the reality is, density is the way forward.” ▲ Urbis director Paul Riga speaking at the PCA event: Density is the way ahead for the city. But according to the study, the number of apartment projects launched on the Gold Coast in the first quarter of 2024 was the lowest the city has had in five years. “That drop off in new launches and new supply coming through is the scary bit from 2027 and beyond,” Riga says. “We’re going to be well behind the SEQRP targets that have been set. “While we’re seeing a consistent number of development approvals, the red flags that indicate a potential slowdown are the increasing number of projects that simply aren’t advancing to formal sales or construction phases. “Based on the growing volume of approved but inactive projects, the supply of new apartments in the Gold Coast could fall from 1900 units in 2025 to 1400 units in 2026, with only 50 units being relatively certain to be delivered in 2027. “It’s an alarming prospect.” Hammel agrees and says it reinforces why the council’s planning strategy and policy settings need to change—and, importantly, change as quickly as possible. A new city planning scheme, he says, is already a work in progress —albeit in its early stages with the creation of a planning scheme advisory group and the conception of a local growth management strategy. Hammel’s goal is to have the scheme in place before the next council elections in 2028. And with his pragmatic “no-BS” approach—particularly given the council’s previous planning amendments scheme failed to get the tick from the state government—he is determined to get it right. ▲ Upper Coomera Shopping Centre in the Gold Coast’s rapidly growing north. “A lot of governments—local, state and federal—have released housing strategies,” he says. “We haven’t yet and that’s been on purpose. “It’s because, quite frankly, I have no interest in producing a glossy document for the hell of producing a glossy document. “And after reading some of the other housing strategies from some other local governments that’s about all they are. We are taking our time. We are collecting the data and letting it drive us towards what that housing strategy contains.” On Hammel’s policy wishlist is a review of under-utilised medium-density zoned land in the north of the city. “We are 15 to 17 per cent undercooked in dwelling supply on our medium density land, because a fair chunk of it has gone to detached housing,” he says. “That is a significant number of dwellings that will not be delivered.” As well, he says, it is imperative that an updated planning scheme is out in place for the 6.7km stage 3 corridor of the Gold Coast light rail network from Broadbeach South to Burleigh Heads. “This is a multi-billion-dollar public transport corridor that is widely expected to carry a big proportion of the future dwelling supply for the city and yet the planning is still not finished. This is a big problem.” Hammel also says the introduction of assessment tables and codes for purpose-built student accommodation and aged care in place was “low-hanging fruit” in terms of freeing up thousands of homes across the city. Incentivising more light frame construction—duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes—also was a huge opportunity and must be part of the city’s housing supply strategy, he says. ▲ Medium-density land undercooked: Mark Hammel speaking at the PCA event on the Gold Coast this week. “And I promise you, we will not have a code that says duplexes can only happen on corner blocks and have a light scattering of them throughout an area. What a load of rubbish.” The city’s east-west corridors—largely ignored in favour of targeted growth areas along the coastal strip—also were an opportunity ripe to provide significant uplift in housing capacity. “This is where we can hopefully not repeat some of the mistakes of the past in other parts of the city, and actually have a plan to deliver infrastructure enabling development before the development happens.” Last but not least on Hammel’s wishlist is what he calls “logical urban footprint expansions”. “There are logical pockets all across this city where geographically [urban footprint expansion] just makes sense…where it might bring on an extra 10, 15 or 20 hectares. These pockets are everywhere.” Hammel is on a mission. That is, to deliver a housing supply strategy for the Gold Coast his way, through a planning scheme process that will be “not like the amendment package” but inclusive. “I’m not scared of the targets,” he says. “I’m not scared in terms of the amount of people and the amount of dwellings. It is achievable. We know there is capacity and the city can handle it. “We just have to get it right this time. “Continued knee-jerk policy announcements from both the state and federal government for completely unrealistic and unattainable building targets do not assist. “[However] a big part of the reason the planning amendments scheme didn’t work was because of the failure for early and ongoing engagement,” he says “And the biggest risk to getting a new planning scheme in place and endorsed is if we cannot sort out our issues with the state government and make sure that, unlike the amendments process, we are on the same page early and that we are working towards the same goals together. “I’m not naive. We’re not going to sit there singing Kumbaya, I get that. “But if we’re not all in the same tent at the same time… then we’ll end up in the same position, and that simply won’t be good enough and, if I have anything to do with it, that won’t be the case.” You are currently experiencing The Urban Developer Plus (TUD+), our premium membership for property professionals. Click here to learn more.

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