Hallmarc Wins VCAT Approval for Heidelberg Tower

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has ruled in favour of a mixed-use residential building in Melbourne’s north-western suburbs, amending and deleting a series of conditions imposed by the city council.

Hallmarc Group had applied to build an eight to 10-storey mixed-use structure after Banyule City Council agreed to sell the air rights above one of its owned and operated carparks in Heidelberg, about 11km from Melbourne’s centre.

Under the proposal, the development would sit on a 2883sq m site at 7-11 Cartmell Street, and include two levels of private car parking as well as a three-level public carpark. That public facility would be vested to the council following completion of work.

Banyule council approved the proposal in January of this year, saying:  “…there is strong strategic support for the proposal given the site’s location in the Heidelberg Major Activity Centre”.

“The proposal will provide a net community benefit through the provision of additional public parking, a pedestrian connection between Cartmell Street and Sheffields Lane and higher density housing.”

However, in response to 39 submissions from residents in the area, Banyule imposed a series of conditions which council officers said would “reduce the height of the building, address visual bulk and design and improve amenity outcomes to adjoining properties”.

Hallmarc went to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) seeking to delete or amend the conditions it disputed.

▲ Banyule council approved the proposal in January of this year, but with conditions.

Those included privacy screening for specific apartments, the use of alternate “lightweight” cladding material for upper levels, private contracting of waste management, noise emanating from ground-floor retail premises, and the number of electric vehicle charging points.

In one instance, the council wanted amendments to the framing element material, saying the proposed dark-colour framing was unacceptable.  Hallmarc agreed, but objected to the word “lightweight” arguing it need flexibility to achieve the desired result.

The tribunal agreed.

“A basic principle that has been established about the validity of conditions is that they must accurately convey their intended effect and avoid uncertainty and vagueness,” the tribunal’s Kerrie Birtwistle wrote in the decision.

“I agree with the applicant that in the absence of council being clear about the purpose of the condition (that is, what does lightweight mean – different material, different colour, different weight?) that greater flexibility is required to enable negotiation between the parties.”

In another example, Hallmarc wanted six publicly accessible electric vehicle (EV) charging stations within the development.

However, the council wanted all 112 resident parking spaces be pre-wired to support a Level Two (Mode Three) 7 kW 32 Amp vehicle, through a dedicated switchboard, cabling and load management system.

“I agree with the applicant that there is no requirement under the (planning) Scheme for the condition as imposed,” Birtwistle wrote.

▲ A render of the Heidelberg proposal. The tribunal deleted six conditions and amended three.

“There is nothing in the Scheme that requires the provision of EV charging capacity being provided within a development at a rate of one space per apartment. While the council has an aspiration to achieve this outcome, it must have a basis in the planning Scheme, and it does not.”

The approved development will be five residential levels with a mix of 82 studio, one, two and three-bedroom apartments.

The online development platform BCI Central estimates the construction costs of Hallmarc’s project to about $40 million.

Halmarc director of marketing and services Alyssia Storey said the developer was pleased with the VCAT decision.

“We will continue to assess the market conditions in Melbourne as to a direction forward with timing and end-user for the product,” she said in statement.

It’s the second time this year VCAT has ruled on one of Hallmarc’s developments.

In January, Hallmarc won approval from the tribunal for a 184-warehouse project in Williamstown North, after Hobsons Bay City Council refused planning permission.