Matilda Bay Brewery Decision Delayed Four Months

An assessment panel has pressed pause on its decision for 3 Oceans Property’s Matilda Bay Brewery project. 

The 2.9ha North Fremantle site is earmarked for a $185-million mixed-use redevelopment project and was due for planning approval determination earlier this week.

However, the Metro-Inner South Joint Development Assessment Panel opted to defer the decision and consideration of the project to early 2023.

It was determined that the plans had too many unresolved issues and that approving it would need too many specific conditions attached and that rejecting it outright was also not appropriate.

The developers now have an opportunity to make changes to the application and plans, and to resubmit it in the first quarter of 2023.

They will not need to withdraw the application and resubmit it.

It also means that the community has another chance to make submissions when the project is reconsidered.

▲ Part of the public open space proposed as part of the new plans for the Matilda Bay Brewery site.

Panel chair Rachel Chapman declared an interest at the start of the meeting as a director for town planners Taylor Burrell Barnett Perth, whose clients include the project’s property manager, Parcel Property.

Chapman said that neither she nor Taylor Burrell Barnett Perth had worked on the project or the application, and that she would consider the application on its merits and without bias.

Chapman remained for the discussion of the application and the deliberation of the deferral.

Cox Architecture designed the original plans for the project, The Assembly, on the site, which include four buildings of 2, 10, 11 and 16 storeys.

Stage one was todeliver open public space and 207 apartments while stage two was to deliver up to 293 apartments.

In September 2022, the developer filed amended plans.

Changes included an increase in height for Tower 1 from 16 storeys to 20 storeys, a decrease in height from 10 storeys to 6 storeys for Tower 3. 

Part of Tower 2 will be reduced in height from 5 storeys to 3 storeys and an increase in height for another part of Tower 2 from 11 to 15 storeys. 

There was also a reduction in the number of units from 207 to 198 units.

▲ The plans propose retaining the heritage-listed buildings from 1929 when it was a Ford Motors factory.

Residents will have access to a 40m infinity pool, rooftop dining area, a pilates and yoga studio, children’s play area and work-from-home areas.

Planning officers at the City of Fremantle Council had recommended that the panel refuse the project.

Reasons included that in many instances the plans did not fit the criteria listed in planning framework documents.

The structure plan for the site allows for a maximum height for the site of 17m with the opportunity to go up to 33m if nine conditions in the structure plan are met.

Only three of those conditions were fully met with two only partially met by the developer's plans which proposed a height of 77m which is 44m higher than the maximum allowed height.

Officers cited the height and scale of the development as key concerns as well as considerations around traffic, congestion and flow as well as sufficient parking.

The City of Fremantle’s Design Advisory Committee also advised officers that the design did not achieve a sense of distinctive architecture or meld with the proposed re-use and adaptation of the heritage-listed buildings on the site.

It was also deemed to be inconsistent with only 3 per cent of the units having a floor area less than 60sq m instead of the mandated minimum of 25 per cent to create sufficient diversity of apartment types.

There were also concerns about overshadowing.

ASIC records show that Chinese-born Xibo Ma, Ling Ma and Rongbin Ma are the directors of 3 Oceans Property.

Two shareholders are also mentioned in the ASIC records: Singapore-based Hong Rong Investment Pte. Ltd. and the China-based Hebei Qianjin Steel Group Co. Ltd.  

The company has previously put forward a $300-million development in Scarborough in Perth but later withdrew the project.