It was the planning reform equivalent of a power chord struck with a windmilling strumming arm. And almost two decades later, the creation of Australia’s first designated Special Entertainment Precinct in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley is still reverberating. Not only that, it seems to be getting louder. Even in the face of soaring running costs as well as cost-of-living pressures and reduced alcohol consumption hitting the bottom line and ongoing viability of some venues. The Valley—as punters refer to the on Brisbane’s CBD fringe—has become a national model for music urbanism, the catchphrase for an urban planning strategy being implemented within a growing chorus of cities around the world. Back in the early 1990s, Austin, Texas—with more than 250 live music venues and ranked among the fastest-growing cities in the US—declared itself the “Live Music Capital of the World”. Since then, music policy has not just been making noise but big, strategy-shifting noise. ▲ Austin, Texas, declared itself the Live Music Capital of the World in 1991. Its ability to deliver significant economic and city-shaping benefits and opportunities has been increasingly recognised by governments and other stakeholders—including developers. Leading UK-based music and cultural policy thinker Shain Shapiro has observed: “Music policy, whether we call it music cities, improving our nighttime economy strategy or something else, is more prevalent in mayoral briefings, economic development strategies and tourism portfolios. “Cities that embrace this strategy are beginning to see the benefit and become the most successful cities within their country,” he has written. Shapiro defines music urbanism as “how we directly or indirectly use music as a tool, or within a toolkit, to address the ever-changing needs of those who live in cities, towns and places”. The author of This Must Be The Place: How Music Can Make Your City Better concedes that for most cities, the most prevalent issue is housing. “We all need a place to live and to create space to do so, other amenities, or land uses, have to adapt to this need for housing. So we either build up, or closer together, or both.” And, traditionally, music has been the “noisy canary in the development coal mine” with its venues usually the first to be eliminated to create that space. But for some time, Shapiro has argued: “This is not a music-related problem, but a problem of how we build and develop our cities and urban areas.  “A roof over one’s head is important. But the other roofs in the neighbourhood are important too.” ▲ Fortitude Music Hall, Scott Hutchinson’s quest to replace Brisbane’s Festival Hall. Closer to home, avid live music lover and Hutchinson Builders chairman Scott Hutchinson, not surprisingly, agrees. “It makes sense to me,” says the patron of Queensland’s peak music industry body QMusic. “People want to be where there’s lots of life and where there’s live music … I mean, I want to live in the Valley. I’m looking for a place right now.” It was Hutchinson’s quest to replace Brisbane’s demolished Festival Hall—his “temple” as he describes it—that led to him pumping $45 million into building the Fortitude Music Hall, which opened in Brunswick Street Mall in 2019.  The venue was the icing on the cake for Fortitude Valley’s Special Entertainment Precinct (SEP), which was created by the Brisbane City Council in 2006 to “ensure the long-term future of the music-based entertainment industry in the Valley without exposing residents or businesses to unreasonable levels of amplified music noise”. Significantly, venues within the SEP boundaries are exempt from the amplified noise requirements of the state’s Liquor Act. Instead, noise is managed by the council under a local law. The SEP, notably, also requires new residential and accommodation developments to achieve minimum noise reduction requirements. With a challenged construction industry, however, any new additions to the precinct and its surrounds have been somewhat muted. Hutchinson says overall the SEP had worked for the Valley but at the moment there were prevailing economic pressures at play.  “I think with a bit of help there’s some build-to-rents going up but because of the increase in building costs there are no build-to-sell accommodation towers because they just don’t stack up,” he says. ▲ Live music at Vinnies Dive Bar, Southport. Image: James Scown At the same time, financial strain has dealt a blow to the local music scene with the Valley’s live venue The Zoo announcing it will close its doors in July after 32 years of hosting local and international acts. Nevertheless, other councils are plugging into music urbanism with moves to create an increasing number of Special Entertainment Precincts. In March, Sydney’s Inner West Council proposed four more precincts in Balmain/Rozelle, Dulwich Hill, Leichhardt, and Marrickville following the successful two-year trial of the city’s first SEP at Enmore Road. “The Inner West is the beating heart of Sydney’s live music scene and we want to spread the success of what we’ve done in Enmore throughout the Inner West,” Mayor Darcy Byrne said at the time. “Later trading as a reward for hosting gigs is a real incentive for bars, restaurants and pubs and adds to the vibrancy of the local community. “Legalising performances in bookshops, cafes, and restaurants could increase the availability of affordable spaces for young and emerging artists to perform and develop their craft as well as attracting customers to those businesses. It’s a win for artists, local businesses and the community.” The push is also on for the introduction of SEPs on Sydney’s Northern Beaches with Manly and Brookvale the most likely initial locations and others such as Dee Why, Narrabeen and Avalon to follow. ▲ Enmore Road in Sydney’s Inner West. In Queensland, Nambour on the Sunshine Coast and the Southport CBD on the Gold Coast have introduced SEPs with a view to becoming “the next Fortitude Valleys”. Gold Coast Division 6 councillor Brooke Patterson says the designated precinct has put Southport’s Priority Development Area “on a new plane”. Patterson recalls working behind the bar at the Empire Hotel in Fortitude Valley when its SEP was introduced. “I was completely oblivious as someone who just liked to go out and listen to live music at the time that it was a defined and intentional approach of the Brisbane City Council to attract live music venues to Fortitude Valley. “And that’s what is happening in Southport. It’s all about the rejuvenation of live music, which is another element of what you need in a CBD.  “It’s creating that environment where if you want to do live music on the Gold Coast you’d be mad not to do it there because of the regulatory framwork.” ▲ A render of the revised Fire Baby development at Welch Street, Southport. And it seems to be working with an emerging cluster of live music venues in the precinct. In April, revised plans were submitted for the expansion of an approved two-level, 3246sq m venue at 8-12 Welch Street, Fire Baby and Foundry, including indoor dining, outdoor patio, footpath and terrace dining, a bar, wine cellar and wine storage, private function room and material change of use for live music. Dean Gould is the former chair of the Gold Coast Music Advisory Group, which guided the implementation of the city’s music action plan recommending the designation of a Special Entertainment Precinct in Southport. “Urban development was one of the key considerations when we were devising the music action plan,” he says. “When you’ve got these venues and you’ve got a nighttime economy, you’re going to start getting social activities and ancillary activities and eventually people creating communities. “It establishes another economic lever the city can pull.” And according to Gould, for the Southport CBD—a declared Priority Development Area that has sat largely dormant—it was “the missing piece” and critical for its future growth. “But it will be a long haul,” he says. “When you look at what’s happened to Austin, Texas, with the South by Southwest festival, which is well beyond just a music festival now … it took 30 years to establish at a global scale. “And now it’s only a small part of what Austin offers as a city. It’s an art city. It’s a music city. It’s a creativity city. It’s a technology city. And it all started by making music the centrepoint.” As Shapiro says: “Music is infrastructure, similar to schools, roads and hospitals. “It requires building, maintaining, evaluating and assessing. This includes our built environment’s capability to host and support music, but also how it feeds into the fabric of our urban lives. “[And] if we are to solve our global housing crisis in a way that supports places to live, rather than investments to accumulate, music is a valuable tool to deploy.” You are currently experiencing The Urban Developer Plus (TUD+), our premium membership for property professionals. Click here to learn more.
