Stockwell Files Tower Plans in West End Stomping Ground

Brisbane-based developer Stockwell is sticking to its knitting, adding plans for a 16-storey tower to its extensive development portfolio at inner-city West End.

The mixed-use proposal comprises 132 apartments and 602sq m of retail/commercial tenancies to activate its Vulture Street frontage.

It is earmarked for a 3321sq m site at 33 Vulture Street, which property records indicate changed hands in January last year for $19 million.

Under the scheme designed by architecture firm Mode, the two, three and four-bedroom apartments would be accommodated across 13 levels sitting atop a three-level podium integrating two historic facades of the 1920s-built former Queensland Can Factory.

The factory facades along Paris and Turin streets would be preserved to “sleeve” the podium carpark levels.

According to a planning report, the surrounding built form is predominantly character housing and the heritage-listed West End State School is opposite the site.

“There is a great opportunity in maintaining and enhancing the existing character of the site,” the report said.

▲ Rendering of the scheme proposed for 33 Vulture Street.

“The podium design incorporates the character and brick materiality of the existing [factory] walls, expressing the transition from the original fabric to the modern fabric with the articulation of a brick and glazed facade on the Vulture Street elevation.”

Overall, a combined 1184sq m of communal open space is also to be provided under the proposal.

Capping the proposed tower, a rooftop recreation level would include a pool and deck, spa, sauna, gym, barbecue areas, outdoor dining terraces, community garden and a reservable function space.

As well, the podium top would feature landscape trees, bench seating, a community herb garden and a turfed dog park. Below it, a total of 199 carparking spaces would span three levels.

▲ Rendering of the 16-storey tower planned for West End.

The planning report said that although the tower design exceeded the site’s eight-storey height limit “the proposed building height, bulk and scale of development represent a reasonable and appropriate outcome in this instance”.

It noted a large landholding at 36-38 Vulture Street that sat in a high-density residential zone (up to 15 storeys) had recently been developed for expansion of West End State School and the West End police station.

“This landholding would otherwise have been able to provide substantial residential accommodation,” the report said. “The proposal on the subject site … will aid in recouping some of the residential accommodation lost by the development of the landholding opposite for other purposes.”

According to Stockwell’s website, the developer has invested more than $590 million in the community, delivering in excess of 700 apartments at West End alone.