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<p>Chinese developer Holder East has set its sights on Melbourne suburb Box Hill, filing plans for a 13-storey office tower.</p><p>The developer has proposed the building for the 662sq m site at 701 Station Street in Box Hill.</p><p>Fender Katsalidis designed the plans, which includes office space on the first to 12th floors, and retail spaces on the ground floor.</p><p>Also planned are two basement levels with end-of-trip facilities, bicycle storage and car parking.</p><p>The first basement level would have 13 car parking spaces while the second basement level would have bicycle storage for 40 bicycles, six car parking spaces including one accessible space, and the end-of-trip facilities.</p><p>A bus stop is opposite the site with a tram stop and the Box Hill Train Station further down Station Street at the crossing with Whitehorse Road.</p><p>Gross floor area for the building is 8204sq m with 4659sq m of net lettable area for office space and 178sq m for the two retail tenancies on the ground floor.</p><p>The development cost for the project is estimated at $30 million, according to the City of Whitehorse’s records.<br></p><div id="2gibz17WwANJmLXVBFR9Rr"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1BoloOj8Vhrk3vtvwvy8Je/56c26e08d46665074fcd1cb12927559d/box_hill_holder_east_story_mid.jpg" alt="The project will have twelve floors of office space with two retail tenancies on the ground floor." data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1BoloOj8Vhrk3vtvwvy8Je/56c26e08d46665074fcd1cb12927559d/box_hill_holder_east_story_mid.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ A render of the tower proposed for the Box Hill site.<br></span></div><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;"><br></span></div></div><p>Holder East BH Pty Ltd is listed as the client on application documents submitted to the council.</p><p>ASIC records list Tu Lu, Debin Lu and Rui Grace Guan as the directors of Holder East BH.</p><p>All three are also the directors of Holder East Pty Ltd, which is listed as the sole shareholder of Holder East BH. A British Virgin Islands-based company Holder East Capital Ltd is listed in ASIC records as the sole shareholder for Holder East Pty Ltd.</p><p>The company has other projects in Melbourne <a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/501-king-street-melbourne-development-construction-approval-mixed-use-project" data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/501-king-street-melbourne-development-construction-approval-mixed-use-project" target="_blank" rel="noopener">including a mixed-use project that was appoved for</a> King Street, West Melbourne in November, 2022.</p><p>Recent projects planned for Box Hill, 14km east of the Melbourne CBD, include <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/wembley-hill-box-hill-south-golden-age-melbourne" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/wembley-hill-box-hill-south-golden-age-melbourne" target="_blank">Golden Age Group’s residential project</a> in Box Hill South for 147 hourse on a 50,116sq m site at 15-31 Hay Street, filed in February.</p><p>Golden Age is a prolific developer in the Box Hill area.</p>

With more developers keen in the growing suburb of Box Hill, developer Holder East has filed plans for a 13-storey mixed-use tower…


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<p>Two Sydney councils have teamed up to launch a major precinct masterplan for Leppington Town Centre with the aim of developing a “30-minute city”.&nbsp;</p><p>The Liverpool and Camden councils have collaborated on the ambitious masterplan for the town centre, which aims to deliver 10,500 homes by 2041.</p><p>The precinct is now under assessment with the NSW Department for Planning and Environment.&nbsp;</p><p>The 440ha site within the South West Growth Area of Sydney spans the two local government authorities but has “been slow to develop to date”.&nbsp;</p><p>This was due to fragmented land ownership and a perceived “lack of a lead developer to establish a town centre”, reports by the councils said.</p><p>The Leppington Town Centre Review Planning Proposal was endorsed by Liverpool Council in October before being discussed at Camden in November ahead of being filed with the department this year.</p><p>Leppington is largely an employment-zoned area, focusing on business and industrial parks, with pockets of medium-density residential.</p><p>The rezoning masterplan will turn it into a highly integrated mixed-use Strategic Centre Core, according to the councils, helping to facilitate the growth of residential living and the provision of cultural and recreational facilities.&nbsp;</p><p>In addition to the residential component, 156,000sq m of retail space, and 142,000sq m of commercial, health, community and education floor space are included in the plans.</p><p>The area’s employment focus will be retained with 160,000sq m of commercial and industrial enterprise floor space included in the masterplan.&nbsp;</p><p>The councils want to adopt a “density pyramid” approach with the highest densities, of up to 28-stroreys, concentrated around the core at Leppington Station.&nbsp;</p><p>Medium to high densities are allocated for the 800m walking catchment at the periphery, and medium densities towards the edges.</p><div id="1eQtwQjExvA3YaYMkSQpkA"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/51MUiKcAtlkp0jD2PBhWSC/776f60ffdfba80b8ed2e13a3c1a4efe8/Leppington_Town_Plaza_in-article.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/51MUiKcAtlkp0jD2PBhWSC/776f60ffdfba80b8ed2e13a3c1a4efe8/Leppington_Town_Plaza_in-article.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Camden and Liverpool Councils are centring the town around a plaza in a “density pyramid” approach.<br><br> </span></div></div><p>There are already developments on the way in the area, including a two-stage subdivision which will create 235 residential lots between Camden Valley Way, George Road and Hulls Road.&nbsp;</p><p>A five-tower project by Salvo Property Group was <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/leppington-aerotropolis-five-tower-precinct" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/leppington-aerotropolis-five-tower-precinct" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced for the area</a> last year and a <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/greenfield-sale-opens-up-western-sydney-airport-market" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/greenfield-sale-opens-up-western-sydney-airport-market" target="_blank" rel="noopener">greenfield sale in Leppington North</a> will create further development next to the new town centre.</p><p>The councils want Leppington to become a new strategic centre “growing into a regionally significant transit-oriented centre providing major civic, cultural, recreational, retail and business service functions”.&nbsp;</p><p>As part of the Western Parkland City area, it will complement the Aerotropolis, another precinct plan which was under assessment at the end of last year anchored by the growth of Western Sydney Airport and nvestment in road and train networks in the area.</p><p>Leppington Town Centre should capitalise on the development of the Aerotropolis Precinct, the councils said, increasing its role in provisioning residential and employment, to “support the concept of a 30-minute city”.&nbsp;</p><p>“Leppington Town Centre will be a people and lifestyle-focused place, transit-oriented and highly convenient with major shopping, cultural and recreation facilities,” according to the councils.&nbsp;</p><p>“It will have multiple education and health facilities as well as convenient industrial and urban services space on its fringe to meet the needs of its local community.”&nbsp;</p><p>Public exhibition of the project will launch in April and the report is to befinalising by November 2023.</p>

Major opportunity in the works as high growth Sydney precinct seeks lead developer as part of Leppington “strategic core” rezoning plans…

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<p>The green shoots of new development are emerging rapidly among the pineapple and macadamia farms surrounding the small towns dotted throughout the Glass House Mountains region north of Brisbane.</p><p>Sprawling rural properties are making way for new residential subdivisions and housing estates as development has ramped up off the back of the pandemic-induced treechange.</p><p>Capitalising on the surge in growth, Cornerstone Group has recently turned dirt on an $18-million healthcare project at Beerwah in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.</p><p>To be known as the Beerwah Health Hub, it will comprise 4000sq m for healthcare services—including general practice, allied health, dental, optometry and radiology—as well as a childcare centre.</p><p>It is the diversified healthcare real estate fund’s sixth healthcare development.</p><p>The other developments include Chermside Health Hub, North Lakes Specialist Medical Centre and Moreton Health Hub in Queensland as well as Canberra Specialist Medical Centre in ACT and Nepean Health Hub in Penrith west of Sydney.</p><div id="7v8JvQ0dc5a7FdoJGdQSKq"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1JiKNH9GqTPoWQ3562fdqy/725afee2f1be2e540ad461a7504190fb/Untitled_design__90_.jpg" alt="Render of Cornerstone's $18-million Beerwah Health Hub under construction in the Sunshine Coast hinterland." data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1JiKNH9GqTPoWQ3562fdqy/725afee2f1be2e540ad461a7504190fb/Untitled_design__90_.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Render of Cornerstone’s $18-million Beerwah Health Hub under construction in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.<br><br></span></div></div><p>Cornerstone Group director Simon Heazlewood said he was excited to break ground on the Beerwah Health Hub is an area that “has been underserviced in regards to quality primary healthcare”.</p><p>“Beerwah is strategically located between north Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast in an area where we are seeing tremendous growth,” he said.</p><p>“Our new health hub is primed to bring high-quality services to the Beerwah community, Glass House Mountains, Landsborough and other surrounding hinterland towns, as well as the emerging residential communities of Beerwah East, Aura and Caloundra South.”</p><p>About 70 per cent of the lettable space in the under-construction facility has been pre-committed, including the 105-place, 720sq m childcare centre on the first floor.</p><p>Construction of the Beerwah Health Hub is expected to be complete by the end of the year. Another healthcare project on Bribie Island is due to begin in coming months.</p>

Capitalising on the pandemic-induced treechange, Cornerstone Group has recently turned dirt on an $18-million healthcare project at Beerwah in the Sunshine Coast hinterland…


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<p>As the <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/tradie-exodus-construction-sector-apocalypse-looms" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/tradie-exodus-construction-sector-apocalypse-looms" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tradie apocalypse</a> continues, one company to fall victim has revealed the extent of its liabilities after a creditor meeting last week.&nbsp;</p><p>PBS Building, which called in liquidators at RSM Australia at the beginning of March, is now said to owe creditors $40 million.</p><p>It was initially thought that PBS went into insolvency owing $25 million.</p><p>At a meeting on Friday, 180 creditors of the company heard updates from RSM Australia partners Jonathon Colbran, Richard Stone and Mitchell Herrett, who took control of the company following its administration.</p><p>They were told work had recommenced at seven of the 24 current PBS project sites that were in active construction after PBS withdrew quietly from its<a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/pbs-building-in-shock-withdrawal-from-sites" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/pbs-building-in-shock-withdrawal-from-sites" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&nbsp;portfolio of projects over a weekend</a>.</p><p>This includes five of the eight active projects in NSW, one of the 11 ACT sites and one of the five active Queensland sites.&nbsp;</p><p>Administrators said that 17 other projects were also “advancing towards a resolution”.&nbsp;</p><p>Fifty-six other projects which had been contracted to PBS companies were completed and are now in a defect liability period.&nbsp;</p><p>PBS Building directors said that the administration <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/gut-wrenching-decision-to-call-in-administrators-at-pbs" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/gut-wrenching-decision-to-call-in-administrators-at-pbs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was “gut-wrenching”</a> and as a result of a “perfect storm” of fixed price contracts, record material costs, supply chain challenges, labour shortages and extreme weather events forced the administration.</p><p>PBS made 180 employees redundant and paid out their entitlements in full before administrators were appointed.&nbsp;</p><p>“To date 374 claims have been lodged by creditors—177 in the ACT, 131 in NSW and 66 in Queensland. This number is also expected to rise and fall until the Administrators are able to verify the claims,’’ RSM partner Jonathon Colbran said.&nbsp;</p><p>“[Friday’s] meeting was the first of two that will be held during the administration process with the second being the one where creditors will determine the future of the PBS companies.&nbsp;</p><p>“At the second meeting creditors will vote on whether to put the companies into liquidation or enter into a Deed of Company Arrangement (DOCA). A DOCA is a binding agreement between a company and its creditors that sets out how the affairs and assets of the company will be dealt with.’’&nbsp;</p><div id="66rShMNHztOnBSXP1tNO2f"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/4PBVbS1oWezw63sEFmHlLN/13b7c903c985803980127b3cacca10a9/In-article__12_.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/4PBVbS1oWezw63sEFmHlLN/13b7c903c985803980127b3cacca10a9/In-article__12_.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ In Queensland, sites belonging to Marquee Developments and Keylin Developments were impacted by PBS Building going in to administration.<br><br></span></div></div><p>A full creditor’s report is set to be published in mid-April, although the administrators warned that due to the complexity of the case, timeframes could blow out.&nbsp;</p><p>The report will also detail RSM’s investigations into project trust accounts in Queensland and NSW.&nbsp;</p><p>“These trust accounts were frozen from the date of the appointment of the administrators. We are now identifying which &nbsp;projects the accounts relate to, which creditors may have rights to the funds in these accounts and then reconciling these funds,’’ Colbran said.&nbsp;</p><p>“The Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) will concurrently undertake a compliance audit of the Queensland project trust accounts.”&nbsp;</p><p>Insolvencies are set to rise this year, according to <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/risky-business-insolvencies-tipped-to-be-20pc-higher" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/risky-business-insolvencies-tipped-to-be-20pc-higher" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Creditorwatch chief executive Patrick Coghlan,</a> and there are already a host of liquidations in the constructions sector, which has been predicted to face the highest levels of insolvencies it has seen in a decade.&nbsp;</p><p>Last week, the Sunshine Coast’s Nation Construction Management was placed in liquidation, owing a reported $3 million at the minimum.&nbsp;</p><p>Sydney’s Allworks Building Pty Ltd also called in the liquidators last week, reportedly owing $300,000.</p><p>Partner at the liquidators of Allworks O'Brien Palmer, Daniel Frisken, said that compared to others, the liquidation of the company was "fairly orderly".&nbsp;</p><p>“There are no unfinished works for this company to complicate the matter,”&nbsp;Frisken told <em>The Urban Developer</em>.</p><p>“It does appear that it was rising costs in the industry have priced them out of the market. They were making losses on contracts as a result of those increased costs which is a massive crisis of across the industry, added to continuing increases in insurance premiums and upward pressure on wages.</p><p>“The ATOs current approach is to issue director penalty notices, rather than start full enforcement against the companies, but what that means is that before they get sent to court, directors are driven in droves into the offices of insolvency practitioners.</p><p>“Construction always rings the bell for the rest of the economy. There are flow on effects to retail, professional services, you name it. Sadly it's a sign of things to come across the whole economy.”</p><p>There are a number of construction industry-adjacent companies facing insolvency, including Adelaide Crane Maintenance Pty Ltd, Weldstrong Fabrication Pty Ltd, BGC Master Builders Pty Ltd, and Millennium Electrical Pty Limited, all of which were placed into liquidation during the past seven days.</p>

PBS Building's creditors met last week to bring total owed by the embattled company to $40 million, as another two construction sector companies bite the dust...

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<p>The largest surf park in the Southern Hemisphere has been approved.</p><p>Aventuur has won development approval for its <a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/developer-southern-hemisphere-biggest-wave-park-perth" data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/developer-southern-hemisphere-biggest-wave-park-perth">Perth Surf Park</a> from the Metro Outer Joint Development Assessment Panel and will transform the Cockburn Gateway precinct into a major tourism, sporting and entertainment hub.</p><p>Slated for a site on Prinsep Road, Jandakot, next to the Kwinana Freeway and the Cockburn Central Train Station, the $100-million development will “create a world-class, sustainable surf park in Perth, welcoming more than a million visitors each year”, according to Aventuur.</p><p>The heart of the park will be a 56 module Wavegarden ‘Cove’ surfing lagoon, offering “perfect waves for all abilities in a safe, controlled environment.”</p><p>The precinct will also feature a beach club, bars and restaurants, high-performance surfing academy, surf hire store, wellness and recovery centre, fitness studio, co-working lounge, functions spaces and community amenities, including a skate park, pump track and gardens.</p><div id="6Dv5dFqSbmcE7al49AQ4Tl"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/nVtIYExaEClTpvLzqoEhP/cde74ccf92ffa01d4dde08f3fc921fa4/2.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/nVtIYExaEClTpvLzqoEhP/cde74ccf92ffa01d4dde08f3fc921fa4/2.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ The surf park will attract a million visitors per year, according to the developer.<br><br></span></div></div><p>The surf park is also expected to host regular events, including surfing competitions, cultural and music festivals, and charity fundraisers.</p><p>The Perth Surf Park is expected to create more than 260 jobs during construction and contribute more than $250 million to the WA economy during its operating life.</p><p>Aventuur chief development officer Andrew Ross said he was “delighted” the project had been approved and was looking forward to beginning construction later in 2023.</p><p>The park’s buildings will target a 5 Star Green Star rating, making Perth the first surf park in the world to achieve the classification, Aventuur said.</p><div id="1ElqzWQTMndfIBwQMClkst"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2JzTb6vY6VV938TG6zklSN/49924e1d6780eeb15ca7ae4c55cb1f4e/1.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2JzTb6vY6VV938TG6zklSN/49924e1d6780eeb15ca7ae4c55cb1f4e/1.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Developer Adventuur says the park will be the most environmentally friendly in the world. </span></div></div><p>The Perth Surf Park’s design incorporates a range of other market-leading sustainability initiatives, to ensure the project delivers net positive environmental outcomes.</p><p>“We plan on utilising ‘zero embedded carbon’ concrete during construction, sourcing 100 per cent of the park’s power requirements from renewable sources, generating and storing our own solar power, harvesting rainwater from the building roofs, composting organic waste on site, eliminating single use plastics, and procuring local materials and products wherever possible,” Ross said.</p><p>“As a team of passionate surfers, we believe it’s our responsibility to have a positive impact on the planet, in Jandakot where our park is located, and in our local Cockburn and Perth communities. We’ve received so much support from local surfers, families and residents on our journey to deliver this project, and we’re committed to creating the best surf park in the world that is by the West, for the West”.</p><p>The project’s development approval comes after a decision by the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority that the Perth Surf Park will not have a significant impact on the environment, and therefore did not require assessment by the EPA.</p><p>Subject to further regulatory approvals the Perth Surf Park is expected to open in late 2025.</p><div id="carousel-root" data-reactroot=""><image-carousel-remove-button><div class="rm-carousel-wrapper"><button id="rm-carousel" class="rm-carousel-btn">Delete</button></div></image-carousel-remove-button><div class="slider-wrap"><image-carousel><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="1.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/6CnJaRIKlsbV4IzI4BKn38/947945e8a0c73d68e125bd8dab6095dc/1.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/6CnJaRIKlsbV4IzI4BKn38/947945e8a0c73d68e125bd8dab6095dc/1.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="2.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1aSTZLT8oMM793wad57dNq/f2bd4f300892cbe28b63a05f664d9839/2.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1aSTZLT8oMM793wad57dNq/f2bd4f300892cbe28b63a05f664d9839/2.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="3.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/SZPjLyeXfRjs6dRwLZGJZ/58b6d840b743fb6b17445748e4122fae/3.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/SZPjLyeXfRjs6dRwLZGJZ/58b6d840b743fb6b17445748e4122fae/3.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="4.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3DpCbPQllLtuVJUCyGeYWj/c795c7847aa655d9478161eb26cf2e3a/4.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3DpCbPQllLtuVJUCyGeYWj/c795c7847aa655d9478161eb26cf2e3a/4.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div></image-carousel></div></div><p><br></p>

Developer Aventuur has won development approval for its $100-million, “world-class, sustainable” surf park in Perth… 

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<p>Since the First Fleet brought horses here in 1788, racing has been a staple of Australian culture.</p><p>But smaller crowds on race day are a fact of life in the post-pandemic era, and jockey clubs are having to pivot to make the most of any opportunity in the decline, putting their prime real estate to a new use.&nbsp;</p><p>The latest club to realise the potential of its land is Morphettville Racecourse in Adelaide.</p><p>Last month, its owners, the South Australian Jockey Club, announced that after a five-plus-year masterplan and tender process, a new partnership is posied to move the major track redevelopment forward.&nbsp;</p><p>The club is planning to redevelop 7.5ha of rezoned land between the racetrack’s home turn and Anzac Highway. The $350-million project will deliver 150 apartments in mixed-use blocks as well as 250 townhouses.&nbsp;</p><p>Additionally, a supermarket, shops and hospitality outlets, as well as a club-owned tavern and office, will be delivered in partnership with developers Villawood and superannuation fund Hostplus.</p><div id="6lp8kALTbAW7CAoFdW6fO6"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3dEHDE1eYh8mJ6sufzGR17/9a6b4171444dbb0a7738488dacab8639/Morphettville_renders_____in_article.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3dEHDE1eYh8mJ6sufzGR17/9a6b4171444dbb0a7738488dacab8639/Morphettville_renders_____in_article.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ National developer Villawood and superannuation fund Hostplus have teamed up to deliver the racecourse site.<br><br></span></div></div><p>It is not the first time underutilised race tracks have been identified and adapted for reuse, according to the club chief executive officer, Grant Mayer.&nbsp;</p><p>“The masterplan has been ongoing for 5½ years or so, after starting at a high level in 2015-2016,” Mayer says.</p><p>“Back then they decided to develop excess land at the racecourse. It’s not a new concept—there are a number of metropolitan race tracks that have looked at the land and realised that the days of massive crowds have gone or at least they are infrequently big.&nbsp;</p><p>“They have this underutilised or totally unused land and thought, ‘How do we best use this land in a way that complements the racecourse?’.</p><p>“We wanted a transit-orientated plan developed with local talent to put to the government.”</p><p>As Mayer says, Morphettville had a long line of examples to learn from.&nbsp;</p><p>Melbourne Racing Club is pushing ahead with plans for its $3.5-billion <a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/melbourne-racing-club-pushes-on-with-sandown-redevelopment" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/melbourne-racing-club-pushes-on-with-sandown-redevelopment">Sandown Racecourse redevelopment</a> and developer Golden Group proceeded with its <a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/developer-files-first-stage-for-3-8bn-wa-masterplan" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/developer-files-first-stage-for-3-8bn-wa-masterplan">$3.8-billion Belmont Park project</a> in Perth last year.</p><p>Mirvac broke ground on its Eagle Farm Racecourse residential <a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/mirvac-charlton-house-sales" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/mirvac-charlton-house-sales">development in September, 2022</a>, and the ACT government is considering proposals for Thoroughbred Park in Canberra, which would scrap the racetrack fully or partially in favour of housing.</p><p>Brisbane Racing Club is also undergoing significant change with the delivery of its $1.5-billion masterplan.&nbsp;</p><h2>The project so far</h2><p><br>As racecourse owners look to futureproof their sites, Morphettville and other projects across Australia highlight the challenges of effectively integrating new developments into historic working racecourses.&nbsp;</p><p>Racing at Morphettville dates back to 1875, but the area under development was underused, mainly as a race-day carpark.&nbsp;</p><p>The club applied to the South Australian Government to rezone about 13ha of land initially.&nbsp;</p><p>“The original plan would have delivered 500 homes on the racecourse and three towers on Anzac Highway of 12 storeys each,” Mayer says.</p><p>As with many major development projects, Morphettville has gone through a process of shifting funding models and configurations.</p><p> Permission was granted in 2020 to rezone the “urban core”, but the strip of land surrounding the tramway was excluded.</p><p>“It changed our plans initially, we basically remodelled our tender process in regards to that piece of land.”&nbsp;</p><div id="1QkO4Jago3WLrhIyD9xUHb"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2AePMjegGUNtLbqExhwsba/971b1aa707082eddfa8dbffc91c7bed3/Morphettville_race_track_____in_article.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2AePMjegGUNtLbqExhwsba/971b1aa707082eddfa8dbffc91c7bed3/Morphettville_race_track_____in_article.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ The Morphettville project has changed scope from its inception, down to 7.5ha from initial plans for 13ha.<br><br></span></div></div><p>Australian thoroughbred racehorse auction house Magic Millions, owned since 2011 by Gerry Harvey and Katie Page, was on the land and involved at early stages.</p><p>“Gerry and Magic Millions were keen to stay involved and had a financial offer on the table,” Mayer says.</p><p>“But they thought long and hard about it—for Gerry it was about maintaining a presence for Magic Millions, he needed a base and wanted to stay as close to Morphettville as much as possible, because the cost of rebuilding would have been considerable.</p><p>“The offer made initially was rejected, so we agreed to proceed without Gerry’s involvement. It was done amicably, and it was decided it would be a smaller 7.5ha development as a result.”</p><h2>Building on a working race track</h2><p><br>Developing a project on a working track was never going to be easy.</p><p>“A key element of the tender process was that we wanted works on the development site to be organised so we can continue to race 44 times a year,” Mayer says.</p><p>“We also have a current working pub and a sports bar and these hospitality venues are very important revenue streams for the club, so we wanted to keep that going through any build phase as long as possible, and Villawood found a way.”&nbsp;</p><div id="79CVNugwbO55X3ZnG5uUii"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/7b3O4gQ8yW3hVdxtfZ4YBx/7db6d79727fd72713160594a2810629b/Morphettville_apartment_buildings____.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/7b3O4gQ8yW3hVdxtfZ4YBx/7db6d79727fd72713160594a2810629b/Morphettville_apartment_buildings____.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ The Villawood development will deliver 150 apartments in mixed-use buildings and a further 250 townhouses.<br><br></span></div></div><p>Successful in the tender process for the pared-back site, these were the challenges Villawood was faced with, according to chief executive Alan Miller.&nbsp;</p><p>“We do projects all around Australia and there are not many sites that are this unique,” Miller says.</p><p>“But the whole concept of the racing industry developments combining hospitality with housing is the way of the future. It’s also important to remember that in terms of remaining metro tracks in Adelaide, this is the last one, so it has to be done right.&nbsp;</p><p>“Developing around racecourses is an interesting thing, it’s not like a greenfield development. You have to think about its functionality as a track, ensuring that there are no shadows over tracks, for instance, so that was an interesting process to go through.”</p><h2>Forging ahead</h2><p><br>Next steps will follow quickly from the announcement of the partnership.&nbsp;</p><p>“Next up is planning approvals and development application approvals, but hopefully it will be on the market next February,” says Villawood’s Miller.&nbsp;</p><p>“We don’t want to take our time—South Australia is a really good market for us and everyone in general, and we think there’s high demand for product in that vicinity and given feedback from people Morphettville is such a great location for this.</p><p>“Add to that we can do 15 per cent affordable housing, as part of the rezoning requirement. It’s a good catalyst for innovation, it’s not easy to achieve in terms of architectural outcomes.”</p><p>The South Australian Jockey Club has now handed the project over to Villawood and once completed will mark a new age for the track, says Mayer.&nbsp;</p><p>“From a high-level perspective, this is a gamechanger for the club. While we’re talking about development for commercial and housing, the benefactor is the racecourse.</p><p>“We’re doing this to create ongoing revenue streams for the racecourse so we can continue to invest back into the racecourse.&nbsp;</p><p>“It’s done with the purest intention to continue strengthening our core product and create a community on our doorstep, and the opportunities that come from it are amazing and we have to make sure we work with our new community to what we do here.”<br><br></p><hr><p><strong><br>You are currently experiencing&nbsp;<em>The Urban Developer</em>&nbsp;Plus (TUD+), our premium membership for property professionals.&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/membership-plans" data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/membership-plans"><strong>Click here to learn more.</strong></a></p><div id="2GhuueZl01Zwo2aFfjNVi2"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/12UMq5eMSEOh0QxJVBYaDt/d7507cf4ceb1365cc9ce7eaff84d06cc/tud___banner.jpg" alt="TUD + Banner" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/12UMq5eMSEOh0QxJVBYaDt/d7507cf4ceb1365cc9ce7eaff84d06cc/tud___banner.jpg"></picture></div>

 After a years-long masterplanning process, Morphettville is set for a $350 million transformation as racetracks reinvent themselves for future growth…

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<p>A deal worth more than $2 billion has been struck between one of Australia’s biggest developers and a western Sydney council to revitalise the city’s centre.</p><p>The agreement between Walker Corporation and Blacktown City Council includes new office, health and retail developments in the CBD and a green square.</p><p>While details are being finalised, Walker executive chairman Lang Walker said the development would deliver more than 1000 construction jobs over five years and permanently add more than 4500 jobs and $920 million in value every year to the city’s economy, according to the Walker Corporation.</p><p>The deal adds to Walker’s current and past city-transforming projects in <a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/high-rise-limit-hike-parramatta-cbd-planning-proposal" data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/high-rise-limit-hike-parramatta-cbd-planning-proposal">Parramatta</a>, a $3-billion transformation that was completed less than a year ago, and Queensland’s <a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/maroochydore-city-centre-walker-corporation-suncentral-development-construction" data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/maroochydore-city-centre-walker-corporation-suncentral-development-construction">Maroochydore</a>.</p><p>“This is an exciting opportunity to deliver an urban transformation which will change the way people think about Blacktown and bring thousands of new jobs closer to where people live,” Lang Walker said.</p><p>“Blacktown is growing fast and it needs the modern amenities and infrastructure to match, accompanied by wide open public squares and better-designed access, in and around the city for pedestrians, cars, buses and those using public transport.”</p><div id="Fo2AAA2x6bsUiIaCd2UrN"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/9IDKrvjK4tkrRAcNFBxYY/296a20179183f2a6da2f7fd92e934dc2/2.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/9IDKrvjK4tkrRAcNFBxYY/296a20179183f2a6da2f7fd92e934dc2/2.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ A concept render of part of the planned $2-billion revitalisation of the Blacktown CBD.<br><br></span></div></div><p>The future masterplan will also deliver the council’s mooted Blacktown Brain and Spinal Institute.</p><p>“Over the coming months we will be finessing the details of our masterplan to create vibrant, energised, people-friendly spaces through great architecture, careful placemaking and state-of-the-art facilities,” Walker said.</p><p>Blacktown, 35km west of the Sydney CBD, is the most populous city in NSW and continues to grow quickly with a predicted population of 615,000 by 2041.</p><p>Blacktown mayor Tony Bleasdale said the opportunity to work closely with Walker on a transformation the same size as Parramatta Square was “a game changer”.</p><p>“This is the beginning of a major boom period for Blacktown. The Walker project will play a central role in council’s long-term plan to ensure Blacktown residents have access to world class infrastructure, education, health and open space in the heart of our city, for our community to flourish,” Bleasdale said.</p><p>Business Western Sydney executive director David Borger said Walker coming to Blacktown was “a major win for our hard-working community”.</p><p>“Walker’s vision for Parramatta Square has transformed what was a run-down section of the CBD into a vibrant city centre that is now providing tens of thousands of new jobs in premium offices, fantastic restaurants and wide-open public plazas,” Borger said.</p><p>“Lang Walker and his team will no doubt bring that same visionary nous to Blacktown to help the city modernise in line with its rapid population growth.”</p>

Hot on the heels of its $3-billion project in Parramatta, the developer has struck a deal with Blacktown council to revitalise the city centre…

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<p>Simplify, streamline, escalate, expand, ensure, improve ... and modernise.</p><p>Those eight words are liberally sprinkled throughout a 144-page discussion paper reviewing Victoria’s planning and building process. The inquiry was headed by economist Anna Cronin, who carries the dubious title of Red Tape Commissioner.</p><p>The report—released at the end of 2019— made 27 recommendations as to what short and medium-term improvements could be made to the state’s building approvals process, which the commission described as “complex and time-consuming.”</p><p>But nearly three years after Cronin and her three-person advisory board began their work, frustrated developers and builders are still walking away from deals and going interstate to invest and build.</p><p>The shortage of qualified planners, the varying levels of expertise within local government, the pace of the rezoning process, and questions over which authorities have what powers are all to blame, according to the industry.</p><p>Wel.Co is a Melbourne-based developer specialising in building communities.&nbsp;</p><p>“Look, the planning system in Victoria was probably what made me look to diversify into other states, including Queensland, which has been a really good growth market for us over the last couple of years,” says Wel.Co founder and managing director Andrew Welsh.</p><p>Wel.Co’s bread and butter has been Melbourne’s Growth Corridor Plans—the Victorian capital’s integrated land use and transport schemes which will decide the region’s growth in the coming decades.</p><p>But Welsh says they’ve struggled to find value in Melbourne’s growth corridors during the past couple of years.</p><div id="445XKEC0CBAsPV4P014ya8"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/14KfKCadkDLtXjxxpHd2lv/4cce2578483d955bad9a2b869f531eef/2.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/14KfKCadkDLtXjxxpHd2lv/4cce2578483d955bad9a2b869f531eef/2.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Wel.Co founder and managing director Andrew Welsh: struggle to find value in growth corridors.<br><br> </span></div></div><p>“It’s not because I think they’re overvalued as a piece of dirt,” he said.</p><p>“I just think your time to get that lot out of the ground—because of the planning regulations—would have smashed the IRR (internal rate of return) because you only need 12 months to blow out a project that you’re paying good value for, and your IRR is hit.”</p><p>Welsh says a common hold-up on zoned land is tapping into trunk infrastructure, such as water.&nbsp;</p><p>“To develop your paddock, you need to show that you can demonstrate an outpour to the ultimate basin or creek, wherever that may be,” he says.&nbsp;&nbsp;“To do that in the growth corridors you’ve got to negotiate with up to 30 landowners, at times, for that access to be granted,” he says.</p><p>“So, you can imagine the time that takes, and if you have one of those key people in that chain that doesn’t agree, even though on the rezone plan it might say that is where that watercourse needs to go as a natural point.&nbsp;</p><p>“Current planning controls don’t allow Melbourne water to enact on opening up those properties.”</p><p>Welsh estimated there are currently as many as 10,000 lots held up across Melbourne growth corridors because of lack of co-ordination between different planning authorities.</p><p>Boutique residential developer Samuel Property has had its own frustrations with what its managing director described as “the hit and miss” of Victoria’s planning process.</p><p>Illan Samuel said he had walked away from a property in Ballarat—where he planned a hotel in time for the Commonwealth Games— because he “couldn’t get answers quick enough.”</p><div id="5CSiLdcKoFckgghTdpMJXa"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/6b86X2fOlGhIueP4C4GxA/c60668c1dcfe1e283e0ea072291300d1/5.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/6b86X2fOlGhIueP4C4GxA/c60668c1dcfe1e283e0ea072291300d1/5.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Illan Samuel walked away from a Ballarat hotel project because “the left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing”.<br><br></span></div></div><p>“This was prime property in the middle of the Ballarat CBD, we had a short-stay operator lined up who would take the space, so we had the ability to add 50 to 60 rooms to the CBD near the train line near Ballarat hub,” Samuel says.&nbsp;</p><p>“But the left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing, and we just couldn’t get competence to move forward.&nbsp;&nbsp;It took two months to get meetings organised, and ultimately, you can only keep deals together for so long.”</p><p>Samuel says he is jealous of the system that exists in Queensland.</p><p>“The code is accessible, where you can get a permit without advertising in four to five months, as long as you tick off the boxes,” he says.</p><p>“If we ever saw that sort of reform in Victoria, I think we’d see supply come to market much quicker.”</p><p>In response to questions from <em>The Urban Developer</em>, Ballarat City Council’s director of development and growth Natalie Robertson says comparing its planning scheme with any projects in Brisbane was difficult, because the two states have contrasting planning procedures.</p><p>“The City of Ballarat had prepared for a pre-application meeting with the applicant (Samuel Property), however, the applicant cancelled before discussions could progress,” Robertson says.</p><p>Robertson acknowledges the shorting of planning staff was a challenge.</p><p>“The city shares the state-wide challenge for Victorian councils, particularly in the regions, in terms of attracting and retaining planning staff,” she says.</p><div id="5bpJqRQPAI7jkiBWUuQDdv"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1suVkBvIlbaxQOhWoiacmM/92890044d8dc2f9334989d6f723e5b84/1.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1suVkBvIlbaxQOhWoiacmM/92890044d8dc2f9334989d6f723e5b84/1.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ A shortage of planners is causing huge problems for the industry in Victoria.<br><br> </span></div></div><p>“We&nbsp;continue to&nbsp;look&nbsp;for&nbsp;diverse ways to attract and&nbsp;retain&nbsp;staff&nbsp;and improve our position within the recruitment market.”</p><p>That view is echoed by the property industry’s national lobby group.</p><p>“Some local governments have well resourced, talented, and enthusiastic planning departments, whereas others see massive delays primarily due to understaffing,” Property Council of Australia Victorian executive director Cath Evans says.</p><p>“If you’re a developer choosing where to invest your money, these issues are often a determining factor in the decision-making process.”</p><p>Evans wants to see planning studies made more of a priority within tertiary education.</p><p>“Planning is a highly technical and complicated field of study,” she says, “and while governments have prioritised and incentivised many STEM courses at our universities, planning has not seen the same take-up.”</p><p>Evans is urging the state government to offer incentives to students to stay in Victoria after finishing their planning studies, using their qualifications to relieve the burden on the planning system.</p><p>Cronin’s 2020 review of the planning and building approvals process estimated the cost of avoidable delays in what was then a $33 billion construction sector, was probably between&nbsp; $400 million to $600 million a year—or up to 2 per cent of the total value of the sector.</p><p>The review made 27 recommendations on how to overcome the delays, including “expand the workforce of building surveyors, inspectors and fire safety engineers.”</p><div id="17QRdLOwaEHRmAQ10v52DD"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3TVFe46BhykeWJ52DfhHEh/1c66e3aea32a91da8ed0fd09fdf56601/4.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3TVFe46BhykeWJ52DfhHEh/1c66e3aea32a91da8ed0fd09fdf56601/4.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Avoidable delays are costing the Victorian economy literally hundreds of millions of dollars.<br><br> </span></div></div><p>Others included streamlining the process for Melbourne’s 119 Precinct Structure Plans (PSPs), reduce response times for referrals, escalate planning for sites of strategic importance ... and improve planning resources for councils.</p><p>“The differences in capabilities and capacity across local government in Victoria is considerable,” says the PCA’s Evans.&nbsp;</p><p>But she has some sympathy for the municipalities, saying local government authorities were at the coal face of the Victorian economy, with decisions in council planning departments being some of the most consequential economic decisions impacting prosperity and the built environment.</p><p>The PCA continues to advocate for the adoption of all 27 recommendations in Cronin’s 2020 inquiry, and to some degree there has been progress since the report’s release.</p><p>The recommendations were turned into five programs. About $38 million was allocated in the 2020-21 state budget to implement the reform package.&nbsp;&nbsp;The Department of Transport and Planning has created a new online portal for State applications and established regional planning hubs.</p><p>However, one of the most significant changes—the Development Facilitation Fast Track process—was not identified in the reform recommendations but born out of Covid-19. That process has had some success in kickstarting approvals for major project development.</p><p>For its part, the Victorian government points to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showing Victoria leads the nation in the supply of new homes.</p><p>The ABS data shows in the 12 months to January 2023, nearly 62,000 new homes were approved for construction in Victoria. About 37,000 of these approvals were for detached houses, about 11,000 for medium-density units and townhouses, and about 14,000 for higher-density apartments.</p><p>During the same period NSW had about 52,000 approvals and Queensland about 37,000.</p><p>“During the past two years to December 2022, the Victorian Planning Authority—the Victorian government agency that plans for Melbourne’s greenfields—delivered 50,000 lots, double the pace of South-East Queensland at 25,000 lots and more than three times the pace of metropolitan Sydney at 15,000 lots,” a spokesman says.</p><p>“We continue to support growth and development while building on Melbourne's legacy of distinctiveness, liveability and sustainability.”<br><br></p><hr><p><strong><br>You are currently experiencing <em>The Urban Developer</em> Plus (TUD+), our premium membership for property professionals. </strong><a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/membership-plans" data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/membership-plans"><strong>Click here to learn more.</strong></a></p><div id="2GhuueZl01Zwo2aFfjNVi2"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/12UMq5eMSEOh0QxJVBYaDt/d7507cf4ceb1365cc9ce7eaff84d06cc/tud___banner.jpg" alt="TUD + Banner" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/12UMq5eMSEOh0QxJVBYaDt/d7507cf4ceb1365cc9ce7eaff84d06cc/tud___banner.jpg"></picture></div>

Developers in Victoria are looking outside the state as convoluted processes trip up development. The Urban Developer finds out what the problems are—and what can be done to get things moving…


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<p>A 70ha greenfield site with approval for more than 150 lots in one of the nation’s hottest locations—Byron Bay—has come to market.</p><p>The amalgamated site, known as the West Byron Amalgamation, has approval for a masterplanned mixed-use community and is being labelled the biggest site on offer in Byron in recent times—and possibly the last of its size for the NSW coastal mecca.</p><p>The properties along Ewingsdale Road and Melaleuca Drive total 68.9ha over five lots.</p><p>The amalgamated site, to the north-west of the town centre, has approval for a masterplanned community of more than 150 large lots, including 124 residential lots, 25 super lots, two large neighbourhood centre lots and multiple light-industrial-zoned lots.</p><p>The land has been through an approval process for more than 10 years and the owners received development consent early last year.</p><p>The properties will be taken to the market individually or in one line via an international expressions-of-interest campaign by Tim Holtsbaum and Blake Goddard of Knight Frank.</p><div id="4tt6wFwpFa5guYpl1hIyK1"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/33p4qtmnCi9bdjM5tSlk90/aafed1f9e5395d04c3f3488030abf300/Ewingsdale_Road__West_Byron.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/33p4qtmnCi9bdjM5tSlk90/aafed1f9e5395d04c3f3488030abf300/Ewingsdale_Road__West_Byron.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ The West Byron Amalgamation is being labelled the last large development site in the town.<br><br></span></div></div><p>Byron Bay was named as one of 12 hotspots around the world alongside the likes of Knightsbridge in London and the Como region in Italy in Knight Frank’s The Wealth Report 2022, chosen for its health and wellbeing elements.</p><p>The town’s forecast price growth is 30 to 35 per cent during the next five years, the strongest predicted growth of the 12 locations in the report.</p><p>Goddard said the approved masterplan was “a true rarity”.</p><p>“With the area in need of more housing availability, it will provide years of much needed supply to Byron Bay,” he said.</p><div id="3feV4AaVuqvnqDMiuCu4t3"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2wld9GZpoIDsw85QH1SOf3/0696353b8c896f638de38f4177b528ad/Mid_article_resizes__12_.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2wld9GZpoIDsw85QH1SOf3/0696353b8c896f638de38f4177b528ad/Mid_article_resizes__12_.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ The popularity of Byron Bay skyrocketed during the pandemic.<br><br></span></div></div><p>“The owners carefully designed and curated the approval to ensure it meets with demand from the local surrounds.</p><p>“This includes 2.5km of internal designated cycleways and a village centre to service the new community and supported by communal parks and gardens.”</p><p>Holtsbaum said the West Byron Amalgamation was in a premium location and on a scale unlikely to be seen again in the Byron Bay region.</p><p>“Byron Bay presents one of the most sought-after investment locations, driven by restricted supply and continued demand,” he said.</p><p>“We expect to field interest from buyers looking at individual holdings to develop either a residential or commercial project, for example, as well as larger developers looking to create a major masterplanned community.”</p>

The 70ha amalgamated site has approval for more than 150 lots and is being touted as the last big site in the world-famous NSW coastal resort…

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<p>In December 2020, the Monash Commission began a new inquiry.</p><p>In a world battered by Covid, the second and most recent inquiry by the highly regarded commission examined the “potential of intermediary cities in reframing post-pandemic liveability and explore what makes a ‘liveable metropolis’.”.</p><p>The commission brings together Australian and international experts to consider a specific question of priority facing our communities, business and government, and to deliver practical recommendations for urban planners, governments and communities for transformational cities of the future.</p><p>It made those recommendations in July last year and at the heart of them is a change in the way we view cities and approach their planning—the intermediary, or second, city.</p><p>Traditionally, the CBD with skyscrapers sits in a model of monocentric development: a hub or centre and a periphery of suburbs around it. People move towards the city and away from it for work, leisure and other uses. <br></p><p>But the pandemic changed all that, as Monash University’s vice-chancellor Professor Margaret Gardner explains.</p><p>“As the pandemic progressed, we witnessed a series of behaviors that seemed to show people that, frankly, you could have come in here and fired a gun down Collins Street and been lucky to hit anybody,” Gardner says.</p><p>“And you could be sure that every single coffee shop within a radius of many, many hundreds of metres ... had no one in it.&nbsp;</p><p>“Nobody believed that would happen—and all of a sudden the context was different.”<br></p><p>What the commission’s report found was that people’s behavioural changes seem to follow moving away from a single CBD model towards something more polycentric.<br></p><p>“Before the pandemic, countries such as Australia and Canada were already experiencing net internal migration of people into outlying cities and regional areas as the result of the rising cost of living and real estate in desirable areas close to the CBD,” the report says. <br></p><p>“This challenges assumptions about what was thought to be an irreversible trend of urban centralisation.”<br></p><p>It also says that the CBD model has not failed, rather, it is not suitable for all. <br></p><p>“What the pandemic has shown is that the concentration of infrastructure and systems do not necessarily translate into positive outcomes for all citizens,” the report says.<br></p><p>“It raises the question: what can be done differently?”<br></p><p>According to the report, that answer is&nbsp;planning and development.</p><div id="6w0655MDKmRI4jOe3oMmhQ"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/7f9X3kl4gW7zdJwscUJtS/d35f2f90592a71406db1a3ea110c48dd/dandenong_story_hero.jpg" alt="A possible design by DKO Architects for what the towers in Dandenong's City Centre could look like after Capital Alliance's RCD project is complete." data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/7f9X3kl4gW7zdJwscUJtS/d35f2f90592a71406db1a3ea110c48dd/dandenong_story_hero.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ A renders by DKO Architects for possible towers in Dandenong's City Centre after Capital Alliance's RCD project is complete.<br><br></span></div></div><h2>Creating a new way</h2><p><br>Polycentric development is a set of several hubs or centres developed and connected at the same time. <br></p><p>Intermediary cities are distinctly not a CBD, have less than a million people and are part of a network, but are different from local government areas in that they may have specific identities or functions. They also do not compete with the CBD or each other.<br></p><p>The commission’s report had two recommendations: to use policies and communication between different levels of government to create intermediary cities, and to create a new representative living index to better measure resident wellbeing. <br></p><p>“It lays bare some of our challenges including the rising cost of living, social housing inequity, environmental quality, traffic congestion, and calls for a different way of planning,” City of Monash chief executive Andi Diamond says. <br></p><p>The concept of second cities has been around for a while and has practical examples, most notably <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/dandenong-little-india-foster-street-rcd-capital-alliance-redevelopment-salta-inland-rail" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/dandenong-little-india-foster-street-rcd-capital-alliance-redevelopment-salta-inland-rail" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dandenong’s bid for revitalisation, </a>which has been in planning and development since 2005. <br></p><p>Geelong has long called itself a second city, <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/new-planning-controls-central-geelong" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/new-planning-controls-central-geelong" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recently setting up the Central Geelong Framework Plan</a> to help guide future development.<br></p><p>And in New South Wales there are plans well advanced to create and further develop two additional CBDs—<a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/western-sydney-aerotropolis-planning-framework-finalised" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/western-sydney-aerotropolis-planning-framework-finalised">Parramatta and Aerotropolis—</a>partially driven by the need to provide affordable housing and then the transport networks, services and other infrastructure needed to support such large hubs of people.<br></p><div id="1vaP2XpXadF0uFgaSVcosU"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/12aXK2OAvRomVezQy7RvzR/c630705ecf4305cb48888407b6d1fcf9/Mid_article_resizes.jpg" alt="A render of a street in the western Sydney Aerotropolis." data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/12aXK2OAvRomVezQy7RvzR/c630705ecf4305cb48888407b6d1fcf9/Mid_article_resizes.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ A render of a street in the western Sydney Aerotropolis.<br><br></span></div></div><p>The report also lists six features of intermediary cities within the larger urban landscape or metropolis to help planners, developers and government create or further develop such cities. <br></p><p>These are balancing autonomy and integration into the larger metropolitan network; citizen and community wellbeing; equitable and sustainable design; experimentation and innovation; diverse economic bases and jobs; and vision, leadership and governance. <br></p><p>Canberra was highlighted as an example of an intermediary city that has worked on citizen and community wellbeing.</p><p>The ACT government’s Wellbeing Framework uses data to drive its policy, investment and infrastructure decisions, and measure the impact. <br></p><p>The framework is also crucially embedded in government decision-making and budget processes.<br></p><p>Other examples include the autonomy created when setting up The Randstand in The Netherlands and Vienna’s Aspern to illustrate how sustainable and equitable design has been incorporated with mobility needs for all&nbsp; driving large scale planning of urban spaces.</p><h2>Designing the intermediary city<br></h2><p><br>One of the commissioner on the Monash body, urban designer and founder of KCAP Architects and Planners Professor Kees Christiaanse, says designing such a second city requires a network of nodes and that there are certain things that must be done. <br></p><p>“If you want to make the metropolis into a more polycentric landscape which is eventually more sustainable, then you have to do a number of&nbsp; things,” Christiaanse says.<br></p><p>“You have to limit greenfield development as much as possible and stimulate brownfield redevelopment as much as you can.<br></p><p>“If you start the process of implementing such a design, you should not work on one scale at the same time.”<br></p><p>Some places are also more ideal than others for becoming intermediary cities, such as transport corridor crossroads where there are services and infrastructure to support a larger amount of people.<br></p><p>It is also important to look at where the project sits in the network and ensure there is sufficient space for dense housing but also for public open space and corridors to move through.<br></p><p>Christiaanse says a growth model for infrastructure is important.&nbsp; <br></p><p>“Make a growth model in which your transport model grows incrementally in accordance with the critical mass,” he says.<br></p><div id="36Gh18fNuRWn3pWMc4NtYP"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1c90sIgmguitB095RM2BNO/ba85e255d2fa8a2ba7c962a135e7a4e7/Mid_article_resizes__1_.jpg" alt="A render of the Monash station, part of the Melbourne Rail Loop project." data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1c90sIgmguitB095RM2BNO/ba85e255d2fa8a2ba7c962a135e7a4e7/Mid_article_resizes__1_.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ A render of the planned Monash station, part of the Suburban Rail Loop project.<br><br></span></div></div><h2>Monash as an intermediary city<br></h2><p>Monash, the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne with an area of 81.5sq km, has been chosen for the Monash National Employment and Innovation Cluster. The idea of it being treated as an intermediary city has been raised.<br></p><p>Another of the commissioners, Massachusetts Institute of Technology city and transport planning associate professor and mobility initiative director Jinhua Zhao, says while governments and corporations were naturally more risk averse, it was an ideal situation for Monash University to experiment with becoming&nbsp; an intermediary city focused on innovation.<br></p><p>“We’re professors—we’re paid to fail, so the others do not need to,” Zhao says.&nbsp;</p><p>“What’s unique about the City of Monash is that we have all three— government, corporations and the university—combined in a unique way in this locality.”<br></p><p>Fellow Monash Commissioner and Global Institute on Innovation Districts head Professor Julie Wagner agrees. <br></p><p>“With innovation districts, if you look at it within an intermediary city concept and across the region it is an opportunity to drive your economy to new heights and bring your talent along with it if you have the right systems in place,” Wagner says.<br></p><p>But there is work needed to make it happen, Diamond says, with better transport links, more services, infrastructure and housing for the more than 200,000 residents who live and work in it. <br></p><p>“Outside the [Melbourne] CBD, it’s Monash where most people come to work each day,” Diamond says. <br></p><p>“What we have learned on the ground is that during a crisis it is not unusual for people to return to their place of origin, the place they grew up in.<br></p><p>“And we don’t have services to offer them and Covid has added a layer of complexity.”<br></p><p>Some of that will be resolved <a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/vision-for-new-suburban-rail-loop-station-revealed" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/vision-for-new-suburban-rail-loop-station-revealed">when the new Suburban Rail Loop stations are built, two bordering Monash University’s Clayton campus and another at Glen Waverley</a> but there is still discussion about what else needs to be done to make it an innovation district.<br></p><div id="5VsGaVnkgEVky7MfGpq7yA"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/7zLAm4EWm0c5TkU2UXAuD2/1737cdf98b973659872f6fe9e7a5b9bb/Geelong_pain_and_gain.jpg" alt="An aerial image of Geelong Victoria." data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/7zLAm4EWm0c5TkU2UXAuD2/1737cdf98b973659872f6fe9e7a5b9bb/Geelong_pain_and_gain.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Geelong has long considered itself a second city to the Melbourne CBD.<br><br></span></div></div><h2><strong>Changes to planning, development mindsets</strong><br></h2><p><br>It will require a change in mindset about how a metropolis is planned though some parts are already aligned, according to Victorian Planning Authority chair Jude Munro.<br></p><p>“Planning in Victoria, in relation to the whole of Victoria, supports the polycentric model,” Munro says.<br></p><p>“The Victorian government has a policy that 70 per cent of future growth should be happening in established Melbourne and 30 per cent in greenfields.<br></p><p>“Within metropolitan Melbourne, it has named three national employment innovation clusters. The Monash one is broader than the City of Monash and involves three municipalities.</p><p>“Our governance model of local government doesn’t entirely match what may emerge as the new policy in Melbourne.”<br></p><p>Wagner frames it another way and believes the second city concept is what lays ahead.<br></p><p>“The intermediary city concept is actually speaking to the gap of an intermediary form of governance and leadership—so what is your future going to mean?” Wagner says.<br></p><p>“If we were to act in an intermediary function, what does that mean for our councils? What does that mean for how the government realigns itself and thinks differently, and how we govern differently?<br></p><p>“I don’t believe you really have a choice.”&nbsp;<br><br></p><hr><p><strong><br>You are currently experiencing <em>The Urban Developer</em> Plus (TUD+), our premium membership for property professionals. </strong><a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/membership-plans" data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/membership-plans"><strong>Click here to learn more</strong></a></p><div id="2GhuueZl01Zwo2aFfjNVi2"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/12UMq5eMSEOh0QxJVBYaDt/d7507cf4ceb1365cc9ce7eaff84d06cc/tud___banner.jpg" alt="TUD + Banner" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/12UMq5eMSEOh0QxJVBYaDt/d7507cf4ceb1365cc9ce7eaff84d06cc/tud___banner.jpg"></picture></div>

The Monash Commission’s report on what a liveable city looks like post-pandemic challenges the usual ideas of what a city is…


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<p>After a rejection from council for a tricky mixed-use development in the northern Sydney suburb of Crows Nest, the developers went back to the drawing board and resubmitted plans.&nbsp;</p><p>If approved this time, the $55-million adaptive reuse project will deliver a 13-storey mixed-use building, knocking a whole floor off earlier plans.</p><p>With two ground-floor commercial tenancies and commercial lobby space, it will also consist of a residential component of 61 apartments, of which 58 will be three-bedroom units and the remaining three will have four-bedrooms.</p><p>The adaptive reuse plans would conserve and renew the former North Sydney Gas Works Co office building at 286-294 Pacific Highway, project managers PDS said.&nbsp;</p><p>The initial plans for the site were <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/developer-pitches-aud55m-adaptive-reuse-tower" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/developer-pitches-aud55m-adaptive-reuse-tower" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lodged in July 2022</a> on behalf of a private equity firm for a 14-storey building.&nbsp;</p><p>However, it was an uphill struggle even from the pre-lodgement phase.&nbsp;</p><p>Early discussions with the council suggested that the developers had not yet justified the height of the building, and that it “would adversely impact the heritage significance of the heritage item”.</p><p>“The scale, bulk and height are not considered appropriate having regard to its interface with the lower density residential properties to the south of the site,” the council said.&nbsp;</p><p>As a result, the application was rejected, apparently less than a month after submission.&nbsp;</p><div id="carousel-root" data-reactroot=""><image-carousel-remove-button><div class="rm-carousel-wrapper"><button id="rm-carousel" class="rm-carousel-btn">Delete</button></div></image-carousel-remove-button><div class="slider-wrap"><image-carousel><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="Crows Nest Mixed Use 2.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/7HCDwLS8z448SLWlbS4KgU/fcea5291dd5d1eb9bf46525c13d1fa9a/Crows_Nest_Mixed_Use_2.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/7HCDwLS8z448SLWlbS4KgU/fcea5291dd5d1eb9bf46525c13d1fa9a/Crows_Nest_Mixed_Use_2.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="Crows Nest Mixed Use 1.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/4zGg6hvV3uoCSPwxvWG0TU/48b30cb9dd4a0f428ae90736c97e893b/Crows_Nest_Mixed_Use_1.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/4zGg6hvV3uoCSPwxvWG0TU/48b30cb9dd4a0f428ae90736c97e893b/Crows_Nest_Mixed_Use_1.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="Crows Nest Mixed Use 3.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/67ezNXuJihaAZkYt2Venrk/42c72d9965496fe067d1c1a7a2398bc4/Crows_Nest_Mixed_Use_3.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/67ezNXuJihaAZkYt2Venrk/42c72d9965496fe067d1c1a7a2398bc4/Crows_Nest_Mixed_Use_3.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div></image-carousel></div></div><p><br>Undeterred, PDS went back to work to amend its plans and submitted a revised version last week.</p><p>PDS said that the new development aimed to “align with and support the desired transformation of the Crows Nest centre as a vibrant, attractive and sustainable place supporting increased employment land uses and a diversity of residential accommodation in a high-density environment”.&nbsp;</p><p>Crows Nest and neighbouring suburb St Leonards have seen accelerated development activity in recent years, with a $70-million development at 12-20 Berry Road and 11-19 Holdsworth Avenue at St Leonards is currently in front of Sydney North Planning Panel.</p><p>If approved, it will deliver two 10-storey residential buildings consisting of 130 apartments to the area.</p>

A 13-storey mixed-use development has been resubmitted after the council rejected the $55 million plans for a  tower in the suburb of Crows Nest last year…

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<p>Pellicano’s third and final stage of its $250-million mixed-use hub The Links in Oakleigh South has been approved.</p><p>The development at the site 17km south-east of the Melbourne CBD will include a shoptop build-to-rent project, named Fieldworks House.</p><p>The Links final stage will also add 3000sq m of ground-floor retail and hospitality as well as provision for a second supermarket to join the existing network of retailers, which includes Woolworths, BWS, Bunnings Warehouse, Snap Fitness, Chemist Warehouse and a medical hub, created during the first two stage of the project.&nbsp;</p><p>To be built above the retail component, Fieldworks House will come under the Pellicano Living banner and comprise 166 apartments in one, two and three bedrooms plus a “signature mix of hotel-style amenities with community-focused living”.</p><p>The i2c Architects-designed Fieldworks House, would “embody Pellicano Living’s goal of offering premium lifestyle amenities in sought-after locations” according to the developer.</p><div id="TxuTUyytszx55PNlEXhOj"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1DmPOKNexj88blFLwQi7eR/7c7ea995e3a119cc0ae10d7b7ebe1dc0/Mid_article_resizes__3_.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1DmPOKNexj88blFLwQi7eR/7c7ea995e3a119cc0ae10d7b7ebe1dc0/Mid_article_resizes__3_.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ The Links final stage will also add 3000sq m of ground-floor retail and hospitality to the existing network of retailers created during the first two stage of the project.<br><br></span></div></div><p>The first floor will include a communal landscaped park and lawn, while the rooftop will incorporate shared spaces and alfresco dining areas.</p><p>“We set out to create a new retail hub for Oakleigh South with The Links – our tenant mix, including a number of blue chip operators and our location have made it a popular choice among leading retailer brands,” managing director Nando Pellicano said.</p><p>“With plans now approved, we expect to break ground on the Fieldworks House site later this year.”</p><div id="carousel-root" data-reactroot=""><image-carousel-remove-button><div class="rm-carousel-wrapper"><button id="rm-carousel" class="rm-carousel-btn">Delete</button></div></image-carousel-remove-button><div class="slider-wrap"><image-carousel><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="230308-VIEW-03.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/6ota2gXpL39bL7hm2Cq9j6/56c1642d0fe90c6edc47e16b8d90cc22/230308-VIEW-03.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/6ota2gXpL39bL7hm2Cq9j6/56c1642d0fe90c6edc47e16b8d90cc22/230308-VIEW-03.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="230308-VIEW-05.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2bRNDrC9QxqaCsgNhF0evb/116f9a1616a1ab6254ad2e51cabcb27f/230308-VIEW-05.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2bRNDrC9QxqaCsgNhF0evb/116f9a1616a1ab6254ad2e51cabcb27f/230308-VIEW-05.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="230308-VIEW-01.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/JEMOQ6Icttk6fO1ZhwyJI/bd781854ca32babb974e4ea7ba10bd6a/230308-VIEW-01.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/JEMOQ6Icttk6fO1ZhwyJI/bd781854ca32babb974e4ea7ba10bd6a/230308-VIEW-01.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="230308-VIEW-09.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/5au6crQPIIDVnxwMvQcDpB/2889222f5271009b59210070588ac531/230308-VIEW-09.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/5au6crQPIIDVnxwMvQcDpB/2889222f5271009b59210070588ac531/230308-VIEW-09.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="230308-VIEW-08.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/4ibLXJAeEERsQ206SmHQ4Q/abe639d52580787cc0b4a1e733cc9480/230308-VIEW-08.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/4ibLXJAeEERsQ206SmHQ4Q/abe639d52580787cc0b4a1e733cc9480/230308-VIEW-08.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div></image-carousel></div></div><p><br>Elsewhere across <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/pellicano-build-to-rent-piepline-brisbane-melbourne" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/pellicano-build-to-rent-piepline-brisbane-melbourne" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pellicano’s portfolio</a>, works have recently completed on Solarino House at Brunswick, also in Victoria, and Perry House at Bowen Hills, Queensland. Pellicano now has more than 350 operational build-to-rent apartments in its portfolio.&nbsp;</p><p>A further 400 are currently under construction in Queensland, including the 110-apartment Berwick House in Fortitude Valley, the 150-apartment <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/pellicano-gabba-build-to-rent-under-way-tax-scrapped" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/pellicano-gabba-build-to-rent-under-way-tax-scrapped" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hillyard House</a>, at Woolloongabba and the <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/pellicano-21-duke-street-kangaroo-point-development-application-approval" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/pellicano-21-duke-street-kangaroo-point-development-application-approval" target="_blank" rel="noopener">86-apartment Story House</a>, Kangaroo Point. &nbsp;</p>

The developer is now poised to break ground on the third and final stage of its $250-million mixed-use hub in Melbourne’s south-west…

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