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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>The idea of the 15-minute city, according to its originator Carlos Moreno, is that people are no more than a 15-minute walk or bike ride away from all the services they need to live, learn and thrive.</p><p>The idea is appealing in its simplicity: it puts people and the environment at the centre of urban planning. It involves building new urban centres and restructuring existing ones to ensure the services people need for work, food, health, education, culture and leisure are all close by—a walk or bike ride from home.</p><p>Key elements are the proximity of necessities; local participation and decision-making, community solidarity and connection, and green and sustainable urban living.</p><p>This re-imagining of local living is quickly going global. Its proponents are many and growing, and the idea is being applied on big city stages. Most notably, the 15-minute city was a feature of Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s successful re-election campaign in 2020.</p><p>The United Nations has hailed the 15-minute city as a means by which cities can emerge from Covid, as well as reduce the damaging dependence on cars. The potential to promote mental health and wellbeing is significant.</p><h2>Enter the conspiracists</h2><p><br>In 2023, though, conspiracy theories and protests have threatened to drown out the discussion of such positives.</p><p>How did that happen? By finding itself sitting at the centre of debates about Covid living, climate change and car-centric societies, the 15-minute city has become a focal point of attention for those who imagine more sinister motives are at work.</p><p>Conspiracists have spouted misdirected fears of the forced loss of cars, the creation of locked urban zones people cannot leave, and government surveillance and control.</p><div id="5JMNaMcbtMBTRSkoPT2hDS"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/6qqFkZ12B1iqsRPLHlAEK7/43bd4a2b8f939722b4774596364212d5/1.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/6qqFkZ12B1iqsRPLHlAEK7/43bd4a2b8f939722b4774596364212d5/1.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Having access to open spaces such as parks is central to the 15-minute city concept.<br><br></span></div></div><p>These notions were even raised recently in the UK parliament. Conservative MP Nick Fletcher called the 15-minute city an “international socialist concept” that “will cost us our personal freedom”.</p><h2>Mental health and wellbeing</h2><p><br>In fact, personal and community freedom, by way of giving people back meaningful time currently lost to commuting and other travel, is exactly what Moreno and proponents of 15-minute cities are focused on.</p><p>In their drive to grow, cities tend to push people, the environment and their health to the periphery. Through their sprawl, Moreno argues, cities take away freedom by taking time and disconnecting their inhabitants from services and each other.</p><p>Importantly, these effects increase the risks to people’s mental health. Moreno wants us to move away from fracturing our living into “inhuman bigness”, and towards planning that focuses on what access to services, local connection and community means for the wellbeing of people and communities.</p><p>This is why the 15-minute city presents a great opportunity for better mental health.</p><p>Long commuting times and the stressors of traffic congestion, road conditions and punctuality are linked to declines in subjective measures of mental health and wellbeing for workers. The benefits of reducing these stressors could be immediate.</p><p>Physical activities such as walking and cycling are also widely understood to benefit mental health, as does exposure to natural, green spaces. Creating local spaces for leisure and play is vital for children and parents alike.</p><div id="6sJ93Oxv1Jpzk7GIIpEO0Q"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1qjc8EJ34oNa3UEMaH1HTQ/1806b9f82e5c42aa257ff25941f6f6f7/3.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1qjc8EJ34oNa3UEMaH1HTQ/1806b9f82e5c42aa257ff25941f6f6f7/3.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Physical activities such as walking and cycling improve mental health.<br><br></span></div></div><p>But, deeper than that, we need cities and urban spaces purposefully designed to promote mental health in ways that are globally recognised as impactful and essential. This process involves improving a range of social and environmental factors for individuals and community.</p><h2>Covid sharpened focus on wellbeing</h2><p><br>Lessons learned from Covd lockdowns have sharpened global understanding of the mental health crises and harm done to people’s wellbeing by loneliness, social isolation and disconnectedness.</p><p>These conditions damage the wellbeing of communities too, by fostering stigma and promoting exclusion.</p><p>We need to move quickly towards ways of living that promote connection, inclusion and healthy communities and environments. We can achieve these goals through participation, local decision-making and sustainable ecologies.</p><p>Imagine cities with accessible housing, work and education. Imagine cities with mental health service where the focus is on inclusion, participation, connection and equitable access.</p><p>Where health workers and essential services are local and available, with minimal obstacles. Imagine mental health service that is threaded through the community in meaningful, impactful ways—where every square metre is considered for its potential to improve health and wellbeing.</p><p>Mental health, wellbeing and recovery require social connection, inclusion and accessible health services. These are, without doubt, key factors in achieving better mental health. And the 15-minute city could be the template for its delivery.<br><br></p><hr><p><strong><br>Authors</strong></p><p>Christopher Patterson<br>Senior Lecturer, School of Nursing, University of Wollongong</p><p>Lance Barrie<br>Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, University of Wollongong</p>

Forget the conspiracies, 15-minute cities will free us to improve our mental health and wellbeing…

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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>Civic architect, urban planner and activist Sir David Alan Chipperfield, CH, has been selected as the 2023 Laureate of The Pritzker Architecture Prize.</p><p>His work is “subtle yet powerful, subdued yet elegant” and he is “a prolific architect who is radical in his restraint”, according the committee behind the award, which is regarded internationally as architecture’s highest honour.</p><p>“He reimagines functionality and accessibility of new buildings, renovations and restorations through timeless modern design that confronts climate urgencies, transforms social relationships and reinvigorates cities,” the committee said.&nbsp;</p><p>At the same time showing “his reverence for history and culture while honouring the pre-existing built and natural environments”.</p><p>Chipperfield’s built works, spanning four decades, are expansive in typology and geography, including more than 100 works ranging from civic, cultural and academic buildings to residences and urban masterplanning throughout Asia, Europe and North America.</p><div id="1JxbnxiPZjaaIN48468UIL"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/57YuUcW2aCw7DAx7x22sLT/bcbcb90c2af666c6642e6524dc4c479e/Mid_article_resizes__10_.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/57YuUcW2aCw7DAx7x22sLT/bcbcb90c2af666c6642e6524dc4c479e/Mid_article_resizes__10_.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Pritzker Architect Prize 2023 Laureate David Chipperfield.<br><br></span></div></div><p>Chipperfield said he was “overwhelmed to receive this extraordinary honour and to be associated with the previous recipients who have all given so much inspiration to the profession”.</p><p>&nbsp;“I take this award as an encouragement to continue to direct my attention not only to the substance of architecture and its meaning but also to the contribution that we can make as architects to address the existential challenges of climate change and societal inequality.</p><p>“We know that, as architects, we can have a more prominent and engaged role in creating not only a more beautiful world but a fairer and more sustainable one too.</p><p>“We must rise to this challenge and help inspire the next generation to embrace this responsibility with vision and courage.”</p><p>The 2023 Jury Citation of the Laureate said, “This commitment to an architecture of understated but transformative civic presence and the definition—even through private commissions —of the public realm is done always with austerity, avoiding unnecessary moves and steering clear of trends and fashions, all of which is a most relevant message to our contemporary society.”</p><p>Chipperfield calculates the environmental and historical impacts of permanence, embracing the pre-existing, designing and intervening in dialogue with time and place to adopt and refresh the architectural language of each locale.</p><p>For instance, James-Simon-Galerie (Berlin, Germany, 2018) on a narrow island along the Kupfergraben canal and accessible by the Schlossbrucke bridge, serves as the gateway to Museum Island.</p><div id="7FAzWga2b7tES4OQgI5khf"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3CjfM6YnvgsOKzQuVzHPXh/8669a11d3427f5592e930149c0c54d2c/James-Simon-Galerie_8.jpeg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3CjfM6YnvgsOKzQuVzHPXh/8669a11d3427f5592e930149c0c54d2c/James-Simon-Galerie_8.jpeg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ The James-Simon-Galerie, Berlin. Photo: Ute Zscharnt for David Chipperfield Architects <br><br></span></div></div><p>Commanding, though discreet, colonnades with grand scale enclose a terrace, a wide expansive staircase and a manifold of open spaces allow abundant light into the large entryway of the building.</p><p>The design enables generous views from within and beyond, even though to adjacent buildings and the surrounding urban landscape.</p><p>Tom Pritzker, chair of the Hyatt Foundation, which sponsors the award, said Chipperfield was “assured without hubris, consistently avoiding trendiness to confront and sustain the connections between tradition and innovation, serving history and humanity”.</p><p>“While his works are elegantly masterful, he measures the achievements of his designs by social and environmental welfare to enhance the quality of life for all of civilization.”<br><br></p><hr><h2><br>Selected works</h2><p><br>Descriptions from the 2023 Pritzker Architecture Prize official photo book.<br><br><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2K8adFycewZyexSa8LZPQ8/eaab7c9125bb91ba108781039bae3589/River_and_Rowing_Museum_1.jpeg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2K8adFycewZyexSa8LZPQ8/eaab7c9125bb91ba108781039bae3589/River_and_Rowing_Museum_1.jpeg"></picture></p><div id="3eXfodBCGWRgqUIiRRTKDR"><div style="text-align: right;" data-mce-style="text-align: right;"><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Photo: Richard Bryant / Arcaid <br><br></span></div></div><p><strong>River and Rowing Museum</strong><br>(1997)<br>Henley-on-Thames, United Kingdom</p><p>Located on the south bank of the Thames, the River and Rowing Museum, exhibiting rowing boats, the history of the sport, the River Thames and the town of Henley, marked Chipperfield’s first building in his native England.</p><p>Designed during a time when the future of modern architecture seemed uncertain in Great Britain, this building assimilated with and deviated from a traditional English neighborhood.</p><p>Locality is reassured in its design, featuring clerestory and pitched roofs inspired by river boathouses and the traditional wooden barns of Oxfordshire, and clad with untreated green English oak—yet two volumes of transparent glass bases, elevated on concrete pillars to withstand flooding, offer a subtle but powerful discourse between modernity and heritage.&nbsp;</p><div id="15cEKjAHLOeGunjXp2QgmG"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2W2WQs8rO84wbAWCEsU0mf/d00f1744942a0c0aa067b27657620a88/The_Hepworth_Wakefield_2.jpeg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2W2WQs8rO84wbAWCEsU0mf/d00f1744942a0c0aa067b27657620a88/The_Hepworth_Wakefield_2.jpeg"></picture><div style="text-align: right;" data-mce-style="text-align: right;"><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Photo: Iwan Baan<br></span><br></div></div><p><strong>The Hepworth Wakefield</strong><br>(2011)<br>West Yorkshire, United Kingdom</p><p>Located at the historic Wakefield waterfront conservation district at a bend of the River Calder, The Hepworth Wakefield is exposed on all sides and composed of 10 interlinked trapezoidal volumes, each singular in size and angle.</p><p>Accessible only via footbridge, the building appears to rise out of the river, which also serves as a source of a passive air system that aids heating and cooling efficiencies.</p><p>The exterior, with its sloped roofs, responds visually to the neighboring mills, warehouses and industrial buildings, while the varying interior galleries are scaled to complement the range of forms by the late artist Barbara Hepworth.</p><p>The pitched ceilings admit intentional and diffused sunlight to<br>accommodate sensitive works on paper, large plasters and sculptures located upstairs.</p><p>Ground floor programming is reserved for public access, including a performance space, a learning studio and a cafeteria.</p><div id="7alpA0shAvklBuWsFmqAuW"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/43WqsPuZVpHwf14OalJomW/6c489cd8209b84d78aee747d066f1123/Royal_Academy_of_Arts_2.jpeg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/43WqsPuZVpHwf14OalJomW/6c489cd8209b84d78aee747d066f1123/Royal_Academy_of_Arts_2.jpeg"></picture><div style="text-align: right;" data-mce-style="text-align: right;"><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Photo: The Royal Academy of Arts<br><br></span></div></div><p><strong>Royal Academy of Arts Masterplan</strong><br>(2018)<br>London, United Kingdom<br></p><p>The masterplan for the venerable Royal Academy of Arts, founded in 1768, unites Burlington House on Piccadilly, its longstanding building since 1868, and 6 Burlington Gardens, a former Senate House acquired by the institution in 1998.</p><p>The historic integrity of the buildings were preserved through restorations in collaboration with Julian Harrap Architects but Chipperfield applied a modern intervention to bridge the two buildings, figuratively and literally.</p><p>The concrete bridge establishes a new urban identity, overlooking a new sculpture garden, connecting the two opposite entrances that served each of the formerly separate buildings and providing a new public route between Piccadilly and Burlington Gardens.</p><p>A light renovation upgraded the main building, while rooms in Burlington Gardens are repurposed to satisfy the evolved needs of its inhabitants—a newly installed architecture space expands the school’s program; a theatre is reinstated but with a sunken floor and circular in shape; a senate room now serves as a cafeteria; and laboratory rooms have become gallery spaces.<br></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="Amorepacific Headquarters 1.jpeg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/39wxnEsGJvPdPCdYDmmC9W/528685927e492ae2dd29156d3d9f98fa/Amorepacific_Headquarters_1.jpeg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/39wxnEsGJvPdPCdYDmmC9W/528685927e492ae2dd29156d3d9f98fa/Amorepacific_Headquarters_1.jpeg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="Amorepacific Headquarters 2.jpeg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/67SymXYYQraPavWULhM4Te/49e7586de31723ed946e0894d97363fe/Amorepacific_Headquarters_2.jpeg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/67SymXYYQraPavWULhM4Te/49e7586de31723ed946e0894d97363fe/Amorepacific_Headquarters_2.jpeg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="Amorepacific Headquarters 3.jpeg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3KcadCxj86XpZ88iMeimN9/58d37afe3fbdc4eb38cca5773b1e4020/Amorepacific_Headquarters_3.jpeg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3KcadCxj86XpZ88iMeimN9/58d37afe3fbdc4eb38cca5773b1e4020/Amorepacific_Headquarters_3.jpeg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="Amorepacific Headquarters 5.jpeg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/7u9zwTw8Bwhfwu4c3QSihQ/7528f2b0c6f49e3d56cb21a48b27ca0f/Amorepacific_Headquarters_5.jpeg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/7u9zwTw8Bwhfwu4c3QSihQ/7528f2b0c6f49e3d56cb21a48b27ca0f/Amorepacific_Headquarters_5.jpeg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div></image-carousel></div></div><div id="1NcSxQow9BGG3223OtSg4g"><div><br></div></div><p><strong>Amorepacific Headquarters</strong><br>(2017)<br>Seoul, Republic of Korea</p><p>The headquarters for Amorepacific harmonises the individual and the collective, the private and the public, work and respite.</p><p>Vertical aluminium fins across the glass facade provide solar shading to aid thermal conditions and natural ventilation and create a translucency, encouraging a rapport between the building’s occupants, its neighbours and observers.</p><p>Office space is equipoised by a public atrium, museum, library, auditorium and restaurants. A central courtyard allows views through to nearby buildings and hanging gardens further engage the community inside with the elements outside.<br></p><div id="1IqBYkvUzKBkvkYdeuetAb"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1tdLWQqWzdkARDrZKUnWOv/269f5f4f120a1550cbe38ce553119525/Turner_Contemporary_2.jpeg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1tdLWQqWzdkARDrZKUnWOv/269f5f4f120a1550cbe38ce553119525/Turner_Contemporary_2.jpeg"></picture><div style="text-align: right;" data-mce-style="text-align: right;"><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Photo, also main image: Simon Menges<br><br></span></div></div><p><strong>Turner Contemporary</strong><br>(2011)<br>Margate, United Kingdom</p><p>On the north coast of Kent, Turner Contemporary, inspired by the artist JMW Turner, is a dramatic focal point for the neighbourhood.</p><p>Accessibility is by design and society. Six identical crystalline volumes lend an essence of transparency, similar to a Turner painting itself, while allowing generous views of the sea.</p><p>The programming of historic and contemporary works throughout the public gallery is free.</p><p>Design elements are incorporated to mitigate harsh sea conditions such as occasional flooding and overtopping. The building, constructed with a concrete frame and acid-etched glass skin, is also raised on a plinth and incorporates mono-pitched roofs to effectively drain water.<br></p><div id="1NcSxQow9BGG3223OtSg4g"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1DFIvZZceSvQyvk9lcNLZC/c5f26ea1090ec9679b0260625530eb44/Inagawa_Cemetery_2.jpeg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1DFIvZZceSvQyvk9lcNLZC/c5f26ea1090ec9679b0260625530eb44/Inagawa_Cemetery_2.jpeg"></picture><div style="text-align: right;" data-mce-style="text-align: right;"><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Photo: Keiko Sasaoka<br><br></span></div></div><p><strong>Inagawa Cemetery Chapel and Visitor Centre</strong><br>(2017)<br>Hyogo, Japan</p><p>At the Inagawa Cemetery Chapel and Visitor Centre, constructed in collaboration with Key Operation Inc and situated in the Hokusetsu Mountains, the physical and spiritual coexist, with places of<br>solitude and gathering, for peace and seeking.</p><p>These interconnected expressions are mirrored in the earth-like red monolithic buildings, with a circulation of stairs and pathways residing amid the sloped terrain.</p><p>A shrine is the focal point, atop a grand staircase that serves as an axis, with gardens inspired by Japanese meadows and woodlands.</p><p>The centre are diagonal from one another, with interior spaces that are unadorned and minimally heated.&nbsp;</p>

Civic architect, urban planner and activist Sir David Chipperfield’s work across four decades and more than 100 project have been recognised with architecture’s highest honour…

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<p>It’s the thin end of the wedge for Brisbane.</p><p>Because no greater love does an Australian capital city have for sprawling timber homes on stumps with wide, shaded verandas than the Queensland capital.</p><p>Although the concept of the slender or “skinny” apartment tower has been embraced by its more densely populated southern counterparts—Sydney and Melbourne—so far Brisbane has not been of the mind to join them.</p><p>“We haven’t seen anything like this in Brisbane yet,” Plus Architecture principal Chrisney Formosa says.</p><p>But she says there is much more to it than the notion of the city’s staunch parochialism holding the inner-city line for ts beloved Queenslander homes and archetypal sub-tropical design typology.</p><p>And, significantly, by necessity the times are a-changin’ in Brisbane.</p><p>“Melbourne is a much denser city and has had 15 to 20 years of much smaller footprint towers,” Formosa says. “And Sydney, while not as much as Melbourne, also has a larger prevalence of this typology of development.</p><p>“In Brisbane, though, historically we’ve had a lot of land, a lot of urban sprawl and the luxury of doing large footprints. And we haven’t had that infill necessity.</p><p>“Whereas, now, we’ve run out of land and things have become increasingly expensive. And we need to really rethink how we live and how we redefine inner-city living. How do we get all of the amenities of a house or a larger footprint apartment into a smaller footprint?”</p><p>Hong Kong led the way with skinny skyscrapers—also referred to as “pencil towers”—in the 1970s and the trend spread to New York and other major cities in the early 2000s.</p><div id="651yWUa4Ug5FQl6KaOBdRz"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/46NHgxAE0BLmFEDTvOkB1S/f01b5efb92217769666c802f6aa35e63/Untitled_design__54_.jpg" alt="The Phoenix Apartments tower on Flinders Street in Melbourne's CBD." data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/46NHgxAE0BLmFEDTvOkB1S/f01b5efb92217769666c802f6aa35e63/Untitled_design__54_.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ The Phoenix Apartments tower on Flinders Street in Melbourne’s CBD.<br><br></span></div></div><p>Australia’s first super-slim residential tower was the Fender Katsalidis-designed Phoenix Apartments on a 6.5m-wide by 24m deep lot in Melbourne. Rising to 88.5m, the tower was completed in 2013. It was followed by the 195m-high but only 11.5m-wide Collins House, which with a slenderness ratio of 16.5:1 was ranked the world’s fourth-skinniest tower upon its completion in 2019.</p><p>Formosa says it is not a question of if but when for Brisbane, with the skinny tower trend gaining traction during the past two to three years, spreading north and across the Queensland border to the Gold Coast.</p><p>“That has been purely around inflation and construction prices and, with land at a premium, skinny apartment towers have become increasingly attractive to developers, who on th Gold Coast have been really internationally savvy,” she says. “They've been looking at ways to borrow tried and tested ideologies from around the world and then bring them to the Gold Coast market.”</p><p>To date, Plus Architecture has been tapped to design six slender apartment towers earmarked for sites on the Gold Coast, all slated for completion over the next five years. Like the 38-level Nineteen First Avenue at Surfers Paradise and 31-storey Belvue at Runaway Bay, they typically comprise whole-floor apartments.</p><p>But several of the projects—including the 33-storey Myst at Broadbeach, 20-storey Aurum at Chevron Island and 25-storey La Mer at Main Beach—also feature multi-level residences.</p><p>“So, you’re still achieving the same metrics as you typically have in a much larger apartment or house,” Formosa says. “But you’re doing it in a much more considered and refined footprint.</p><p>“However, what you can do below ground is just as important as what you can do above ground. It all comes down to car parking at the end of the day. So, by considering efficiencies with ramping, car stackers, access and egress, you can really amplify what you can do above ground in those smaller footprints.”</p><p>And she says “all the good thinking and rigour of sub-tropical design”—the key aspect of the city's quintessential Queenslanders—can be translated to tower design. Cross-ventilation, access to external amenity and opening up the ground plane as much as possible to allow landscaping.</p><p>Last week, Brisbane City Council released its Sustainable Growth Strategy, which is aimed at addressing the city’s housing crisis.</p><p>It noted Brisbane’s lifestyle and affordability had lured many new residents from other states during Covid and strong interstate migration was expected to continue. By 2041, the city’s population is projected to grow to 1.55 million people—equating to about 275 new residents a week.</p><p>“With limited greenfield land available we must look for opportunities in established but underutilised areas,” Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said.</p><p>Clearly, the focus is on infill development and urban renewal.</p><div id="rNjC9BQxhLbwz16PtumR3"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/257yWIrIGlJix7KFMWcYQ1/6315350f210807faf76d0c4ded1e0047/Untitled_design__55_.jpg" alt="The skinny tower trend has gained traction during the past two to three years, spreading north and across the Queensland border to the Gold Coast.
" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/257yWIrIGlJix7KFMWcYQ1/6315350f210807faf76d0c4ded1e0047/Untitled_design__55_.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ The skinny tower trend has gained traction during the past two to three years, spreading north and across the Queensland border to the Gold Coast.<br><br></span></div></div><p>Under the strategy, a review will be undertaken of Brisbane's major centres including Carindale, Chermside, Garden City, Indooroopilly, Toombul and Toowong with a view to unlocking more housing supply.<span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;" data-mce-style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;"></span></p><p>As well, CBD-style heights will be allowed for residential buildings in South Brisbane’s Kurilpa precinct and build-to-rent projects incentivised through enabling the payment of infrastructure charges over time. The end-game is to facilitate the creation of 10,000 additional homes.</p><p>“Perhaps that’s where you'll start to see some of these skinnier towers,” urban planning specialist and Wolter Consulting Group director Natalie Rayment says.</p><p>“I’m all for it … there’s certainly a need because we’ve got to do infill development of all types—tall, medium, short, whatever. We need to be more innovative and find all the opportunities we can. We’ve got less sites available, so we need to make use of the floor space and the grounds that we have.”</p><p>Rayment, who is also co-founder of the YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard) not-for-profit development advocacy group, says there is a substantial degree of nostalgia attached to Brisbane’s classic Queenslanders with their wide verandas and open space.&nbsp;</p><p>“I think it’s also just that it has been the common form of housing. That’s where people grew up, that’s where their parents lived and that’s where they saw their future.</p><p>“Unfortunately, with the decline in housing affordability, that is increasingly no longer a reality. But also I think we’re now much more of a multicultural city with a lot more diversity and people’s preferences are changing.”</p><p>Formosa agrees and adds: “People are rethinking the way that they live and that's a really exciting thing for the city.</p><p>“Sprawling is not necessarily such a wonderful thing. We don't have the infrastructure to support sprawling. We end up just creating chaos on our road networks … and it takes a long time for us to catch up. So, we're much better off bringing that density into the city.</p><p>“I think we’re going to see a mixture of living typologies moving into the next 10 years. We’re going to see smaller footprints and increased density. We’re going to see a lot of build-to-rent.</p><p>“The way we think about generational demographics buying into the residential market is changing.</p><p>“Skinny towers, build-to-rent, terrace homes, townhouses—they’re all those kinds of midway housing typologies that still give you really sophisticated high-end living but at a much more attainable price.”</p><p>And despite the impending changes ahead for Brisbane's inner-city urban landscape, she is confident the Queenslander is here to stay.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>“I would hate for any of this ever to replace the beauty of our Queenslander lifestyle … I don’t think it will, and nor should it. It's such an important part of our identity and how we want to live.</p><p>“But going forward I think Brisbanites will embrace skinny towers and a variety of other housing typologies because we need to reconsider the different ways we can live.<br></p><p>“Infill [high-density residential development] is needed ... it’s about offering economic options for generational affordability and, right now, we don’t have those options.”</p><p>Somewhat cheekily, Rayment says the future rise of super-slim towers also may be one way to appease the river city’s vocal NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) ranks.</p><p>“How tall it is, the type of housing and how close it is and what sort of overshadowing it is going to have. That’s usually where the objections come from.</p><p>“So, to get some slender towers that are potentially going to come in from boundaries and not have as bulky appearance in the streetscape … you never know, they might get behind it.”<br></p><hr><p><br></p><p><strong>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"><div data-rmiz-wrap="visible"><div><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><br></div></div></div></div></div>

'We've run out of land': Scarcity and expense is forcing the home of the sprawling Queenslander and sweeping veranda to accept a slender skyscraper future...

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<p>A row of heritage buildings on Surry Hills’ iconic Oxford Street has been earmarked for a mixed-use development.&nbsp;</p><p>The application submitted to the City of Sydney Council seeks partial demolition of two of the structures on the sites, which are being amalgamated under the plans.&nbsp;</p><p>If approved, the plans include a four-storey commercial building to provide retail and office floorspace, as well as the excavation and construction of three basement levels for entertainment and event spaces.</p><p>Commercial property owner Anne Melkman is associated with the development, which has a capital investment value of $24.7 million, through Nechi Holdings Pty Ltd.&nbsp;</p><p>The 1531sq m site, which comprises four buildings—21 Oxford Street, 23-29 Oxford Street, 31-33 Oxford Street and 35 Oxford Street—is owned by Nechi.&nbsp;</p><p>If the council agrees to its proposals, two levels of the basement floor will be allocated to a bar and event spaces, and the third basement level would serve as a retail outlet.&nbsp;</p><p>The ground floor will contain a further three retail occupancies, the three floors above will house commercial tenants, and a rooftop terrace on the top floor.&nbsp;</p><p>It is within the Oxford Street Heritage Conservation Area, “one of the oldest and most important commercial streets in Sydney”.&nbsp;</p><p>Two of the buildings, at 21 Oxford Street and 31-33 Oxford Street, are locally listed heritage buildings.&nbsp;</p><p>The former was built in 1911 and was occupied the ANZ bank. It was listed as a heritage item under the Sydney Local Environment Plan in 2012.&nbsp;</p><div id="3R3xzfaP3JZpUuMTHcu6KF"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3j9QPPycej6eJOZQGeH7WV/bcfbf8fe9e8a91d229b2f60f8ff6fc32/Oxford_Street_in-article.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3j9QPPycej6eJOZQGeH7WV/bcfbf8fe9e8a91d229b2f60f8ff6fc32/Oxford_Street_in-article.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ A host of design-forward projects have been launched in the Oxford Street Heritage Conservation Area in the past year. </span></div></div><p><br>Since 2016 it has been in use as a series of smaller offices, with the ground floor currently occupied by Alex Greenwich MP.&nbsp;</p><p>It will be retained and preserved as part of the latest development application.</p><p>Meanwhile, 23-29 Oxford Street contains a two-storey building constructed as a commercial premises in 1913, but the historical significance of the site relates to the façade only, as nothing original remains internally.</p><p>Its &nbsp;façade, along with 31-33 Oxford Street and the existing laneway, will be retained, while number 35 will be demolished.&nbsp;</p><div id="4nGvn7DLnbbXNUczRiACJy"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/4NFXr4FjBmwBJBxm846ZNS/4d6660f78eb6539b9018b4f9fc5b453d/Mid_article_resizes__2_.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/4NFXr4FjBmwBJBxm846ZNS/4d6660f78eb6539b9018b4f9fc5b453d/Mid_article_resizes__2_.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ The row of buildings on Oxford Street subject to the development application. Source: NearMap<br><br> </span></div></div><p>While heritage elements to a build can prove challenging, developers have not shied away from investing in the conservation area.&nbsp;</p><p>Plans for a<a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/developer-unveils-inner-city-art-hotel-plans" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/developer-unveils-inner-city-art-hotel-plans" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> boutique art hotel for Sydney’s Oxford Street</a> were released last year by Save The Robots, an entity linked to local property investor Ping Jin Ng.&nbsp;</p><p>Meanwhile, developer Toohey Miller also launched proposals for a ‘modern art deco’ <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/modern-art-deco-apartments-planned-for-darlinghurst-heritage-zone" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/modern-art-deco-apartments-planned-for-darlinghurst-heritage-zone" target="_blank" rel="noopener">seven-storey residential build</a> in the heritage area.</p>

A row of heritage buildings on Surry Hills’ Oxford Street has been earmarked for a mixed-use development...

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<p>The latest stage of Mirvac’s $2-billion Harbourside Shopping Centre redevelopment at Sydney’s Darling Harbour is under way.&nbsp;</p><p>Detailed design and construction plans, and minor amendments are currently on exhibition after a long process for Mirvac.</p><p>It is the second of three state significant development applications made in accordance with the Harbourside Concept Approval.&nbsp;</p><p>Mirvac is seeking consent from the Department of Planning and Environment to construct and operate a section of the overall project, which comprises a mixed-use podium with three buildings between two and four storeys, and a 50-storey residential tower building.&nbsp;</p><p>Some minor amendments have also been submitted concurrently to the application after a design competition won by a desgin from Snøhetta and Hassell, which captures “design refinements and enhancements which have occurred through the competition process and subsequent design integrity process”.&nbsp;</p><p>The applications cover the existing Harbourside Shopping Centre Building which is three storeys and predominantly consists of food and beverage offerings, restaurants, tourist shops and entertainment facilities.&nbsp;</p><p>When complete, the redevelopment will offer 10,000sq m of retail floorspace to “replace out-of-date” existing tenancies, 33,500sq m of office space and 42,000sq m of residential space, “that contributes housing choice and diversity on the fringe of the Sydney CBD”.</p><p>Approvals for the concept were <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/mirvac-harbourside-shopping-centre-development-approved" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/mirvac-harbourside-shopping-centre-development-approved" target="_blank" rel="noopener">secured in 2021</a> after a long development process which included complaints from neighbours. &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="In-article (51).jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1aYE6twogxKcg14g3XExLr/194e1ba0dbbb439b21c5b30099921bb9/In-article__51_.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1aYE6twogxKcg14g3XExLr/194e1ba0dbbb439b21c5b30099921bb9/In-article__51_.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="Harbourside Waterfront Garden 2.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/22SSXCOZPjAh4wYMXGYwtp/a7148ff680330f0442c2c8029df7b585/Harbourside_Waterfront_Garden_2.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/22SSXCOZPjAh4wYMXGYwtp/a7148ff680330f0442c2c8029df7b585/Harbourside_Waterfront_Garden_2.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="Harbourside Waterfront Garden.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2giOCYMhqYwKnvMYWFromN/8a4d24180771f568c5a7722172b28e3b/Harbourside_Waterfront_Garden.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2giOCYMhqYwKnvMYWFromN/8a4d24180771f568c5a7722172b28e3b/Harbourside_Waterfront_Garden.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="In-article (50).jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2K8TqVXUEMXQk3R19z7ct4/2f19d5705e66931e70649bca1198ef06/In-article__50_.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2K8TqVXUEMXQk3R19z7ct4/2f19d5705e66931e70649bca1198ef06/In-article__50_.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="Harbourside in-article.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2RtMg3RpsZ95c95YNrrsuK/389012ad68e7efda4250999816e09b25/Harbourside_in-article.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2RtMg3RpsZ95c95YNrrsuK/389012ad68e7efda4250999816e09b25/Harbourside_in-article.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div></image-carousel></div></div><p><br>Existing tenancies will be vacated to facilitate the demolition of the shopping centre, which was initially green lit under the Harbourside Concept Approval.</p><p>“[The plan] will revitalise the Harbourside site and help complete the ongoing redevelopment of Darling Harbour, in line with the strategic vision established by the Harbourside Concept Approval and Pyrmont Peninsula Place Strategy,” the planning application said.</p><p>The wider Harbourside redevelopment site occupies an area of approximately 20,500sq m within the north-western portion of the Darling Harbour precinct, between Cockle Bay and the Pyrmont Peninsula.&nbsp;</p><p>The existing Harbourside Shopping Centre opened in 1988 and it has since “played a key part in the evolution of Darling Harbour into Sydney’s premier tourist and entertainment precinct to date” with an annual visitor numbers hitting 13 million.</p><p>Mirvan acquired the site in 2013 and has been committed to redeveloping the site “as a world class entertainment centre”.&nbsp;</p>

Mirvac has submitted detailed plans for its 50-storey residential and mixed use site at Darling Harbour as part of the Harbourside Shopping Centre redevelopment...

Logan Village Aerial View TUD+ edm hero.jpg

<p>Updates to the City of Logan Planning Scheme adopted this week are aimed at “closing loopholes”, as the city looks to attract higher quality developments.</p><p>The latest changes will provide further guidance to developers following a community engagement process as the satellite city attempts to attract “good developments in the right places”.</p><p>Amendments were introduced covering housing lot specifications, location guidance for healthcare developments, and clarifications for mixed-use developments.</p><p>Logan City Councillor and planning chair Jon Raven says the changes will provide clarity on what the city wants to see within its limits, as some schemes, particularly residential, have not provided the diversity they are looking for.&nbsp;</p><div id="1sYYVhcvHxQAD6CwZwCv3l"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/43ZLhcZpxHl6yWgsTHCJqn/0313563b5b08bbcbe41b946d11a24e49/Councillor_Raven_in_article.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/43ZLhcZpxHl6yWgsTHCJqn/0313563b5b08bbcbe41b946d11a24e49/Councillor_Raven_in_article.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Councillor Jon Raven of Logan City Council announced the changes to the city's planning scheme yesterday. </span></div></div><p><br>“We’ve identified a problem in previous schemes and have started working really proactively to meet community expectations and industry desires.</p><p>“We want to make it easy for developers to know what they're competing against and offer high quality developments for the area.”</p><p>Director of Steffan Town Planning and member of Logan Development technical subcommittee Alexander Steffan says that the changes are a mixed bag and it is unclear whether they will improve the landscape for developers.</p><p>“The amendments have been in the works for almost a year and I don’t think a lot of the amendments will have a huge impact," he says.</p><p>“The bigger amendments, which will have the most impact are in the residential zones, mainly the suburban zones, as they have removed the need for average lot sizes and requirement for equivalent dwelling ratios.”</p><h2>Changes to residential</h2><p><br>On low density small lots, the council had previously stipulated a 350sq m average lot size, with a 500sq m average for suburban areas, 600 sq m for low density village and 5000sq m average for rural residential lots.&nbsp;</p><p>As a result, some projects were accused of taking advantage of the rule by having one large balance lot to offset much smaller lots.</p><p>The changes made this week mean that the average lot size requirements will be scrapped, says Raven.&nbsp;</p><p>“It’s about diversity in mixed lots, to avoid that artificial expansion of lots, which was never the intention of the plan” he says.</p><p>“We knew we'd see lots of residential because there was the need for housing even before the latest boom, but we wanted to see diversity.&nbsp;</p><p>“What we were getting was developments where everything looked similar, when it came to exteriors and lot sizes.”</p><div id="3btjmIixAGTwC8xr5S2jKQ"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/6I5AetbAgLKYQBJ2Of9eFm/72d7ba3314e58f7922784186eeea91b7/Springwood__Logan_in-article.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/6I5AetbAgLKYQBJ2Of9eFm/72d7ba3314e58f7922784186eeea91b7/Springwood__Logan_in-article.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Logan City has been gearing up for growth and named its first Economic Development Zone, Springwood, in 2017. </span></div></div><p><br>Planner Alexander Steffan says these changes will open up land for development and change the way developers approach residential in Logan.</p><p>“Logan is aligning its low density provisions to around where it is in much of the rest of Queensland,” he says.</p><p>“It’s opened up a little more opportunity for development, especially when you come into those medium scale sites.&nbsp;</p><p>“We've already had a couple of inquiries where last week I would have said no you can't, but this week you can.”&nbsp;</p><p>Where we will see the biggest effect are in the larger subdivisions, Steffan says.&nbsp;</p><p>“You won’t be able to offset your lot sizes with a big balance lot, which will create some issues, and you can’t stack a lot of small lots together to increase your yield, you’ll have to have different lot widths and sizes.</p><p>“That’s what they want, they want a big range of housing styles throughout.”</p><h2>Healthcare and mixed-use</h2><p><br>With a population expected to exceed 500,000 in the next 18 years, provisions for well-situated healthcare and childcare as well as business and jobs precincts will be essential, and the amendments aim to guide this development, Raven says.</p><p>“We saw issues where healthcare and childcare centres were popping up in unusual settings, such as low density residential areas.</p><p>“Because of previous issues in the planning scheme, we were seeing unusual schemes in inappropriate areas, which were creating challenges for operators because they were having to meet expectations of the community with traffic and noise, and creating distress in the community.&nbsp;</p><p>“People didn't realize when buying houses in purely residential areas that they would have a healthcare or childcare centre built next door, so this makes it clearer for both parties.”&nbsp;</p><div id="6nZPusV2wFw004jTltE3Hx"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/8IpRLbYOoEmcZdS9bRYGX/77f3385ca73b2518b82c7a625dd2a6b8/Logan_Hospital_development_in-article.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/8IpRLbYOoEmcZdS9bRYGX/77f3385ca73b2518b82c7a625dd2a6b8/Logan_Hospital_development_in-article.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Healthcare is an area of opportunity in Logan with a number of healthcare developments in the works including Northwest's latest project. </span></div></div><p><br>Healthcare has been a major area of growth in Logan, with developer Northwest recently progressing plans to <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/northwest-logan-health-hub-approved-queensland" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/northwest-logan-health-hub-approved-queensland" target="_blank" rel="noopener">build a private healthcare centre in Meadowbrook,</a> and the changes with regards to healthcare also cover certain uses.&nbsp;</p><p>“If you have a rehabilitation treatment clinic, for example, you want them near public transport, not necessarily in suburbia," Raven says.</p><p>“From an investment point of view, it's making it clearer where the council wants to see it, and where you'll be welcomed by the city and neighbourhood.”</p><p>The changes also ensure the inclusion of new industry, retail, enterprise and abattoir precincts in mixed-use zones to ensure that intended land use is clear.&nbsp;</p><p>“The mixed use zone changes address the overcomplexity of that zoning. It had too many uses, and it was difficult for an investor or developer to understand the council’s intentions.</p><p>“It wasn't easy when designing the city, so we have made it easier for investors to know what we want there and so they can target their investment wisely.”</p><h2>Planning in Logan</h2><p><br>However, issues with planning could run deeper than has been highlighted in this week’s changes.</p><p>“Over the past year, my personal experience in planning in Logan is that councils become very conservative in what they approve,” Steffan says.&nbsp;</p><p>“They would prefer for you to comply than present a better outcome. If you present something new, innovative and different, they are knocking it back to something they are familiar with.”&nbsp;</p><p>While the changes mark a positive step, there is clearly a way to go before Logan is on the same page with planners and developers as it attempts to capitalise on the increase in development interest around south-east Queensland by making the satellite city approachable for development.</p><div id="4n91uGYARIMBzsQuRAO1If"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/5saCiXnv8G1zWxkUuAk6Yt/f204e8dc8a999da92a9dabbedf41e16c/Kingston_Butter_factory_Logan.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/5saCiXnv8G1zWxkUuAk6Yt/f204e8dc8a999da92a9dabbedf41e16c/Kingston_Butter_factory_Logan.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Logan Council wants to attract more high-value industry jobs to the area. </span></div></div><p><br>Councill Raven acknowledged that amendments needed to be made.</p><p>“We’re really looking forward to the new planning scheme, ensuring we’re streamlining it, and ensuring faster turnaround times, while still keeping the needs of community and environment in balance, that’s what planning is all about.”</p><p>He encouraged developers to aim higher with future developments.</p><p>“We’re looking for investment that creates jobs. We have lots of logistics and transport investment, but that provides a low number of jobs per sq m, which isn't great.</p><p>“We’d like to see high-value job investment. Were doing a business case on an innovation precinct in Underwood where we are looking at one job per 40 or 50 sq m, so it is better utilised land.&nbsp;</p><p>“Those jobs create other jobs in other industries which support those high value jobs and that’s what we're looking for.&nbsp;</p><p>“We’re the fastest-growing city in Queensland and we want people who live in Logan to be able to work in the area too.”</p><hr><p><strong>You are currently experiencing&nbsp;<em>The Urban Developer</em>&nbsp;Plus (TUD+), our premium membership for property professionals.&nbsp;<a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/membership-plans" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/membership-plans" target="_blank">Click here to learn more.</a></strong><a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/membership-plans" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/membership-plans" target="_blank">&nbsp;</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><br></div></div><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p>

Logan City Council is looking for “good developments in the right places” as it launches updates to its planning scheme to make their aims clearer for developers...

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<p>The latest generation of developers was more focused on responsible, sustainable developments that ever before, Springfield City Group managing director Raynuha Sinnathamby said.&nbsp;</p><p>Sinnathamby was recently named as the eighth honorary life member of the Property Council of Australia in Queensland, recognising her “incredible contribution” to the industry.&nbsp;</p><p>She has spent more than a decade in the property industry, following in her father Maha Sinnathamby’s footsteps and becoming managing director of Springfield City Group in 2013.</p><p>“I’ve always been involved in property. On the weekends [when I was a kid] we’d go to construction sites and check them out with my dad, so it was kind of in my blood. When I did my law studies I naturally fell into property law,” she said.&nbsp;</p><p>“But I fell in love with the diversity. That’s what people don’t get about property, it’s so diverse. That’s always kept it interesting for me.&nbsp;</p><p>“When you’re building a city you get to touch all those parts of it and you’re always learning something new.”</p><p>Having been part of the Springfield City Group for more than a decade, Sinnathamby has seen the Brisbane satellite city expand exponentially.</p><p>“We’ve had a very unique opportunity … and it was our chairman’s aim not to create another dormitory suburb, but to create a city.&nbsp;</p><p>“Eventually there will be about 140,000 residents but one of our big goals is to create 50,000 jobs.</p><p>“It’s a responsible way to behave as a developer, to make sure that there are amenities here for people to live and enjoy a great lifestyle but also to work and to have that work minutes from home rather than have to have those long commutes.</p><p>“That is something we have taken very seriously.”&nbsp;</p><div id="2q8s0vunm1ZrvcUEj1oscK"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/4lDy3zSPpVRhdjLn06MyP8/f806f39dea8c6ee002e6c0d7a4171b55/Raynuha_Sinnathamby.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/4lDy3zSPpVRhdjLn06MyP8/f806f39dea8c6ee002e6c0d7a4171b55/Raynuha_Sinnathamby.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Raynuha Sinnathamby, MD of Springfield City Group, was made a life member of the Property Council of Australia in Queensland last year. </span></div></div><p><br>In fact, late last year the first tenant to the group’s BioPark Australia business precinct moved in with plans to <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/bio-medical-queensland-springfield-aegros-manufacturing-deal" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/bio-medical-queensland-springfield-aegros-manufacturing-deal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">develop a $325 million manufacturing facility</a>.</p><p>Raynuha’s father, Maha, who developed Springfield alongside business partner Bob Sharpless, lobbied for education and transport infrastructure for Springfield in the 1990s, and this ethos has continued in Springfield City Group today.</p><p>“We talk about ourselves as city builders because we want people to have every aspect of the city.</p><p>“There are things we can’t replace, like QPAC-style performing arts developments, but we can still have arts as part of our community, and we want to have every part of the city that we can to make the lifestyle for people living here the best it can be.”&nbsp;</p><p>While occupational gender segregation is still a major issue in property and many other sectors, according to the latest report from the Committee for Economic Development of Australia, the diversification of the development industry itself has been a key to this step change.</p><p>“Everyone is looking for diversity within their workforces. If anything it has been accelerated by the pandemic,” Sinnathamby said.</p><p>“The women coming through the system now will make those changes faster than they’ve been made previously, [because] they are empowered to make those changes.&nbsp;</p><p>“I think the opportunity is there, rather than looking at it as a problem, we see it as an immense opportunity for young women today to step into any sector that they aspire to.”</p><div id="40LOn4if4dwpFJbRfQOnMt"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/ovcfRkKq7RAWBaKNwYzPI/dd37fa717de725bf1c693b682d8fea89/Greater_Springfield_Brisbane_Lions.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/ovcfRkKq7RAWBaKNwYzPI/dd37fa717de725bf1c693b682d8fea89/Greater_Springfield_Brisbane_Lions.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Brighton Homes Arena Springfield Central Stadium was completed last year in time for the AFL’s Brisbane Lions to move in. </span></div></div><p><br>The industry was facing some difficulties in the coming years and it would be all hands on deck to combat these challenges, she said.</p><p>“The immediate challenge for us in this country is the housing crisis. It’s very real and it’s up to us to do that short and long term planning that is needed to address this crisis.&nbsp;</p><p>“It requires all parts of the industry to work together to achieve those results.</p><p>“It is probably through some lack of planning that has led us to where we are today.</p><p>&nbsp;“But it’s time to step up and as an industry to do our part but it requires everyone to be working together.”&nbsp;</p><p>Developers have worked hard to shake the less-than-positive perception of the industry and Sinnathamby said that this more responsible approach was becoming fundamental to the industry as it grew and diversified.&nbsp;</p><p>“The developers of this generation are aspiring to redefine how people see developers and I think we’ve been doing a pretty good job,” she said.</p><p>“There has been a maturing of the industry where developers are absolutely trying to create the best lifestyle for people.&nbsp;</p><p>“People are doing thoughtful developments and thinking about how people live and how they enhance that experience in the communities they create.</p><p>“That care and maturity of the industry is something we should be proud of.”</p>

Director of the Springfield City Group Raynuha Sinnathamby says that the latest generation of developers is more socially conscious than ever and will need to work together as the housing crisis looms...

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<p>Public art is transforming the built environment into more activated, inclusive and beautiful spaces—and while the price tag can put a hole in developers’ budgets, there are some who are realising its true value.</p><p>“The universal best practice set by LGAs is 1 per cent of the construction costs,” UAP managing principal Owen Craven says.&nbsp;</p><p>They’re one of Australia’s biggest public art consultancy and fabrication businesses, commissioning and working with the such artists as Lindy Lee, Judy Watson, Emily Floyd and Callum Morton to produce large-scale works for developments across Australia and the world.&nbsp;</p><p>“Developers are becoming more sophisticated in meeting their requirements for public art. There may have been an initial reluctance under the legislated changes, but they’ve realised the benefits of public art in their spaces, and this concept is spreading to other parts of Australia,” Craven says.&nbsp;</p><p>“What clients are looking for is engagement, a sense of belonging, something that people can hold on to.”</p><p>Public art is blurring the boundaries between art and architecture as developers look to incorporate it into their design.&nbsp;</p><div id="6ambXAxY6DXU5vnPSsM3pb"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/6yxuiRPwZYoyRN96tK1EBx/33d22d810f9cb8ec52f425a6fba99666/200_George_public_art.jpeg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/6yxuiRPwZYoyRN96tK1EBx/33d22d810f9cb8ec52f425a6fba99666/200_George_public_art.jpeg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Ngarunga Nangama by Judy Watson at 200 George Street, Sydney.<br><br></span></div></div><p>“Art can be immersed in the fabric of the building. We fabricated Alexander Knox’s artwork on Brisbane’s W Hotel facade by Shayher Group, and we also delivered a highly integrated work by Judy Watson around the lift core of the fjmt-designed 200 George Street in Sydney, which tells historical narratives of place of where the building sits,” he says.</p><p>“It’s all about what is right for the space, we spend a lot of time looking at the project, the site, and understanding the space and how people engage with it.&nbsp;</p><p>“What’s going to engage, attract, and build that sense of belonging?”</p><h2>Research into value of public art</h2><p><br>Craven says art can not only attract tenants and employees back to the office but help to create a sense of ownership in the space. Office tower owners are looking at building users’ wellbeing as part of the drive to attract tenants and employees back to the CBDs and anecdotal evidence points to public art as a vehicle for improved physical and mental health in its capacity to build community and connection.&nbsp;</p><p>UAP has partnered with Griffith University to develop Public Art 360, a world-first holistic tool to measure the impacts and benefits of public art.&nbsp;</p><p>Craven says while public art installations are measured for their foot traffic and economic value, this tool would incorporate user engagement, impact and benefits including storytelling, education and engendering a sense of belonging. “It’s capturing the quantitative and qualitative impacts of public artworks.”</p><div id="4E2Q80DZhtvJMJ2ifGsQJ5"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3XhVUc3L0jw9tAGDx9G8s8/66ffcd57f1e66fa2cfe9f7479737c3b4/lindy-lee-starlight-ember-6-jpeg.jpeg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3XhVUc3L0jw9tAGDx9G8s8/66ffcd57f1e66fa2cfe9f7479737c3b4/lindy-lee-starlight-ember-6-jpeg.jpeg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Starlight Ember by Lindy Lee.<br><br></span></div></div><p>While UAP creates some of the biggest art installations for the top end of town the materiality ranges widely from woodwork, murals, building facades, sculpture and integrated design.&nbsp;</p><h2>Developers back public art requirements</h2><p><br>Top Spring Australia managing director Sydney Ma says there is no question that “urban and public art contributes to a more vibrant social fabric, both for residents and the wider community”.</p><p>“Art celebrates place, creates a sense of identity and provides beauty and enjoyment beyond the private resident amenities and into the broader neighbourhood. Many councils, for this very reason, require developers to play a greater role in urban art investment.</p><p>“As a company we champion and celebrate art in all facets of our developments and we support this requirement.”</p><p>But commissioning artworks can, however, be a difficult and lengthy process to navigate.</p><p>“Each development requires bespoke artwork that responds to its surrounds, and this can take years to bring to fruition. So much so, that our approach to urban art begins in the very early design phase of each project,” Ma says.&nbsp;</p><p>“We’ve found it’s so important to work with the right consultants that understand the commercial requirements of creating and installing art on site, usually outdoors, and managing the creative expression of the artists. It’s a lot more than design, especially at a large scale.</p><p>“It’s a collective effort, well worth the community benefit.”</p><div id="4GK38q1JfXfz0G6mxGFkPQ"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2D9UF9T5wcT6qaQoxcQsvB/e4336a2cf611dc6f6f77457b4a2c71d7/Judy_Watson_UAP.jpeg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2D9UF9T5wcT6qaQoxcQsvB/e4336a2cf611dc6f6f77457b4a2c71d7/Judy_Watson_UAP.jpeg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ bara by Aboriginal&nbsp;artist Judy Watson celebrates&nbsp;the First Peoples of&nbsp;Sydney, the traditional custodians of Gadigal Country.<br><br></span></div></div><p>A design competition is currently under way for the internal and external art projects for the Ode project at Double Bay, while a solid copper sculpture by Jade Oakley has been commissioned for Munro House at Elizabeth Bay.&nbsp;</p><p>Aqualand managing director Jin Lin is also a strong supporter of art in the built environment.&nbsp;</p><p>The developer’s latest project, AURA in North Sydney, takes a sculptural form, imbuing an artistic flair in the Woods Bagot-designed $1-billion, 386-apartment tower.</p><p>Lin says art plays a “pivotal role in enhancing communities”.</p><p>“Through our projects and our arts sponsorships, Aqualand is proud to contribute to creating more vibrant, cohesive communities around Sydney,” he says.&nbsp;</p><p>“AURA by Aqualand will be a living sculpture for this special neighbourhood, a place of beauty inside and out. We eagerly await approval from the North Sydney Council for the beautiful Richard Sweeney public art piece we’ve commissioned. It’s important for us to continue giving back to the community long after the building is completed.”</p><p>Aqualand also supports Sculpture by the Sea at Bondi, and recently extended its partnership with the Art Gallery of NSW to include naming rights of the Aqualand Atrium in their new Sydney Modern wing.&nbsp;</p><div id="5qUad4Ybj2XhS66DKELMzv"><div id="5qUad4Ybj2XhS66DKELMzv"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2SmRYO5VkTGe2MKmooXgiv/b3cfe3d60083bfd5e8f308d1877ea5e5/Jin_Lin_Sculpture_by_the_Sea.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2SmRYO5VkTGe2MKmooXgiv/b3cfe3d60083bfd5e8f308d1877ea5e5/Jin_Lin_Sculpture_by_the_Sea.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Aqualand managing director Jin Lin has sponsored Sculpture by the Sea since 2016. Photo: James Morgan <br><br></span></div></div></div><p>A long-time champion of public art, City of Sydney mayor Clover Moore believes public art provides grit and texture to the urban environment. She says it plays “an enormous part in the life of any great city”.&nbsp;</p><p>And while the Sydney Council requires public artworks as part of any project worth more than $10 million, Moore says developers are now including public art as a matter of course “given the clear benefit to the built environment”.</p><p>And it’s a concept that is catching fire nationally.&nbsp;</p><h2>Appetite in built environment grows</h2><p>Melbourne-based art and technology studio ENESS is helping to unlock and reconfigure public spaces using art.&nbsp;</p><p>Artist and founder Nimrod Weis says interactive artworks can create connections between people and place.&nbsp;</p><p>“In a way, public art is just like a garden in that it introduces a sensory element to concrete and glass expanses—it brings colour, movement and beauty to the built environment,” Weis says.&nbsp;</p><p>“It is deeply beneficial when public art is integrated into new developments from inception, especially when a sense of place is honoured.</p><p>“When public art is handled in this way—by being included in the DNA of a project—it means that the tone and progression of art of the time is matched with the architecture of the time.”</p><p>Weis says it can also be retrospectively incorporated in older spaces as a “really clever way of revitalising public space”.</p><div id="63FvvREglndqBOmDkvhcPE"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/7qdBy1oZicqjp1A3rH7Eyn/985c24833b477c41822464038da81ee7/Matt_Adnate.jpeg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/7qdBy1oZicqjp1A3rH7Eyn/985c24833b477c41822464038da81ee7/Matt_Adnate.jpeg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Matt Adnate is a prolific street artist and mural painter who has transformed buildings with his artworks.<br><br></span></div></div><p>Most recently ENESS created Waterbody (main image) at 1 Darling Island Pyrmont for Mirvac. The multi-disciplinary team of artists, musicians, software engineers and industrial designers using water as the central theme.</p><p>“We analysed and dissected notions of water within the context of Sydney as a place but also as a substance in and of itself,” Weis says.&nbsp;</p><p>“We then underwent the process of design, fabrication and install—which we do in-house. In total, the process took two years from conception to installation.&nbsp;</p><p>“The final artwork is a cross-section of oceanic and riverine imagery such as rippling harbour water and the contoured sand of beach and estuary beds; glossy lengths of kelp; salt-stained driftwood and the bones of fish and other marine life.”<br><br>The 30m installation has 90 segments with tens of thousands of LEDs encased in soft polycarbonate, like a frozen cross-section of a wave, and each individual aluminium segment is a custom form.</p><p>But it’s not just big installation artworks that dominate public art offerings in the built environment. Large-scale painted murals are cropping up on sites across the country according to artist Sheila Tan who works with other artists including Matt Adnate and George Rose to transform blank walls into engaging artworks.&nbsp;</p><p>Tan says navigating the commissioning process, acquiring the right permits and working on busy construction sites can be difficult to navigate.</p><p>Public art can inspire, divide, educate and enthrall. But the end result is always transformative.<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>

Public art is transforming the built environment into more activated, inclusive and beautiful spaces - and while the price tag can put a hole in developer’s budgets, there are some who are realising its true value...

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<p>Being immersed in city life is part of the attraction of university but as premium space in city centres becomes expensive and scarce, institutions are looking at a modern way to expand.&nbsp;</p><p>Vertical campuses in the education sector have <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/vertical-campus-development-australia" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/vertical-campus-development-australia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">redefined primary and secondary schools</a>.</p><p>Now, Australian universities are developing the next generation of vertical campuses, bringing in commercial elements and alternative funding, mixing different disciplines and futureproofing buildings to ensure they remain relevant to end users in a post-Covid world.</p><p>Teaching will begin at Western Sydney University’s <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/western-sydney-university-expansion" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/western-sydney-university-expansion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$340-million high-rise Bankstown City</a> campus this year and Monash University invested in a major campus which was completed by Multiplex last year.</p><p>Western Australia’s Edith Cowan University has also <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/plans-lodged-for-695m-vertical-university" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/plans-lodged-for-695m-vertical-university" target="_blank" rel="noopener">launched plans</a> for a $695-million, 12-storey, vertical campus—early site works started in 2022.</p><p>The university’s city program director Sean Henriques says the building of a vertical campus was a step change in how the university approached its operations.</p><p>“The world is changing at an incredible rate, and it will continue to do so,” he says.</p><p>“Especially in the last two years we’ve seen shifts in teaching and learning modes, and the vertical campus gave us a chance to genuinely think through what the future looks like rather than retrofit into existing spaces and models.”</p><h2>The vertical campus defined&nbsp;</h2><p><br>The difference between vertical campuses and the use of tall buildings by universities is an important one.&nbsp;</p><p>Vertical campuses must provide access to the services, technology, amenities and integration that traditional campuses provide.&nbsp;</p><p>However, they might also have to integrate multiple disciplines or even institutions, such as at Tokyo’s Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower, within one building rather than a block centred around one discipline.&nbsp;</p><p>“A campus is a living, breathing ecosystem,” says Henriques.</p><p>“It’s a constant orchestra of movement essentially. That’s the difference between thinking about it as a campus rather than a building with a university in it.&nbsp;</p><p>“You’re not just there as an isolated piece. The connection with the city is part of that story.”&nbsp;</p><div id="29stZh4p7g6seSy0lD7qb9"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1JvWbw9SQwYYqMjWizcZv2/ac76619f7d9fd9f00be611f829f7176a/ECU_front_view.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1JvWbw9SQwYYqMjWizcZv2/ac76619f7d9fd9f00be611f829f7176a/ECU_front_view.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Early works on Edith Cowan University’s vertical campus are under way.<br><br></span></div></div><p>Conventionally, universities have had sprawling campuses centred around open spaces close to city centres. But land in urban areas comes at a premium which is prohibitive to expansion and increasingly difficult to obtain.&nbsp;</p><p>Lyons Architecture has extensive expertise in the space, designing Western Sydney’s Bankstown and Monash University’s Docklands campuses.</p><p>Lyons director Neil Appleton worked on the design of the vertical campus in Perth for Edith Cowan, and says that every design is different with no one-size-fits-all for vertical campuses.</p><p>“The brief for Edith Cowan was unique, bringing together creative industries, technology and business into an inner-city melting pot,” Appleton says.</p><p>“We have enormous performing arts spaces, sound stages, film studios, design studios, matched with some of the unique business and law spaces with significant technological demand and are catering for a lot of postgrad students as well.</p><p>“What we tried to do was activate the building all the way through, aiming for those much higher utilisation rates.”</p><p>Moving the library or learning commons to the centre of the building aimed to prompt further activation and integration, two of the criteria that make an effective vertical campus, Appleton says.</p><p>“Campuses are typically tied together by green space, but in a city that’s not always possible, especially in a vertical building.&nbsp;</p><p>“Fundamentally you want to provide a diversity of experience which makes students want to stay there, for the teaching as well as the social element of the experience. Getting the balance is really important.”</p><h2>The financial case for vertical campuses</h2><p><br>One of the biggest obstacles to developing a new campus is funding. Vice-president of infrastructure and commercial at Western Sydney University Bill Parasiris made the longer-term financial case for vertical campuses.</p><p>“A vertical campus allows us to streamline our offering in a more cost effective way,” he says.&nbsp;</p><p>“We have more state-of-the-art facilities, but do not provide retail outlets and entertainment facilities which universities normally do, which tend to take away from teaching and learning.</p><p>“Capital cost is lower and that creates a saving, which makes education more accessible.&nbsp;</p><p>“What we’ve learnt is that universities create significant value and they shouldn’t lose that value they create.</p><p>“If we work with industry partners we can co-create value, which makes it more sustainable and potentially less reliant on government funding.”</p><div id="2jXbn1IIMj4hmoO2sLFiE2"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3kPIsbVUyB5oiuSIi7EZjn/77ca3804024e2c7f70523863141261e7/Western_Sydney_Bankstown_Campus.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3kPIsbVUyB5oiuSIi7EZjn/77ca3804024e2c7f70523863141261e7/Western_Sydney_Bankstown_Campus.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Western Sydney University’s Bankstown Campus is due to open to students later this year.<br><br></span></div></div><p>Western Sydney has invested more than $1 billion in vertical campuses, he says, with no federal or state government funding.</p><p>“Universities used to sign up to be the financier,” Parasiris says.</p><p>“But now, we’re extracting the value from what we create and we’re not taking scarce capital away from day-to-day operations to build a new building. It all comes from our partnerships with industry.”</p><p>Unlike other vertical campuses, Bankstown is also built so it can provide an alternative revenue stream for the university.</p><p>“The flexibility allows, if our student numbers increase or decrease, for the space to be subleased to offset our costs, and it’s space industry wants to be in,” Parasiris says.&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;<br>“We do play developer and we also partner with them, but we want to realise developer returns and uplifts as a blue chip investor, partner and tenant, and offset the costs for our core purposes: teaching, learning and research.”</p><h2>Accessibility and innovation</h2><p><br>Adapting towers to accommodate the needs of higher education institutions in urban areas can be a challenge.</p><p>Western Sydney has dealt with this at its Bankstown campus by including a microfactory into its build.&nbsp;</p><p>“By the end of March we’ll have a full-blown microfactory—we want to prove that manufacturing can occur in a commercial building,” says Parasiras.</p><p>“If you want to 3D print a motor vehicle part, you won’t need an industrial warehouse on the outskirts of town.”</p><div id="29wIgOw54JXM8bgs41BWJJ"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3zLRZBMcEad6vJQhObLCkb/e28cf7adae346a4bc2c35dc314e16634/Multiplex_Monash_build.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3zLRZBMcEad6vJQhObLCkb/e28cf7adae346a4bc2c35dc314e16634/Multiplex_Monash_build.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ The Monash University campus was completed by Multiplex last year and offers 10 levels of teaching and learning space for 6900 students.<br><br></span></div></div><p>Some of the major benefits of a vertical campus for students, lecturers and researchers are the collegiate and integrated approach which ensures they diverge from traditional campuses in aesthetics as well as purpose.</p><p>“Traditional models put disciplines in siloed buildings, almost asset-owned school by school,” Henriques says.</p><p>“We didn’t feel that was the way of the future when you think about the merging of disciplines in society and business as a whole.</p><p>“We’re training people to go into those spaces and make them work ready, so why would we then be stuck in the old model?”</p><p>Western Sydney University’s Parasiris says the Bankstown campus has similar aims.&nbsp;</p><p>“The intent of our vertical campuses is to create a more engaging experience, and making that accessibility easier by bringing the campuses to where our students live and want to work.”<br><br></p><hr><p><strong><br>You are currently experiencing <em>The Urban Developer</em> Plus (TUD+), our premium membership for property professionals. <a href="theurbandeveloper.com/membership-plans" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="theurbandeveloper.com/membership-plans">Click here to learn more.</a></strong></p><div id="3QIgS9hShTxQD14zkafv0W"><div><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></div></div>

Universities are becoming developers or forming partnerships as they embark on a new generation of campuses, looking up, not out, as they expand…

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<p>As cities grow, new buildings gradually replace the older ones. Ideally, the new buildings are higher quality, more sustainable and better suited to today’s needs.</p><p>But there’s a risk current approaches to urban renewal will produce poorer amenities and buildings that are less flexible and more environmentally damaging than those they replace.</p><p>Take, for example, the 1960s walk-up apartment block. These ageing buildings are often derided for being unattractive, utilitarian and cheap.</p><p>But these buildings also have design features we have come to celebrate—narrow footprints that allow cross ventilation, flexible floorplans, minimal use of shared walls, low-maintenance design and a modest human scale. We seldom find these features in apartment developments today.</p><p>As pressure to renew ageing apartment buildings mounts, we can expect calls to rezone and redevelop these areas at higher densities to make demolition and redevelopment financially viable.</p><p>We propose a more subtle and sustainable way to remake these buildings. It’s one that will allow us to increase housing density while preserving neighbourhood character.</p><p>The New South Wales government has identified the Sydney suburb of Campsie as a strategic growth hub in the Sydenham-to-Bankstown urban renewal corridor. A projected 35,000 new homes will be required in the corridor over the next 20 years.</p><div id="4RJqM86a21dp9g9L1S2zqd"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/7C4Gfw2svftR6ojZ0a76Gk/c51549c76635c9aaa17c16db903e6b26/Mid_article_resizes__13_.jpg" alt="Before and after: Comparative renders of the project." data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/7C4Gfw2svftR6ojZ0a76Gk/c51549c76635c9aaa17c16db903e6b26/Mid_article_resizes__13_.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Before and after: Comparative renders of the project.<br><br> </span></div></div><p>Like suburbs across Australia, Campsie has hundreds of brick apartment buildings developed in the 1960s and ’70s. How could these 350 or so housing apartment blocks be reimagined to provide more new homes?</p><p>We have come up with a proposal for subtle densification that could transform and preserve Campsie and the neighbouring suburbs of Belmore, Punchbowl and Earlwood. It could also be applied to suburbs with similar housing types across Australia.</p><p>Adaptive reuse reduces the damaging impacts of an all-new development. These impacts include emissions from demolition, construction and the energy used for making and transporting both the discarded and new building materials.</p><h2>Four blocks remade as one</h2><p><br>Remaking this awkward yet quintessential housing type offers an alternative path to medium-density living. Let’s start by looking at these apartments not as individual buildings but as groups. Four similar adjoining blocks in an adequate state are perfect candidates for intervention.</p><p>We propose to remove the fences between the blocks and create a shared collective space to join them. This new timber structure hosts half-sunk parking and common areas for everyday life. It will include a light semi-outdoor pavilion that could be used for washing, exercising, reading, gardening, hobbies, daydreaming and cooking.</p><p>It’s a straightforward architectural strategy featuring: a new steel core with stairs and lifts shared between two blocks; semi-interior spaces carved out of the building’s façade; and balconies, winter gardens and new residential units added on top of the buildings.</p><div id="5vonvjlTs8hJ8E4wzbIivc"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/5BIU7gr0kB6sDs4Gwvrbib/4712d7f53123f3f91435f7539c3d54fb/file-20221017-23-1mj81z.jpeg" alt="A render of the Campsie project to turn two 1960s walk-ups into one housing precinct better suited to today." data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/5BIU7gr0kB6sDs4Gwvrbib/4712d7f53123f3f91435f7539c3d54fb/file-20221017-23-1mj81z.jpeg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ A render of the Campsie project to turn two 1960s walk-ups into one housing precinct better suited to today.<br><br> </span></div></div><p>These new timber structures provide the most generous space possible. And, by increasing the number of dwellings, they make refurbishment financially viable.</p><p>In summary, the refurbishment operates at five levels by:</p><ul><li><p>adding the common infrastructure at the heart of the four blocks</p></li><li><p>adding two new stairways</p></li><li><p>refurbishing the apartments while offering a mix of outdoor spaces, shaded areas and semi-outdoor terraces, allowing for different weather conditions and connecting seamlessly with indoor spaces</p></li><li><p>adding a layer of external spaces and winter gardens on the main facades</p></li><li><p>adding four new dwellings on the rooftop.</p></li></ul><p>With some adjustments, this subtle densification would also work for individual blocks or pairs of blocks.</p><h2>Higher density doesn’t have to mean bigger</h2><p><br>This approach challenges the idea that much bigger developments are needed to renew suburban housing and increase its density. This alternative strategy can retain existing buildings, their footprints and floor plans.</p><p>This renewal approach reduces costs and carbon footprints, while preserving the local social fabric.</p><p>Strata ownership does present challenges to this type of renewal – there may well be as many owners as there are units in these developments. Involving developers, local councils, designers, builders and communities in developing these strategies will be essential for success.</p><p><span class="mce-preview-object mce-object-iframe" contenteditable="false" data-mce-object="iframe" data-mce-p-allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-p-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Zk4plgj2Cqc"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Zk4plgj2Cqc" width="560" height="314" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Zk4plgj2Cqc"></iframe><span class="mce-shim"></span></span></p><h2>Successful renewal depends on local input</h2><p><br>In European cities such as Berlin, Paris and Zurich, urban renewal projects are being publicly driven (on public and private property) with incentives to refurbish post-war housing. Municipal and European funds are supporting these upgrades.</p><p>There is a role for Australian local councils to promote alternative approaches to urban renewal that are more sustainable than conventional models. Local and state governments might even work together to encourage this more nuanced and localised model of regeneration.</p><p>These interventions must be planned at the neighbourhood scale. Local government would provide the framework via a sensitive and detailed master plan.</p><p>In our experience, developers typically need at least six to eight levels to be interested in redevelopment after demolishing a building in this sort of neighbourhood. We are arguing for more subtle densification: refurbishment that adds no more than one or two storeys to the building. This would allow neighbourhoods to maintain buildings at three to four levels, quite similar to the existing housing.</p><p>Because the walk-up apartment building is so common in Australian suburbs, this incremental change could have a significant wider impact. It is designed to engage local owners and preserve neighbourhood life, while updating old housing to today’s needs and energy standards.<br><br></p><hr><h2><br>Authors</h2><p>Guillermo Fernández-Abascal<br>Academic Fellow in Architectural Practice, University of Sydney</p><p>Urtzi Grau<br>Senior lecturer, director of The Master of Architecture, University of Technology Sydney</p><p>This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/remaking-our-suburbs-1960s-apartment-blocks-a-subtle-and-greener-way-to-increase-housing-density-190908" data-mce-href="https://theconversation.com/remaking-our-suburbs-1960s-apartment-blocks-a-subtle-and-greener-way-to-increase-housing-density-190908">original article</a>.</p>

Remaking our suburbs’ 1960s apartment blocks is a more subtle and greener way to increase housing density…

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