<html><body>
Ever since the East West Link fiasco there has been substantial talk about removing the politics from Victoria’s infrastructure planning. The perception has been that politicians choose infrastructure projects that best suit their political agenda, rather than the projects that meet the objectives of a broader plan for a city. One only needs to read the East West Link report from the <a href="https://www.anao.gov.au/work/performance-audit/approval-and-administration-commonwealth-funding-east-west-link-project" target="_blank">Australian National Audit Office</a> to see how politics can interfere with due process in infrastructure delivery.

Infrastructure Victoria is the body created by the Daniel Andrews led State Government to fix this problem. Recently the CEO of Infrastructure Victoria, Michel Masson, took time out of his busy schedule to discuss the complex task of preparing an evidence based infrastructure strategy for Victoria.

Red+Black Architect – Currently Infrastructure Victoria is working through a process to develop a 30-year strategy. Where is this process currently at and when can we expect the draft strategy to be released?

Michel Masson – 2016 is clearly the year of the development of the 30-year strategy which will be tabled to parliament at year end. Where are we at? The method we took is one of common sense.

First, we decided to look at what are the problems that we’re trying to solve instead of looking at the solutions. There are so many engineering solutions out there looking desperately for a problem to solve in order to justify their existence and request for funding.

This first round of consultation – which focused on our discussion paper Laying the foundations –  was where we asked the community what are the infrastructure challenges we should focus on.

We know all throughout the process we’re going to have to make some pretty tough decisions in terms of what we do and what we don’t. This is strategy 101. You decide what you’re going to do, and equally what you will not be doing.

We were very pleased with the level of engagement we received from the community during that round of consultation. We received a lot of very good feedback about the importance of putting regional Victoria front and centre in the strategy.

We also received feedback about the need to promote integration between the land use planning and the infrastructure planning, which we’ve now incorporated into our guiding principles.

We have just finished the second phase of the consultation surrounding the options paper. Once we defined the strategy framework and the problems we’re going to focus on, we looked at the options. We’ve tabled to the community over 200 ideas to address Victoria’s infrastructure needs. At this stage, the whole process is to get constructive feedback and criticism from the community on the options we’ve put forward and also source new ideas from stakeholders and from the community.

We are in the process of putting all of these pieces of the puzzle together which will form the draft strategy to be released later this year. That will form the basis for a final round of consultation, again asking  the community to review our draft recommendations and tell us:  “Do we agree that this is the pipeline that we’ll want in the short, medium, and long-term?”

Once we’ve incorporated that next round of consultation, then we’ll table the final strategy to parliament at the end of the year. Once that strategy is tabled to Parliament, the government has 12 months to respond with a five-year plan.

R+BA – Those projects in the draft, will it be prescriptive as to for example project X will start between 2018 and 2019 and project Y will follow that from 2020 onwards? Are there timeframes for those projects?

MM – First of all, we talk about options and not necessarily projects and the reason is that our approach is not just about building new pieces of infrastructure. It’s first and foremost about how do we look at demand management and most importantly how do we optimize the current assets? How do we make the most of what we currently have before we look at building new things? We’re very keen to look at policies and regulations which are currently in place and should be amended or new policies and regulations which would help make better use of the existing assets.

The draft strategy will be a series of recommendations, policies and regulations, and new pieces of infrastructure which will be positioned as short, medium, and long-term draft recommendations. We won’t be as precise as saying this should start the second quarter of 2018 but we’re really going to position them as a pipeline. The recommendations will make it very clear as to how they interact with each other.

It will be clear that before you go to that big piece of new infrastructure as option D, you’ve got to do A, B and C beforehand. Everybody will understand why it makes sense to do A, B and C before D. Again, we recommend but the government of the day decides. They may want to go straight to D but everyone will be able to measure the consequences of the impact of bypassing A, B and C and going straight to D.

R+BA – As part of this process you’ve used citizen juries?

MM – Yes

R+BA – How does this work? What have they been deciding upon?

MM – We were very keen to ensure that in process of the developing the 30-year infrastructure we had depth and breadth in the consultation. This was about real, genuine engagement, not just an exercise in ticking a box. The citizen jury is a very interesting way to give a voice to the people. It was fundamental to have the right tool, the right mechanism to have the community express their views.

We’ve created two citizen juries – one in metropolitan Melbourne and another in regional Victoria which is based in Shepparton. These citizen juries are two groups of 40-ish people which have been randomly selected but statistically representative of regional Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne.

They spend six Saturdays meeting every few weeks and work like a court jury. Each jury has the opportunity to call on experts on a range of issues- from former treasurers, experts in transport planning, specialist in schools or education and so on – in order to gather evidence.

At the same time they are going through all of the options which we tabled. At the end of the process, they will deliberate and provide their recommendations.

The interesting thing with the citizen jury is that you need to reach consensus with forty people. What we’ve seen is when you take forty people from all parts of the socio-demographic fabric of Victoria, you get a lot of common sense.

When you ask them to come up with one common view on the future of transport or education, the answer you get is just fascinating. We’re very keen to see what their recommendations will be, which will form a key input to the draft strategy.

R+BA – Will we be able to see a report on that process and their input? Will that be identifiable in that draft strategy as ‘here’s what the jury said’?

MM – Absolutely. It will be clear where the jury’s recommendations are positioned in the draft strategy but we will also be releasing the citizen juries’ recommendations in full prior to that.

R+BA – When you released the options paper, it must have been terribly frustrating having some politicians and media outlets falsely reporting about Infrastructure Victoria making recommendations for projects rather accurately describing projects in the report as options for consideration. How would you address those commentators?

MM – I fully acknowledge that the complexity of what we’ve embarked upon developing a 30-year infrastructure strategy is not something intuitive to grasp. We’ve been engaging with the media at length to readdress that perception. We are keen to reiterate that these are options, not recommendations. Everything is on the table and this options stage was really when we invited the community to tell us what they think and what we missed as we prepare the draft strategy.

It is very satisfying to feel people are now inside the tent with us and really eager to provide their views. In fact, the number of submissions we’ve received echoes that.

R+BA – How important are cost benefit ratios? Are there circumstances when projects should be built regardless of the cost implications?

MM – Benefit cost analysis is a very interesting aspect of what we are doing. Infrastructure Victoria was created for three purposes. The first one is to develop the 30-year infrastructure strategy. That is a very strong focus this year. The second one is to provide advice to the government on projects and the government has already requested Infrastructure Victoria to provide advice on the second container port in Melbourne. The third is our research program.

Through our research program we looking at the tools currently being used in decision-making and assessing projects, including benefit cost analysis. It’s a very useful tool but its an imperfect tool, because it only captures economic benefits and costs. We are currently trying to capture social and environment benefits in monetary terms.

Currently, we take full cost of an engineering solution, a tunnel for instance, but we do not take account of any benefits from leaving everything above ground flourishing in terms of social and environment impact which is a problem. Everybody recognises that. When I say everybody, I mean Infrastructure Australia and the state infrastructure bodies. Victoria is taking the lead in working on this.

R+BA – Looking back upon the East West Link Saga, what do you take out from that whole process that eventuated?

MM – To be clear, Infrastructure Victoria is positioned to look ahead at the next 30 years. We’re not looking back at past decisions. The past is the past. This is not our field. We are taking for granted as a base case all of the major projects which are fully committed and funded. That’s why people are asking, “Why aren’t you talking about the Western Distributor? Why aren’t you looking at the level crossings?” We are not assessing those. We take those projects already underway as the base case in projecting ahead for the next 30 years. When it comes to what has been known in the past as the East West, we are steering clear from politics. We are steering clear from what it was and we’re looking at what it should be in the future. Our recommendation could be completely different from what has been known as East West. We’re not barracking for an option or solution in particular. We’re just looking in an evidence-based way at what is for the good of Victoria in the next 30 years.

<a href="/news/red-black-interviews-the-ceo-of-infrastructure-victoria-part-2">Continue reading part 2</a>.

Michael Smith is a director of Atelier Red + Black.  This post was originally published on the Red + Black architect <a href="https://theredandblackarchitect.wordpress.com/2016/07/12/redblack-interview-with-michel-masson-ceo-of-infrastructure-victoria-part-1/">blog</a>.
</body></html>

redblackarchitect

Red & Black interviews the CEO of Infrastructure Victoria - Part 1

<html><body>
With the Victorian Government proceeding with Melbourne Metro Rail Tunnel, further details have begun to emerge as to how the project will be delivered and what the benefits to Melbourne will be. It is perhaps the right moment to consider more carefully what the architecture within this project will need to deliver. To dive into this project from an architectural view point The Red+Black Architect interviewed emerging designer Justin Marden, who has an international background on underground railway architecture

Red + Black Architect – The Melbourne Metro Rail Project will have five new underground stations along the nine kilometre tunnel. This presents the question what should these stations look like?

Justin Marden –  The look and feel are important, however other factors such as ownership, character, materials, staff, funding models, risk, clients and management are also significant.  With metro stations it’s important to consider long and short term goals and connectivity options in a transparent manner.  For example, what the desired land use will be many decades from now, or how fast people can change trains. At Flinders St Station it’s more than 200% faster to change trains than Southern Cross.

Whilst achieving a design quality of international standard is important, we really need to look towards providing our stations with a local character that can differentiate ourselves from the rest of the world (and Australia) through design identity.

We also need to be playing to our strengths by encouraging greater diversity of design. Perhaps Flinders Street Metro Station could be designed, built, managed, named, staffed, and leased recognizably from the Indigenous community.

I’m actually not aware of any recent strategic infrastructure project in Australia that has significantly included an Indigenous influence. The Melbourne Metro Project presents as a significant opportunity to get serious about indigenous inclusion considering the site’s proximity to the river.

Perhaps a couple of the metro stations could be specifically allocated to a design practice that is led by one of our many fantastic women in architecture. As recently pointed out by Eli Giannini of the AIA’s National Gender Equity Committee, women rarely get the opportunity to lead the work on large scale public projects. These Metro Stations could become an example of governments using their purchasing power to facilitate positive cultural change.

As for the ground level entrances to the stations, perhaps the State government should consider an open A3 sized ideas competition.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/flinders-st-station.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="The bland and anonymous Eastern concourse of Flinders Street Station. A lesson in what not to do."><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="773" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/flinders-st-station.jpg?itok=Pz_ezkX7" title="The bland and anonymous Eastern concourse of Flinders Street Station. A lesson in what not to do." width="580"></a>

<figcaption>The bland and anonymous Eastern concourse of Flinders Street Station. A lesson in what not to do.</figcaption></figure>​

R+BA – It would seem that there are competing interest for each of the new stations to have their own identity, for way finding purposes, but also to be considered part of the ‘set’ of stations in this project. Which of these competing requirements should take priority?

JM- Nominating lines as colours is one key strategy. But the user should also be able to tell the difference of each metro station from inside the train which is difficult with the current Melbourne Loop. Paris and Madrid are very successful in the branding of metro entrance signage. London is also quite developed.

Train station names such as Commonwealth in Singapore only highlight the global influence in grey architecture policy and spaces. So yes these new metro stations need diverse reference points and information presented in a way that local people can understand if we are aiming to get the best result.

R+BA- Perhaps bringing a few of these ideas together it could be possible to have the stations provide a chronological Indigenous story which is told through design. I am thinking of the great work by the Pitcha Makin Fellas that was displayed on the Royal Exhibition Building during White Night 2016. We could have a station which is subtly inspired by the season of butterflies followed by a station inspired by the dry season and so forth. What are your thoughts on that?

JM- I was very impressed by that temporary projection on the world heritage site. Story is important. So yes I do agree with you this may be an opportunity to create something special. Maybe even help people understand this story in a more permanent way.

We should however be very cautious about providing surfaces for audio visual content in our metro stations. There is always a risk with flexible mediums and white/glass surfaces that Stations could be inadvertently transformed into a visual bombardment of advertising. There is always a risk of an architect having no control of something placed on their work to the point it is compromised or designed for that purpose.

Regarding Indigenous design I feel Indigenous Architecture and Design Victoria (IADV) needs more resources. I recently attended Reuben Bergs’ talk at the M-Pavillion and would very much like to see them play a more active forward looking role. The Melbourne Metro project could play a key part in advancing the discussion around Indigenous representation in our built environment.

The City Of Melbourne should support the State government in Melaru which is an innovative freedom lookout for the City Of Melbourne with an Indigenous influence located at the Melbourne visitor centre. It will offer a story and interaction and could even be a metro entrance. I believe this is the best chance for reconciliation and public engagement moving forward. It would demonstrate Indigenous people, culture and design are welcome in the most important part of the city. There is a lot to learn here and many stories to be told.

R+BA – Typically with large engineering led projects it is common for a single large architectural practice to be engaged to provide services across the entirety of the project. Whilst this would no doubt have advantages in project management, do you think it restricts diversity in the architectural outcome?

JM –  There is no doubt one practice may produce less risk but the complexity of co-ordinating Melbourne’s underground is not as far reaching as threading needles in London. So I do believe there should be room to move if a genuine collaboration is chosen.

<a href="http://flyvbjerg.plan.aau.dk/HARVARDDESIGN63PRINT.pdf">An Anatomy of Ambition by Bent Flyvbjerg</a> is a worthwhile read which talks about Mega Projects and risk.

R+BA – Are there any particular lessons for this project that we can take from overseas stations?

JM – I have a sense of what commercially will happen between the Grocon CUB site and the space between Melbourne Central. Alameda station in Valencia, Spain by Calatrava which I have visited also does not have the attention to detail as Strogino Station, Moscow which have similar elements. Volokolamskaya station, Moscow  and Strogino demonstrate economic sense in station design given the distance from the central core. Great architecture doesn’t have to cost the earth and architecture should be accessible to everyone.

I do admire Hector Guimard and cast iron entrances in Paris as well as the story of designer Eileen Gray. Glass balustrades break easily. It does take a dedicated team to deliver such projects as Sokol Metro Station in Moscow and the spans of the Pentagon/Metro Centre in Washington.

R+BA – In your view what is the biggest opportunity to be gained through providing high quality architecture at these stations?

JM-  A happier society and people, identity is important. Taking pride in place and feeling a sense of connection and community. I don’t doubt the power of exemplar architecture and design to inspire and motivate people in whatever they want to achieve.

R+BA – Thanks for your time

 

Justin Marden is an emerging designer who has studied architecture. He has an international background in studying transport architecture planning applications. His European metro station design for O’Connell Street in Ireland was published in the European architecture magazine Plan alongside designs by Sir Norman Foster, Frank Gehry and Daniel Libeskind.

Michael Smith is a principal at Ateiler Red+Black. This interview was originally published on the <a href="https://theredandblackarchitect.wordpress.com/2016/03/21/the-opportunities-of-melbourne-metro-rail-a-discussion-with-justin-marden/">Red and Black architect blog</a>. Michael also operates the <a href="https://ratemybuilding.com.au/">Rate My Building website</a>.
</body></html>

The opportunities of Melbourne Metro Rail: a discussion with Justin Marden

<html><body>
From November 2010 through to March 2013, Victoria had Ted Baillieu, an architect, as Premier. This post is the final part of a four part interview with Mr Baillieu discussing a broad range of built environment issues.

<a href="https://theredandblackarchitect.wordpress.com/2016/02/22/ted-baillieu-the-architect-premier-part-1/">To read from the beginning click here to go back to Part 1</a>

<h2>Melbourne Architecture</h2>

R+BA –  In terms of Melbourne and the architecture of Melbourne do you have a favorite building or favorite space?

TB –  I always talk about Marcus Barlow’s building Manchester Unity which is extraordinary.  I did a design thesis at university on art deco and International Style stuff, about 200 years ago.  I love all of that and Manchester Unity is a beautiful building in its own right and then you look at the construction story. 

It was started in January and finished in December. It was the first building to broach the 132 foot height limit, the location.  It has all the aspirational soaring architecture of the skyscraper style.  Beyond that I’ve long talked about the extraordinary civic legacy we have in Victoria which distinguishes us from other places in Australia.  It’s a product of gold, but it’s also a product of wise decision making because you can take gold and spend it on nonsense. but if you look at our civic architecture the Parliament building, Old Treasury, the cathedrals, town halls, Masonic lodges, court houses right across the state. 

You drive around Sydney, New South Wales, Queensland, you don’t see that same civic legacy.  It’s a distinguishing feature and the other distinguishing feature of that is who made the decisions? Who were the designers? What characteristics do they have? And so many of them by definition were aspirational people who came here from other parts of the world.  They had a focus on the future and on quality.  They had gold in their pockets, but in the vast majority of cases they were young architects. 

You look at this building (Old Treasury), JJ Clarke arrived here at the age of 13 with 5 siblings and his parents.  He went to work at the age of 13 attached to the government architect’s office of the day and designed this building at the age of 19.   You look at the output of Joseph Reed and others and Wardell and you think ‘how did they actually do it?’

The Parliament building is an extraordinary thing to think of, it was designed when there were only 70 or 80 thousand people living in Melbourne.  There are more members of the Collingwood footy club now that there were living in Melbourne when the Impala building was designed.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/manchester-unity-tower.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Image source: www.manchesterunitybuilding.com.au"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="879" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/manchester-unity-tower.jpg?itok=a55gSaz5" title="Image source: www.manchesterunitybuilding.com.au" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Image source: www.manchesterunitybuilding.com.au</figcaption></figure>R+BA – Do you think that building will ever have the Parliament dome added or do you think it is what it is now?

TB –  No, that’s not going to happen.  Personally I don’t think the dome would have ever worked, overbalanced I thought.  Every aspect of that building is beautiful, the accommodation’s pretty ordinary for pollies out the back, but that’s bound to be.

R+BA –  They’re working on that [<a href="http://architectureau.com/articles/40m-vic-parliament-house-project-by-peter-elliott-and-tcl-revealed/">see the ArchitectureAU news piece here</a>].

TB –  That’s about the third or fourth scheme to do that, so hopefully that’ll come off.  I just go around and look at that legacy and think wow, the essential essence of Victoria is about aspiration and about the pursuit of the best and that’s what was happening from the 1850s on.  Yeah there were all sorts of problems, questions about the Chinese and about democracy. 

There was all sorts of stuff, but essentially there is a core character of Victoria where pursuing the best possible outcome was what drove the state.  The Royal Exhibition Building is 125 years old and it’s world heritage listed.

R+BA –  The first world heritage listed building in Australia

TB –  How did they source the product, source the material, source the tradesmen?  It took a few years to build.  Then Marcus Barlow put together Manchester Unity and did that in 12 months.  Couldn’t do that now.  Why couldn’t we do that now?

R+BA –  Thinking about architecture dynasties, there was a lot happening at that point in time.  The modern day example I suppose is the Jeff Kennett era with the various DCM buildings – the Melbourne Museum, the Exhibition Centre, the Melbourne Gateway.  I look at that period and from a city building point of view and Melbourne did extraordinary things in that time.

TB –  There are various phases but the civic architecture has always been pretty high quality and for a young jurisdiction with not too much in the way of resources apart from some money and people who have come from all over the world.  We’ve got this core character essence which is the pursuit of excellence and a multicultural base because those people came from all over the world. 

Look at the tile work up at the parliament and you say somebody designed that tile work and then someone implemented it and they had to have exceptional skills.  Where did they come from, how did they get here?  There are all sorts of stories still to be told.  And they were young.

R+BA –  I suppose there’s the young aspect to it and they also took a lot of risks and were bold in what they did.  Do you think we need to allow the emerging architects more scope?

TB –  Unfortunately, the general answer to that question is yes, but our architects today have been beaten in to submission over the last 20 to 30 years.  Pushed down the food chain of development.  If there is a challenge to the architects of Victoria it’s communication. The profession has been very shy. To some extent registration conflicts with the Institute, both conflict with the notion of the degree. 

If you were to ask 99% of people in Melbourne who’s the go to commentator among architects in Victoria at the moment they probably wouldn’t know and there’s not much general media. That’s why what you’re doing is fantastic.

R+BA –  Thank you, I totally agree with you that public engagement on these issues is essential.

TB –  I grew up with the ARM guys and transition magazine which I even once wrote for . I used to write for Landscape Architecture and Architecture magazine years ago.  In an ideal world architects should be pushing much much harder.  That’s why when I got to Premiership I said I want architects back in to decision making.  We tried to get as many architects on to government boards as possible.  At the same time the profession is still inward looking and it’s still squabbling amongst itself.  You go to an awards night and the slide show still falters. 

The profession needs some really strong vocal champions who can push a point.  I thought Geoffrey London was doing a good job and I think Jill Garner will do a fantastic job.  I said to Geoffrey when we got there that I want you to be as strident as you want to be.  As far as I’m concerned you can say whatever you want.  I want you to protect the morphology of the city and I want you to aspire. 

I don’t want you just doing pedestrian things such as  putting out brochures.  They completed  quite a nice book with a very nice foreword by somebody at the start of the book.  I hope Jill feels confident to do that as well, but we’ve succumbed to project developers as a profession.  We’ve succumbed to negative clients.  We’ve succumbed to low fees.  Along the way governments have compromised the profession a bit by throwing out projects like the BER project in education which was build a box. 

In the early 2000’s we had what I call the ‘TAFE r tecture’ in Victoria where we built matchboxes and painted them and they hadn’t actually addressed the strategic issues around both TAFEs and post secondary education.  I think there’s room for much a more mature discussion about architecture, absolutely.  Which is another reason why I was disappointed about the Flinders Street thing because the thinking that had gone in there was really sophisticated and it wasn’t allowed to be heard.

R+BA –  One of the things I wrote about it shortly after that was the perception that it was somehow a waste of money because we weren’t receiving the money of the million dollars it cost.  You crunch the numbers on the number of hours across the number of teams doing the work and you add in the fact that you have 30,000 responses to it which is a massive community consultation as well. 

It was also being in the general psyche as to what the future of that site is.  It was an absolute bargain.

TB –  Well the staging that Hassell and Herzog &amp; De Meuron proposed is very sophisticated and still implementable and I’ll be surprised in the future if some of those stages don’t get implemented.

R+BA – Thanks for agreeing to do this interview and being so generous with your time.

This concludes the four part interview series with Ted Baillieu. I hope you have enjoyed reading.

Ted Baillieu, The Architect Premier.

 

Architecture is for Everyone

 

Michael Smith is a principal at Ateiler Red+Black. This article and previous installments of the Ted Bailleau interview can be seen on the <a href="https://theredandblackarchitect.wordpress.com/">Red and Black architect blog</a>. Michael also operates the <a href="https://ratemybuilding.com.au/">Rate My Building website</a>.
</body></html>

Ted Baillieu, The Architect Premier - Melbourne Architecture

<html><body>
Editor's note: This is the first part of a wide-ranging interview that Michael Smith, a.k.a. The Red and Black Architect, has conducted with former Premier Ted Baillieu. Follow the links at the end of this article to read parts 2 and 3 on the Red And Black Architect's blog.

From November 2010 through to March 2013, Victoria had an architect as Premier. Ted Baillieu was responsible for bringing White Night to Melbourne as well as instigating the Flinders Street Station design competition in 2012. From his experience in politics and his background for architecture, he has a unique insight into Victoria’s built environment. Recently he sat down in the magnificent Old Treasury Building, to talk at length with The Red+Black Architect on a broad range of issues.

Part 1 – The Architect Premier

Red +Black Architect – It’s perhaps not widely known that before you entered politics you were an architect. How would you describe your architectural career before entering politics.

Ted Baillieu – I certainly didn’t hide it. I guess people don’t focus on other people’s professions.

I wouldn’t pretend to be the greatest architect in the world although I may physically be one of the biggest! We had a small practice, the practice ran from 1981 to around 2006 and my architectural partner died in 2005. For the last few years he was obviously pretty much on his own and I was just a token partner, there for moral support. Prior to that I worked for McGlashan Everist, they had a notable track record. I worked on school projects and some civic projects. We were the first architects on the transformation of the Bourke St Mall many years ago, and I was the project architect for that. Along the way I’ve done some other bits and pieces, but we were residential, we worked some small commercial projects. We did a ski lodge in New Zealand which got a fair bit of attention I still love architecture and I’ve still stayed in touch with most of my colleagues and stay in touch with the faculty. I’ve now got an honorary job with the University of Melbourne helping the faculty.

R+BA – Did your background as an architect assist you in your role as premier?

TB – One of the reasons why I got in to politics was because I was looking at architecture, in the long term, particularly in school work. We did strategic thinking and master planning for schools which was 20-25 years out, and the decisions that are made now affect things long term. That was one of the reasons I got involved. Another reason I got involved was I didn’t like the no ticket no start mentality and I didn’t like an authoritarian approach to the issues of the day that were happening in Tasmania in the early 80s, so they’re pretty much the reasons I got involved. There are very few architects who have been politicians. It’s actually a very good education for a politician, to be able to think about the future, to be able to plan for the future, to be able to read drawings, to talk a language with those who are dealing with long term projects, it’s an asset.

R+BA – I imagine that the broad nature of architecture, knowing a little bit about a wide variety of areas helps?

TB – I think architects have a sense of place, a sense of environment, a sense of footprint, a sense of relationships to other buildings, a sense of the spaces between, a sense of generations, all that is important. And you get a very acute sense of cost.

R+BA – One of the best things, I think, to come out of your premiership was the genuine discussion around the possible futures for Flinders Street Station. Do you regard that competition as a success?

TB – Yes, I absolutely do. The conclusion of the competition took place after I had stepped down, but I thought it was an incredibly valuable exercise and I think the winners<a href="http://www.hassellstudio.com/en/cms-projects/detail/flinders-street-station-/" target="_blank">[Hassell with Herzog &amp; De Meuron]</a> didn’t get the credit they deserved. Anybody who actually saw their presentation rather than just the superficial photograph in the paper was just blown away. I spent quite a bit of time with Hassell afterwards trying to promote their scheme to other people. Those we took it to were blown away. In the end, the current government made their decision, and I think that’s a shame because they had set up a design process which saw the final product staged, implementable in stages, and you could graft on or graft off various aspects of it. It was an incredibly compelling piece of work that they had done. Unfortunately it got reduced to one picture and there were a few in the public arena who didn’t want go there. It will eventually need a brave solution. Just the sheer volume of traffic that will go through Flinders Street Station will require a brave solution, and it can’t be a piecemeal fix the ballroom approach. It wasn’t about the ballroom, it’s about the long term future. They took a bold approach to it.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/fssdc2-by-hassell-and-herzog-de-meuron1.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Winning Flinders Street Station Design Competition proposal by Hassell and Herzog De Meuron"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="274" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/fssdc2-by-hassell-and-herzog-de-meuron1.jpg?itok=E0_lWQfO" title="Winning Flinders Street Station Design Competition proposal by Hassell and Herzog De Meuron" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Winning Flinders Street Station Design Competition proposal by Hassell and Herzog De Meuron</figcaption></figure>R+BA – Do you think there’s any possibility that that could be brought out of mothballs?

TB – Well it certainly lends itself to that. There’s nothing happening now that would prevent it, or parts of it, being adopted in the future. They took a design approach which dealt with the transport issues as well. People think it’s just a building, there are transport issues to be dealt with, there’s retail issues, there’s building use, maintenance, there’s everything that goes with it and one of the challenges that we have in Victoria is to accommodate the freight task in this state. Freight and logistics drives our economy in Victoria and a lot of it obviously takes place on the roads and on the rail system. Where those two meet, priority needs to be given to the freight task. I’m not sure that’s happening, and I was continually pressing the need to put the freight logistics exercise first.

R+BA – Stepping back to the Flinders Street Station conversation, there was a substantial community engagement website where you could see videos and you could have your say . Did you have a favourite entry? Was the Hassell and Herzog &amp; De Meuron entry your favourite or was there another one that you thought ‘if it was up to me I’d choose one of the other six’?

TB – Well I deliberately chose not to look at them in advance of the decision being made. I stayed right out of it. And when it was made, I sought a briefing from Hassell, I was blown away by what they did and I noted that it was a unanimous decision. I think that if you see the whole presentation you can understand why it was unanimous. The level of thinking in terms of the engineering, the transport, the service involved, the building itself, the opportunities, the relationship to neighbouring buildings, the other major project tasks that the city faces in terms of the gallery development, the indigenous gallery , the contemporary art space, all of that stuff. They had gone way way beyond the brief to look at the future of Melbourne. I think probably the only thing that featured in people’s eye was the barrel vaults over the tracks themselves and that tended to dominate the discussion.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/fssdc1-by-hassell-and-herzog-de-meuron.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Winning Flinders Street Station Design Competition proposal by Hassell and Herzog De Meuron"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="327" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/fssdc1-by-hassell-and-herzog-de-meuron.jpg?itok=QZreF404" title="Winning Flinders Street Station Design Competition proposal by Hassell and Herzog De Meuron" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Winning Flinders Street Station Design Competition proposal by Hassell and Herzog De Meuron</figcaption></figure>R+BA – For me, one of the strongest elements of that proposal was the way that the Swanston Street interface worked and how it related to Federation Square. Obviously the corner is very iconic and beautiful, but going towards the Yarra, I see that relationship between Federation Square and Flinders Street Station as critical.

TB – It’s a difficult in between space actually, with all of those rather clunky tram stops which interrupt the traffic itself and the pedestrian traffic, but I thought they’d done a good job opening up that Eastern face, and the barrel forms actually resonated with the original plans and they’d done a lot with thinking about the history of the building as well. Unfortunately the discussion gravitates to what’s happening to the ballroom, which was operable 50 years ago, and what does it look like from above. They are probably two of the least significant things about the station itself.

R+BA – Is part of the problem with that site that one it needs an awful lot of money to do the brave gesture, but two in some quarters it’s seen only as public transport infrastructure. It does have an important public transport role, but I think more importantly, it really is the heart and soul of Melbourne’s cultural identity.

TB – Yes, and I think that’s what Hassell’s tried to bring in to it, to actually reinforce that. Their effort was to turn it in to more than a train station, because it plays a bigger role that that. It has to grow in terms of its capacity, so at the same time it has to grow in terms of its cultural significance and it would be very easy to spend $200 million or $300 million on the station now and not notice the difference, in fact I think the current government have set aside $100 million to effectively do some repair work. And at the end of that I presume we’ll be able to walk around the ballroom and say “hey, the ballroom’s fixed”

R+BA – My understanding is that it doesn’t even stretch as far as the ballroom.

Well if it doesn’t go as far as the ballroom, then the ballroom will remain the standard bearer of the need to do something. The ballroom is an interesting space in itself but it’s a very small part of it. I tell you what, there’s nothing like being up inside the tower, I’m a complete sucker for towers, and to be up inside the clock-face, and then to be above the clock-face and open the windows and look down Elizabeth St.

R+BA – Well to see the photos inside the clock tower when the competition was launched I thought was extraordinary, because you know psychologically that space must exist, but what is it actually like to be in that space?

TB – There’s a beautiful book called <a href="http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/about-us/our-publications/capital-melbourne-when-it-was-capital-city-australia" target="_blank">Capital</a> which tells the story of Melbourne from 1901 to 1927 when Melbourne was the capital of Australia, before Canberra was put together and Burley Griffin’s vision emerged. Melbourne was the centre of all the action and the photo on the front cover is that view from that tower down Elizabeth St and it’s just beautiful.

<a href="https://theredandblackarchitect.wordpress.com/2016/02/23/ted-baillieu-the-architect-premier-part-2/">Part 2</a>

<a href="https://theredandblackarchitect.wordpress.com/2016/02/24/ted-baillieu-the-architect-premier-part-3/">Part 3</a>

Michael Smith is a principal at Ateiler Red+Black. This article originally appeared on the <a href="https://theredandblackarchitect.wordpress.com/2016/02/22/ted-baillieu-the-architect-premier-part-1/">Red and Black architect blog</a>. Michael also operates the <a href="https://ratemybuilding.com.au/">Rate My Building website</a>.
</body></html>

Red and Black Architect interviews Ted Baillieu, the architect premier

<html><body>
Once again Melbourne’s all night festival of art, music and light projections has delighted hundreds of thousands in Melbourne’s CBD. The 2016 edition of White Night is the fourth time that it has been run in Melbourne. After only a few years the cultural event has clearly been readily accepted as an important part of Melbourne’s busy events calendar

The biggest highlights this year were dominated by Melbourne’s top architectural masterpieces. Whilst some expressed disappointment at the limited number of projection art pieces between these landmarks, the quality of work at these key locations held up as some of the best produced so far.

<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" scrolling="no" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Vy4TEKRmoQQ" width="100%"></iframe>

<h2>National Gallery of Victoria</h2>

In past years, visitors have been treated to an array of work from international artists. This year however the curatorship looked to internationally recognized Australian artists for some of the most important pieces.

Projected upon the monumental bluestone of the National Gallery of Victoria, indigenous artist, Josh Muir, along with Ample Projects produced a beautifully animated story of Melbourne’s indigenous people. Entitled ‘Still Here’, this piece perfectly resonated with the time and place that it was created for. The imagery of animated trams rolling along the St Kilda Road facade, reflected off the pools of water was truly a memorable experience.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/img_7291.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="National Gallery of Victoria. Image © Michael Smith"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="435" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/img_7291.jpg?itok=t-fQyFhz" title="National Gallery of Victoria. Image © Michael Smith" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>National Gallery of Victoria. Image © Michael Smith</figcaption></figure>Inside the gallery, behind the water wall, the NGV was open for exploration the entire night. The extraordinary exhibits, which are still available for viewing, included the Ai Weiwei and Andy Warhol exhibition, a couple of extraordinary inflatable rabbits by Michael Parekowhai, and the NGV pavilion by John Wardle Architects.

<h2>Federation Square</h2>

In past years it was the Forum Theatre, and adjoining buildings on Flinders Street which were given the ‘flashy treatment’. This year it was Federation Square’s turn. Again it was fantastic to see that an indigenous artist had been commissioned for this technically challenging task. Reko Rennie with The Electric Canvas produced an artwork of vibrant patterns specifically tailored for the complex geometry of Federation Square.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/img_7347.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Federation Square. Image © Michael Smith"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="435" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/img_7347.jpg?itok=IT38jH6F" title="Federation Square. Image © Michael Smith" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Federation Square. Image © Michael Smith</figcaption></figure><h2>State Library of Victoria</h2>

As we have come to expect from White Night, the State Library of Victoria was a dazzling spectacular both inside and out. From Swanston Street the Library dazzled in rich graphics, architectural sketches and photographic imagery. The facade illumination and animation experience entitled ‘Landscaping Architecture’ was put together by Amanda Morgan and James HH Morgan with music by DJ JNett.

Within the iconic reading room, visitors were taken on a journey through the spheres of human knowledge, in a celebration of the wonders available through libraries. This brilliant piece entitled ‘Ideation’, was the creative work of Nick Azidis, Lisa Greenway, Adem Jaffers and Bentley Dean.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/img_7491.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="State Library of Victoria. Image © Michael Smith"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="435" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/img_7491.jpg?itok=Zra6CVMk" title="State Library of Victoria. Image © Michael Smith" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>State Library of Victoria. Image © Michael Smith</figcaption></figure><h2>Royal Exhibition Building</h2>

Perhaps the most successful piece of this year was the full facade masterpiece on the Royal Exhibition Building. This work was a collaboration between an indigenous group from Ballarat known as the Pitcha Makin Fellas and the Portuguese creative studio OCUBO. The result was a masterful piece of storytelling, animation and soundscape upon the backdrop of Australia’s first World Heritage listed building.

For those who attended White Night in 2015, there was a similarity between this piece and the piece entitled 4 Elements. Both pieces described the changing of the seasons and yet the power of the Australian story told by Australians, with the animation created specifically for this building, made this an even more compelling installation.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/img_7450.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Royal Exhibition Building. Image © Michael Smith"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="435" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/img_7450.jpg?itok=a2Sc5FpO" title="Royal Exhibition Building. Image © Michael Smith" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Royal Exhibition Building. Image © Michael Smith</figcaption></figure><h2>An event like no other</h2>

White Night is a Melbourne event like no other. It is a celebration, which is not based on sport, but instead upon art and architecture. With a record attendance this year of well in excess of 500,000 people, White night 2016 is a testament to Melbourne’s credentials as a city that values creativity and diversity. As always thanks must go to former Premier Ted Baillieu who had the foresight to make White Night Melbourne possible back in 2013, as well as those like current Premier Daniel Andrews for crucial support in backing this cultural behemoth.

Michael Smith is a principal at Ateiler Red+Black. This article originally appeared on the <a href="https://theredandblackarchitect.wordpress.com/2016/02/22/white-night-melbourne-2016/">Red and Black architect blog</a>. Michael also operates the <a href="https://ratemybuilding.com.au/">Rate My Building website</a>.
</body></html>

White Night Melbourne 2016

<html><body>
It is almost 1 year since the Andrews Labor Government swept to power in Victoria. As noted at the time, the 2014 election was dominated by built environment issues. The then Planning Minister, Matthew Guy, had recently rezoned Fishermans Bend had been given the title of ‘Mr Skyscraper’ from certain sections of the mainstream media. Tony Abbott was in the action too, by proclaiming the state election as ‘a referendum on the East West Link’. Architects, planners and urban design professionals were becoming increasingly frustrated, as experts were ignored and undermined by political ideology.

Enter a new Planning Minister, Richard Wynne.

After such a polarizing election, there is a lot of expectation about the new direction that is currently being navigated. Plan Melbourne, the strategic document that sets the agenda for the growth of Victoria’s Capital, is being given a refresh. Public transport is now back on the agenda, aided in no small part by the change in Prime Minister. Apartment standards are now being given serious and substantial attention.

Nearly 12 months into the job, Richard Wynne took the time to answer a broad spectrum of planning and built environment questions.

In part 1 of this interview, the Planning Minister fields questions on Plan Melbourne, the resolution of the East West Link planning approval and the progress on apartment design standards.

Continue reading part 1 of the interview on the <a href="https://theredandblackarchitect.wordpress.com/2015/11/11/red-black-interview-with-richard-wynne-victorias-minister-for-planning-part-1/">Red and Black Architect's blog</a>.
</body></html>

Red and Black Architect interviews the Planning Minister

<html><body>
After an extended period of uncertainty left by the previous Victorian State Government, the Premier, Daniel Andrews, has confirmed the appointment of Victoria’s next Government Architect. Architect Jill Garner was chosen personally by the premier out of what would no doubt have been a very impressive list of applicants.

Having worked with an impressive list of key design practices, Jill co-founded Garner Davis Architects in 1990. In 1995 Garner Davis won a substantial international design competition for the Wagga Wagga Civic Centre.

In 2010 Jill joined the Office of the Victorian Government Architect (OVGA) in the role of Associate Government Architect. In September 2014 the previous government architect Geoffrey London left the role after providing ample notice for the then Liberal State Government to provide a replacement. As Associate Government Architect, Jill was leading the OVGA through this politically difficult period.

With the reinstatement of the OVGA into the Department of Premier and Cabinet and the appointment of the Government Architect, Victoria is now much better placed to deal with the substantial design issues with which it is now faced. The Government is pushing forward with a very big agenda which includes improving apartment standards, level crossing removals and substantial urban renewal projects such as Fishermans Bend.

Red + Black Architect (R+BA): What do you anticipate as being the biggest challenge for the Office of the Victorian Government Architect (OVGA)?

Jill Garner (JG): Victoria is going through an incredible time of change in our built environment – projects are large scale, significant, and city changing. It is our challenge to industry and government to demand understanding of the impact of these projects within our existing city and to embed high ambition and interdisciplinary commitment to outcomes that demonstrate quality architectural, landscape and urban design. The challenge for the OVGA is how to cover the ground.

R+BA: You have previously suggested that the OVGA could be involved, through the Design Review Panel, in more everyday planning applications rather than the more specialized government projects. Looking at this from a developer’s viewpoint, how would this process work?

JG: We have now become involved in design review of selected private developments. There are a number of conditions that might trigger a referral to our design review panel including scale, site significance, or consideration of a precedent being set. We have an agreement with the Metropolitan Planning Authority (MPA) that has seen us review more than a dozen proposals in Fishermans Bend, and we are currently forging an agreement with the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) for design review to be included in selected Central City projects. We are unhappy that many of the projects seen to date have been brought to design review at a stage where we have limited impact. Interrogation of a masterplan, a site strategy, orientation, contextual studies of scale and fit, and early site moves is more valuable than moving deckchairs on a Titanic.

R+BA: Do you anticipate the OVGA having an increased role to play in the outer suburbs?

JG: The city changing projects I speak of are not limited to the city. The impact of projects such as level crossing removals, higher density residential propositions, and mixed-use ambitions associated with selected transport hubs will all have significant impact on our suburbs. Higher density residential propositions are emerging throughout metropolitan Melbourne, from Wyndham to Frankston. I would hope OVGA can have some influence in embedding an ambition for quality and vision into this current climate.

R+BA: What are your views towards medium rise apartment buildings such as ‘The Commons’ and more recently ‘Nightingale’ which are attempting to offer car free apartments?

JG: In Melbourne we see so few propositions for an alternative type of home, and the model proposed in these projects reflects a residential type that is embraced and embedded in many great cities across the world. Although dense, these projects are human in scale, reflect the individual priorities of the various owners and promote community pride. This type of home, developed through a design led process radically different to the developer-driven model, has the capacity to fill a gap in the current market.

R+BA: In light of the recent VCAT decision against the Nightingale project do you think the VCAT system is broken? Should we for example have a panel of decision makers rather than a single person?

JG: The quotes from the VCAT decision that I read seem a rather extraordinary and disturbing summary of what could have been an intelligent interrogation of the car free proposition and a meaningful discussion of a demographic shift that clearly places less value on a car than might be considered ‘typical’. The Nightingale project might have benefitted from interrogation by our design review panel, and in light of its being a proposition for an alternative housing procurement model, an independent review may have contributed commentary to the design decisions made by the team. In this type of housing model overseas there are diverse propositions regarding cars, including subscriptions to carshare schemes, shared ownership of several smartcars, or precinct-based solutions to parking offsite. The VCAT decision has highlighted that these are critical discussions to have when we are trying to encourage walking, cycling, and public transport use.

R+BA: For a while now the State Government has been investigating how to improve apartment design across the state. Perhaps the main resistance to these efforts have been by those who believe this will translate into substantially more expensive housing. How do you respond to these housing affordability concerns?

JG: There are indeed very loud voices arguing that apartments with better amenity will significantly affect affordability. I believe affordability is a far more complex issue than this and it will not be solved by dividing a single site into smaller and smaller ill-considered parts. Community response to the Better Apartment Discussion Paper has clarified several misconceptions about the housing market: there is a demographic that is not afraid of living more densely than the block/house/garden model; that same demographic is not wedded to the car in the traditional way; that demographic simply cannot find what they seek in the current market. We are lacking diverse, innovative, alternative models that I suspect could be made affordable.

R+BA: If we get the apartment design rules and regulations right, do you think there could be benefit in providing a zoning in certain areas, which allows apartment building as of right, within the strict design parameters, that could effectively bypass planning all together?

JG: Design rules and regulations generally seek to raise the bar of the lowest common denominator to a standard deemed ‘acceptable’. Allowing apartments as of right is unlikely to be the best outcome. However, a precinct-wide strategy that considers quality higher denser housing alongside the design of streets, public amenity, landscape, communal parking sites etc. would certainly contribute to neighbourhoods that elicit community pride.

R+BA: With the recent appointment of a Federal Minister for Cities, do you anticipate having more interactions at a federal level?

JG: There is a network of Government Architects across Australia (currently all states and territories except Tasmania) and we have committed as a team to do our best to engage with this exciting new appointment.

R+BA: Do you think there is merit in a Federal Government Architect to help advise the Minister for Cities and the Federal Government?

JG: There would be considerable merit in the new Minister receiving wise counsel about the role, impact and legacy of good design across the integrated disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture and urban design.

R+BA: You have been with the OVGA for some time now having previously served as the Associate Government Architect. What do you think has been the biggest success for the Victorian public, that is a direct result of the work of the OVGA?

JG: When I joined the OVGA, activity in Victoria’s built environment was slower, and we had the space and time to consider how to embed initiatives that had the potential to make a difference to both process and quality of outcomes. We are now in a time where large scale projects – both public and private – are going to significantly change the built environment of our cities. The Victorian public should be pleased that we have embedded our Victorian Design Review Panel (VDRP) initiative to perform a critical and highly visible role in project critique in an effort to raise ambition, awareness and the design bar. The public should also be pleased that our resolve to highlight the poor amenity we could see emerging in higher density housing has resulted in a transparent process of review and change.

R+BA: Thank you for your time.

With Jill’s appointment it is clear that the State Government is committed to strengthening the OVGA to provide the very best advice across the full spectrum of government projects. These projects will have a substantial impact on Melbounre’s future. If we are to have a livable sustainable health and productive built environment, good design is the key.

The next Red+Black exclusive interview will be a with the Planning Minister Richard Wynne, discussing a broad range of planning and urban design issues.

Michael Smith is a principal at Ateiler Red+Black. This interview originally appeared on the <a href="https://theredandblackarchitect.wordpress.com/2015/11/08/redblack-interview-with-victorias-government-architect-jill-garner/">Red and Black architect blog</a>. Michael also operates the <a href="http://ratemybuilding.com.au/">Rate My Building website</a>.
</body></html>

The Red and Black architect interviews Jill Garner

The complexity of Fishermans Bend: An interview with Rob McGauran

<html><body>
Victoria is currently undergoing a substantial consultation process targeted at improving the design quality of apartments being built across the state. <a href="/news/victorias-push-for-better-apartments-part-1">Part 1</a> of this post discussed the main aspects of the <a href="http://delwp.vic.gov.au/planning/policy-and-strategy/better-apartments">Better Apartments</a> discussion paper released by the state government. Part 2 of this discussion will focus on why the state government should step in to guide the future development of apartments.

Many commentators on this subject are fiercely against anything other than the status quo which is largely determined by the free market. Their view is that if someone is willing to depart with the cash, it should be up to them as to what they buy. If that means the apartment has poor amenity then that is the individual’s choice and government has no place intervening. However the government does intervene in many other goods and service for the benefit of the community.

<h2>So why should the government step in to provide minimum apartment standards?</h2>

The free market does not easily take into account the mass consequences of individual choices. For example, if apartments within a building can be sold cheaper by the development excluding suitable landscaping, then the market will reward that approach. If this approach is allowed to continue over time, our built environment as a whole suffers the combined effects of poor design, such as making cities more susceptible to the <a href="/news/urban-heat-island-effect-whats-that">Urban Heat Island Effect</a>.

Another failure of the free market approach is to ignore the long term consequences in favour of achieving short term priorities. In a fast paced consumer driven society, permanence is something of a novelty. Our cars and white goods seem to last up to 10 years whilst our smart phones typically last about 2-3 years before they ‘need’ upgrading. Apartments however on the whole still have very substantial lifespan even when they are no longer useful.

This is a significant danger for our newly constructed apartment buildings which could easily become semi-abandoned slums if they cannot adapt to future requirements or be easily maintained. The developer and the initial buyer have nothing to lose if the building is great for the first ten years, mediocre for the next ten and uninhabitable from then on. As long as they don’t own the building when it becomes uninhabitable it will not be their problem. It will be someone’s problem though and our society will collectively pay the price if buildings become dilapidated and unusable.

<h2>Should the government mandate minimum apartment sizes?</h2>

A substantial aspect to this debate is the question of mandated minimum sizes. A common complaint against apartments are that they are ‘dog boxes’ which are too small. This complaint however is much more of a symptom than a disease. A poorly designed 50 square metre apartment can be very impractical for living, just as a well designed 24 square metre apartment can be a great place to live. It is far more about design quality, than size.

Some commentators believe that mandatory apartment sizes are a foregone conclusion for Victoria. This would seem quite premature given the following commentary by the Planning Minister in Apartments.com.au

<blockquote>
While apartment sizes are a hot talking point, we must keep in mind that good design is the key. There are some fantastic small apartments offering good amenity, natural light and are affordable, just as there are plenty of poorly-designed large apartments.
<cite>Planning Minister Richard Wynne</cite>
</blockquote>

If we agree that the problem is poor design at the bottom end of the spectrum, the solution then is to weed out the bad designs prior to approval. To do this the most obvious solution would be to require proposed apartment developments to be subject to a design review by the Office of the Victorian Government Architect. This would enable the quality of design to be assessed independently and the success of an apartment proposal would be tied to design quality rather than apartment size.

For unwilling developers concerned by the perception of a less certain outcome, a secondary option would be compulsory adherence to a full set of proscribed design standards including minimum apartment sizes.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/rate-my-building.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Rate My Building sample responses"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="580" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/rate-my-building.jpg?itok=W7KuSUQT" title="Rate My Building sample responses" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Rate My Building sample responses</figcaption></figure><h2>Bedroom sizes are being squeezed</h2>

A major bugbear for many apartment dwellers in newer homes is the limited size of the bedrooms. Whilst some might argue that a queen or king sized bed is a luxury item, for those taller than 188cm, a queen or king sized bed is a requirement for a good night’s sleep. By restricting bedroom sizes to only fit a double bed, the effect is to restrict who can live in the apartment.

Apartments which cannot facilitate a queen sized bed amounts to housing discrimination. Imagine the outcry if a public transport or government service was not available to people over 188cm in height. Housing is a basic and fundamental human need, regardless of height. Any guidelines or standards on apartment design that come out of this process need to engage with this aspect of apartment design.

<h2>Will minimum design standards significantly increase apartment costs?</h2>

Some of the most outspoken critics of the Better Apartments discussion paper and of apartment regulation cite the issue of housing affordability as the major reason why the government should not interfere with the apartment market. Perhaps the most alarming prediction was from <a href="/news/better-apartments-should-be-retitled-more-expensive-apartments">Craig Yelland</a> who proclaimed that “The cost per apartment will immediately increase by upwards of $150,000”.

The prediction is drawn from a comparison between Melbourne and Sydney apartment prices. Whilst it is absolutely clear that inner Sydney apartment prices are significantly more expensive than inner Melbourne apartments it is far less clear that this can be blamed upon their apartment design regulations, SEPP 65.

There are many factors that impact on the cost of an apartment in Sydney. Sydney has higher average wages and higher prices on goods and services. It also has different city geography, zoning controls, levels of international investment and different transport infrastructure all of which affect apartment prices. Median house prices in greater Sydney have also increased more quickly than in greater Melbourne, a fact which is also due to a complex system of factors.

<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1">
<caption>Median house prices</caption>
	<thead><tr>
<th>Year</th>
			<th>Melbourne</th>
			<th>Sydney</th>
		</tr></thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>2010</td>
			<td>$560K</td>
			<td>$629.9K</td>
		</tr>
<tr>
<td>2014</td>
			<td>$658K</td>
			<td>$811.8K</td>
		</tr>
<tr>
<td>percentage increase</td>
			<td>18%</td>
			<td>29%</td>
		</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
It is important to note however that SEPP 65 is not limited to Sydney, it is has jurisdiction across all of New South Wales. It is in fact in the regional centres where the State of Origin comparison between NSW and Victoria reveals an interesting story. If it were the case that SEPP 65 was responsible for apartment prices immediately increasing by upwards of $150,000, due to the mandated larger sized apartment sizes, bedroom windows or higher ceiling heights then we should expect it everywhere that those requirements are enforced.

A quick comparison between Newcastle (NSW), Wollongong (NSW) and Geelong (Vic) shows that it is possible to buy in all three locations a typical 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom 1 car-space apartments for somewhere between $530K and $580K

​

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/image29_0.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Image source: The Red and Black Architect"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="149" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/image29_0.jpg?itok=Ofp8YctQ" title="Image source: The Red and Black Architect" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Image source: The Red and Black Architect</figcaption></figure>The view that the New South Wales apartment regulation SEPP 65 Laws have not substantially impacted apartment affordability is also shared by The Property Council of Australia. A 2009 survey of the Property Council of Australia’s members found that 82 percent of respondents agreed that it had led to improved design, and with relatively minor impact on affordability. At the time of the survey, the regulations had been in place for seven years.

Despite being skeptical of the idea that minimum apartment sizes will cause substantial price increases, If apartment affordability should still be monitored closely to determine the likely impacts of the regulation. If prices do begin to rise substantially there is no reason why other planning mechanisms could be looked at to increase the supply side of the equation.

<h2>Where to from here?</h2>

In a democracy it is up to the citizens to determine how much we want our government to regulate. Do we allow a basic human right such as housing to be dominated by the developer spreadsheet or is there a further role for government to step in to make sure we build the city we need now and in the future. Now is the time to have your say. Public submissions on the Better Apartments Discussion Paper open until the end of July there is still much debate to be had about the way forward.

This article originally appeared on the <a href="https://theredandblackarchitect.wordpress.com/2015/07/01/victorias-push-for-better-apartments-part-2/">Red and Black Architect's blog</a>.

Lead image courtesy LITTLE Real Estate.
</body></html>

Victoria's Push for Better Apartments (Part 2)

<html><body>
In May, Victorian Planning Minister Richard Wynne released the government’s discussion paper entitled <a href="http://delwp.vic.gov.au/planning/policy-and-strategy/better-apartments">Better Apartments</a>. This document is the next stage of the process that began under the previous government looking at how to improve the design quality of Victoria’s apartment dwellings. The Office of the Victorian Government Architect (OVGA) has been concerned for some time about the poor quality of amenity offered in new apartment developments in Victoria.

As identified in the introduction of the discussion paper, “The issue of apartment amenity was also raised by local government, architectural and industry bodies, and the media during consultation on Plan Melbourne.”

This discussion is well overdue with record apartment development in Victoria occurring since 2009. It is clear looking forward that apartments will be a big part of our capital city and increasingly our regional centres. This is undoubtedly a good thing as it is an opportunity for our cities to become less car reliant and more sustainable into the future.

In Sydney, minimum apartment design standards have been in place for quite some time. In 2002 under the leadership of Bob Carr, New South Wales introduced State Environment Planning Policy 65 (SEPP 65). Whilst it is no doubt a controversial debate, it would appear that the reforms have been successful in their purpose of improving the built outcomes of apartments in New South Wales. In this <a href="http://architectureau.com/articles/improving-the-quality-of-housing/">ArchitectureAU article</a> by professors Kerry and Lindsay Clare, they identify that the “Research, feedback and anecdotal evidence all point to the policy’s success”.

<h2>What is Victoria’s Better Apartments Paper About?</h2>

This paper is about seeking feedback from the property development industry and importantly apartment dwellers themselves about what the issues are and what should be done about them. The paper explains the four different mechanisms that the government has to control apartment development. It must be emphasised that the government is not restricted to using just one tool for every issue. Instead it could tailor a combination of control measures specifically to the issues at hand rather than trying a blanket catch everything approach. The tools at hand are as follows:

<ul>
<li>Regulation – Mandated standards via planning schemes or the National Construction Code (NCC).</li>
	<li>Performance based requirements – Objectives, standards and decision guidelines, similar to the way that ResCode works for housing 3 storeys and under.</li>
	<li>Policy – Provision of a guide to good practice referred to in the planning scheme.</li>
	<li>Market based methods – Focus on better educating the buying public.</li>
</ul>
<h2>What are the issues that have been identified?</h2>

<h3>Daylight and sunlight</h3>

The benefits of daylight and sunlight in apartments generally boils down to two aspects. The health and well being of the occupants, and the energy efficiency of the apartment. Apartments which have an overall smaller area of windows will require artificial lighting to be running more often. Apartments without direct sunlight cannot directly use this naturally available resource to help with heating, therefore requiring more energy to artificially heat.

There are currently requirements for day lighting to habitable rooms in apartments from the NCC. There is also an often used work around called ‘borrowed light’. This provision allows for a habitable room to ‘borrow’ the amenity from another room via a large door or glazed panels. This issue currently has substantial planning uncertainty attached to it with it being overlooked in some jurisdictions and close to outlawed in others.

19% of respondents to the <a href="/news/atelier-red-black-announce-ratemybuildingcomau">Rate My Building</a> apartment survey indicated that they feel their apartment has insufficient windows for light and ventilation (out of 140 responses)

<h3>Space</h3>

One of the primary discussion points around apartment design standards in Victoria is the size of apartments being built. 79% of Victoria’s one bedroom apartments currently marketed or under construction are below the minimum size required in New South Wales under the Sepp 65 laws. There are many issues that reside within this overall discussion point. The dimensions of an apartment can affect the flexibility, adaptability and liveability of that dwelling. The dimension of the ceiling height also has an impact the penetration of daylight into the apartment.

There is also the question about the diversity in types of apartments that are being supplied to the market. This nominally fits into this point although it could easily be its own separate issue.

Minimum sizes will be discussed in further detail in part 2 of this article.

<h3>Outlook</h3>

Whilst one might immediately start imagining apartments with brilliant city views, this point is more about making sure that privacy between apartment buildings is not undermined. There are examples in areas such as Melbourne’s Southbank where large apartment towers have been permitted to be constructed very close together. This places excessive reliance upon internal blinds or an exhibitionist personality.

The other issue with outlook is to enable passive surveillance to the street front. By having apartments at the lower levels with street facing windows, the street can feel significantly at night. This aspect is typically dealt with very effectively at a local council planning level and therefore may not require much in the way of policy or regulatory intervention.

<h3>Natural ventilation</h3>

Ventilation of rooms is critical to providing a sufficient level of internal air quality. In poorly ventilated spaces the air quality can become a health hazard. Giving occupants the ability to open and close windows can reduce the occupant’s reliance upon mechanical ventilation. Ventilation to habitable rooms is dealt with in a similar way to daylight, in that it is controlled in the NCC but with a similar borrowed ventilation clause available to the developer who can get planning approval.

<h3>Noise</h3>

The key issues with excessive noise entering apartments is that of health and wellbeing, sleep disturbance and privacy. When we think of apartments with poor acoustics we often think about the noisy neighbours that can be easily heard through the ‘paper thin’ walls. Australia wide data from 140 Rate My Building survey responses suggest however that noise from the street is just as important an issue as noise from neighbours. Currently controlling noise from neighbouring dwellings in the same building is regulated through the National Construction Code. There are currently no mandatory provisions for street noise insulation in apartments. That being said, some apartment developments are required to achieve a minimum level of acoustic insulation via councils imposing specific planning permit conditions.

<h3>Outdoor space</h3>

Outdoor space is often addressed in apartments via the balcony. Typically the rule of thumb is to have a minimum of 8 square metres with a minimum linear dimension of 1.6 metres. Outdoor space is often used when entertaining guests and is also important for those with children. The provision of outdoor space can become a difficult proposition once an apartment tower gets above a certain height due to excessive wind speeds. This is where well designed communal open space should be utilized to make up the deficit.

<h3>Adaptability</h3>

Apartment buildings and in particular apartment towers once built will need to last a very long time. Typically these towers are sold to hundreds of different parties each with a very small stake. This makes demolition and rebuilding virtually impossible if requirements change. Therefore we must be extremely careful about how we design these structures so that they can adapt to future needs. Can a basement car park be repurposed for another use? Can walls be removed to join two or three apartments into a single dwelling? Can an apartment adapt to service the needs of a disabled person? These are clearly aspects of apartment design that are not able to be addressed by the free market and need further government guidance.

<h3>Landscape</h3>

The use of landscaping within and around an apartment development has significant benefits to the wider city by reducing the urban heat island effect which occurs during our increasingly intense summer heatwaves. This urban heat island effect might seem like a fluffy term, however it contributes to hundreds of heat related deaths every year in our capital cities.

There is also substantial benefit in improving the vitality of the public realm through well designed vegetated areas.

<h3>Universal design</h3>

Architecture is for everyone, apartments should be for everyone too. There are clear statistics on how many people in our society live with various disabilities. There are also mathematical models which can predict how these numbers will change over time in our aging society. Clearly there is an urgency then to make sure that an equivalent percentage of apartments provided within a development are suitable to be adapted should the need arise. This is currently handled more or less on a council by council basis. A state wide policy would provide certainty to all parties involved and make the inner city a viable choice for those with a disability.

<h3>Energy and resources</h3>

The question raised by this topic is where the bar should be set in terms of energy efficiency. There are already well considered processes within the NCC to mandate a minimum level of energy efficiency. A solution to improve apartments here may be as simple as adjusting the benchmark. An additional consideration may be to mandate renewable energy generation for a substantial portion of the common area energy requirements.

<h3>Waste</h3>

<blockquote>
Apartment developments often have low resource recovery rates compared to single dwellings. This can be due to a lack of access for residents to recycling infrastructure and services
<cite>Better Apartments Discussion paper</cite>
</blockquote>

Waste Management is an area which is also in the better apartments ‘needs improvement’ category. The relevant objective here is to increase the level of recycling by residents. Recycling needs to be made as easy as possible by providing facilities to separate the waste. This might be as simply as putting in separate waste and recycling chutes in towers.

<h3>Car parking</h3>

Car parking is a common area of dispute within the planning system. From a developer’s point of view if they provide too much parking they will be criticised for increasing traffic. However if they provide too little parking they will be criticised for causing a parking problem on the local streets. It would seem the correct approach to car parking may well be to enable a site by site assessment that takes into consideration other transport options such as public transport and car sharing facilities. Local councils are already well placed to make the final decision regarding car parking, although perhaps this could be further enhanced by a state policy aimed at minimizing car reliance where possible.

<h3>Entry and circulation</h3>

The issues around the entry lobby and circulation spaces generally reside around a sense of address, visibility and safety. Amongst the other discussion points, this one would seem less critical than others that are more directly related to human health, environmental health and building performance. It is not necessarily apparent that a corridor that has fewer apartment front doors is necessarily safer than one that has more. Indeed it may be quite possible that the reverse is actually true. There are some energy efficiency bonuses available to naturally ventilate an entry corridor. It is also Clear that hallways which terminate with views to the outside are superior from a user experience point of view, however as such this might be an area suitable for the free market to judge via price.

<a href="/news/victorias-push-for-better-apartments-part-2">Part 2 of the Red+Black discussion</a> on Victoria’s Push for Better Apartments will look further into the merits of improving apartment design standards.

This article originally appeared on the <a href="https://theredandblackarchitect.wordpress.com/2015/06/22/victorias-push-for-better-apartments-part-1/">Red and Black Architect's blog</a>.
</body></html>

Victoria's Push for Better Apartments (Part 1)

Builder-developer&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/graya">Graya</a> has secured a prime Newstead site from fellow developer Fraser, subsequently lodging plans for The Silo, a major mixed-use residential project in Newstead designed around a new public laneway linking the James Street precinct with the wider Gasworks and Newstead neighbourhood.

Proposed for the corner of Chester and Morse streets, the <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/bureauproberts">Bureau^Proberts</a>-designed project places its strongest emphasis at ground level, where retail, landscaping and a new cobblestone pedestrian connection would open the site to the surrounding neighbourhood. The design team describes The Silo as “more than a residential building”, positioning the development as an extension of Newstead’s public realm rather than a standalone apartment tower.

“A new cobblestone laneway and landscaped connection between James Street and Gasworks unlock a missing pedestrian link, improving walkability and stitching together two of Brisbane’s significant urban destinations,” Bureau Proberts said in its Urban Design Report.

<img alt="First look: Graya plans The Silo as new pedestrian link between James Street and Gasworks" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="0ea1b06a-75f5-40a5-b2c5-33c97bc86052" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/silo%20bldg.png?VersionId=KmjsAtNePu57_B31EM_DJ5T6KPJHtcmo" />

The Silo is planned as a mixed-use development incorporating apartments alongside a bar and centre activities including food and drink outlets, indoor sport and recreation, office and retail uses.

Architecturally, Bureau Proberts has conceived the building as a collection of vertically expressed, stepping forms rather than a single uniform tower. The composition rises from an articulated podium before being broken by a triple-height landscaped recreation level, with the upper section becoming more compact before terminating in a landscaped rooftop garden.

The project's name and architectural language draw directly from Newstead's industrial history. Patterned off-form concrete is proposed as the principal façade material, complemented by slender metal rod balustrades and extensive planting. The cylindrical and vertically ribbed elements give the building its silo-like expression, while curved balconies and planted edges introduce a softer subtropical layer.

“The Silo reinterprets its robust forms, scale and materiality through a contemporary subtropical architectural expression, creating a building that acknowledges its industrial legacy, while responding to the way the precinct is occupied today,” Bureau^Proberts said.

The recreation level is one of the defining breaks in the tower. Plans include a lap pool, mature subtropical planting and shared resident facilities within an elevated communal garden. Landscaping continues through the podium and onto the rooftop, where a further garden forms what the architects describe as a “subtropical crown” to the building.

<img alt="First look: Graya plans The Silo as new pedestrian link between James Street and Gasworks" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="f8451036-35a4-49a9-8d88-2ef4438eba3d" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Silo%20Lane.png?VersionId=h8N31_rYmCEqoNrpt4kbYVQhJGZn60LH" />

At street level, the development has been designed to establish a more permeable block. Retail and hospitality tenancies address the public realm, while landscaped pedestrian spaces lead into the new laneway connection. Renders in the design report show the proposed “Silo Lane” as a substantial opening through the podium, framed by cylindrical concrete forms with cascading planting above.

The Silo continues Graya's move into larger apartment developments after building its reputation across high-end residential projects in Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

Joel Robinson

Graya buys Frasers Newstead site, plans The Silo between James Street and Gasworks precincts

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/wickton">Wickton</a>’s completed Linacre Rise development in Hampton is giving Bayside downsizers the opportunity to move into a spacious apartment near the beach, with the developer covering stamp duty for a limited time.

The 27-residence development has been designed for buyers who want to simplify their living arrangements without giving up the space, warmth and quality associated with a long-term family home. Most apartments have already been secured by Bayside locals, leaving a select collection of two and three-bedroom residences and penthouses available.

Two-bedroom apartments are priced from $1.275 million, three-bedroom residences from $2.25 million and penthouses from $3.375 million, with the completed homes available to inspect and move into now.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=95289 project_image_fid=366760]

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/buildings/linacre-rise-hampton-8-10-linacre-road-hampton-vic-3188">Linacre Rise</a> occupies an elevated position on one of <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/hampton-vic-3188">Hampton</a>’s quiet, tree-lined streets, around 250 metres from the bay and 500 metres from Hampton’s village centre. Its setting gives residents access to the beach, local cafés, shops and Hampton Train Station while retaining the feel of an established residential neighbourhood.

Architecture and interiors by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/ewert-leaf">Ewert Leaf</a> draw on the warmth and permanence of traditional brickwork, with the building integrated into terraced landscaping by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/landscape-architect/john-patrick-landscape-architects">John Patrick</a>. Ground-floor apartments are elevated above the street and include private garden courtyards, while several upper-level residences have generous balconies and outlooks toward the bay.

Inside, the residences favour natural materials and generous proportions. Herringbone-pattern European oak flooring, natural stone benchtops, premium joinery and Swiss V-ZUG appliances are among the key inclusions, while integrated storage has been incorporated across kitchens, bathrooms, studies and living areas.

The kitchens have been planned as practical spaces for both everyday use and entertaining, with substantial island benches, detailed cabinetry and adjoining dining and living zones. Full-height wardrobes, plush bedroom carpeting and carefully considered lighting reinforce the residential character Wickton sought to retain for buyers moving from larger homes.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=95289 project_image_fid=366769]

A Linacre Rise purchaser said the completed apartment had delivered the space, outlook and construction quality they had been seeking.

“The unit is very light, has views to die for over the bay, all construction materials and fittings are premium quality, we have secure parking for three cars, EV charging at very competitive rates, the neighbours are friendly and there is just a lovely ambiance about the place,” the purchaser said.

Environmental features include solar panels, shared electric vehicle charging stations, rainwater harvesting for toilet flushing and landscape irrigation, double-glazed windows and water-efficient fixtures and appliances.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=95289 project_image_fid=366762]

The development was built by Balmain &amp; Co, with Wickton managing the broader development process through its in-house team.

For downsizers, the project’s completed status removes much of the uncertainty associated with buying off the plan. Purchasers can inspect the finished apartments, understand their outlook and proportions, and move in without waiting for construction to conclude.

The remaining selection includes north-oriented balconies, corner configurations and penthouses with elevated bay views. The developer-paid stamp duty initiative is available for a limited time, with potential savings of up to $200,000 depending on the residence purchased.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=95289]

Limited-time stamp duty offer at completed Linacre Rise apartments in Hampton

Luxury apartment buyers have long prioritised design, space and finishes, but increasingly they're placing equal importance on something less tangible: how easily they can live without relying on a car.

At <a>Richmond Square</a>, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/fortis">Fortis</a> believes that convenience begins beyond the apartment itself, with the mixed-use precinct earning a near-perfect Walk Score of 99.

The development has been planned around the idea that some of the most valuable amenities aren't contained within a building, they're the restaurants, cafés, parks, transport connections and daily conveniences that can all be reached on foot.

Located just behind Swan Street and Church Street, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/richmond-square-1-wiltshire-street-richmond-vic-3121">Richmond Square</a> places residents within one of Melbo​u​rne's most established lifestyle precincts while offering a quieter residential setting removed from the busiest thoroughfares. East Richmond Station is moments away, trams run along both Swan and Church Streets, and the MCG, Melb​​ourne Park, Yarra River trails and the CBD are all within walking distance. At the same time, the precinct itself will introduce a curated mix of dining, retail, hospitality and wellness offerings, creating a destination that extends well beyond its residential buildings.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=13181 project_image_fid=348530]

For Fortis, that combination of location and scale was what made the site unique.

"<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/richmond-vic-3121">Richmond</a> is one of Melb​o​urne's most established and distinctive inner-city neighbourhoods, with a rare combination of dining, culture, recreation, public transport and proximity to the CBD," the developer said.

"The opportunity at Wiltshire Street was particularly compelling because the site sits slightly removed from the activity of Swan and Church Streets while remaining only moments from everything that makes the area desirable."

Rather than developing a standalone apartment building, Fortis consolidated 15 individual properties to create one of the larger development parcels assembled on Mel​b​ourne's city fringe in recent years. That allowed the team to deliver a genuine mixed-use precinct comprising 107 residences across Wiltshire House and Carmine House, premium office space, hospitality venues, retail, wellness offerings and a future 57-room hotel.

"The scale of the site allowed Fortis to think beyond a standalone apartment building," the developer said.

"Richmond Square could be planned as a complete lifestyle precinct, bringing homes, workplaces, dining, retail, hospitality and wellness together around a series of activated public spaces. The aim was to create a destination that feels connected to Richmond rather than separate from it."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=13181 project_image_fid=348533]

The emphasis on walkability has also resonated with buyers.

Interest has been strongest from established owner-occupiers, particularly downsizers from Richmond and Melb​ourne's inner east who want to remain close to familiar restaurants, workplaces, family and social networks while moving into a more secure, lower-maintenance home. The project is also attracting Mornington Peninsula and interstate buyers seeking a Melb​ourne residence they can lock up and leave between visits.

Many are looking for generous living spaces, room to entertain, quality finishes and confidence in the project team, but location remains one of the biggest deciding factors.

"For many buyers, Richmond Square provides a way to simplify the practical side of home ownership without reducing the quality of their lifestyle," the sales team said.

"Location is also a major driver of interest. Buyers can remain connected to the CBD, major sporting events, the arts centres, local restaurants, cafes and bars and their family while living in a private and secure residence that is easy to lock up and leave for weekends or longer periods away."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=13181 project_image_fid=348549]

The residences themselves have been designed with that buyer in mind. Award-winning architecture practice SJB and interior designers Hecker Guthrie have created spacious two and three-bedroom apartments and penthouses that prioritise generous living areas, natural light, bespoke joinery and private terraces. Above, a rooftop sanctuary by Acre includes landscaped lawns, bookable dining rooms, barbecue facilities, wellness spaces and panoramic views across the CBD, the MCG and Port Phillip Bay.

Fortis believes Richmond Square reflects a broader evolution in apartment living, where the surrounding neighbourhood becomes just as important as the residence itself.

"Richmond Square introduces a different proposition: generously proportioned residences within a genuinely mixed-use, hospitality-led destination," the developer said.

"The project's location and Walk Score of 99 further support a lifestyle where residents can complete many everyday journeys without relying on a car."

Fortis has assembled an experienced team that includes <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/sjb-architects">SJB</a>, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/interior-designers/hecker-guthrie">Hecker Guthrie</a>, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/landscape-architect/acre">Acre</a> and builder <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/builders/hacer-group">Hacer Group</a>, reflecting the developer's commitment to creating projects with enduring design quality and meaningful connections to the communities in which they sit.&nbsp;

Richmond Square is an expression of that philosophy, bringing together homes, workplaces, hospitality and wellness within one of Me​lb​ourne's most walkable neighbourhoods.&nbsp;

Construction is now almost complete, providing purchasers with growing confidence ahead of its expected September 2026 completion.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=13181]

Walk Score of 99 places Richmond Square at the heart of Melbourne's most connected lifestyle

<h3 data-end="19" data-section-id="1dvgwoe" data-start="0">Summary</h3>

<ul data-end="634" data-start="21">
	<li data-end="170" data-section-id="1o77v31" data-start="21">Walker Corporation has lodged plans for a second major residential development in the Maroochydore City Centre, a 29-storey tower known as Celeste.</li>
	<li data-end="327" data-section-id="1lb0y6t" data-start="171">The Plus Studio-designed proposal at Lot 30 Sunshine Coast Parade would deliver 208 apartments, including four four-bedroom sub-penthouses and penthouses.</li>
	<li data-end="487" data-section-id="za720" data-start="328">The application comes as Walker doubles down on Maroochydore following the strong sales campaign at SOL by Walker, where the first tower is nearing sell-out.</li>
	<li data-end="634" data-section-id="5sovec" data-start="488">Walker is a key partner in the transformation of the Maroochydore City Centre, which is expected to ultimately deliver at least 4,000 new homes.</li>
</ul>

Walker Corporation is doubling down on Maroochydore following the successful sales campaign at its first residential project in the emerging CBD.

The national developer has filed plans for <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/celeste-30-sunshine-coast-parade-maroochydore-qld-4558">Celeste</a>, a new 29-storey apartment tower at Lot 30 Sunshine Coast Parade, just metres from its under-construction SOL by Walker development.

The plans, prepared by Plus Studio, would see 208 apartments delivered across a 100-metre tower on the 2,376 sqm site, which fronts Sunshine Coast Parade, First Avenue and Future Way within the Maroochydore Priority Development Area.

<img alt="Walker" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="17038209-6fea-4ed2-855d-fd4df65b3d02" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-08-10%20at%2010.24.16%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=iZD.oVXcQn.aLpUytDAW.CWjxP4puWMy" />

The proposed apartment mix comprises 36 one-bedroom apartments, 48 two-bedroom apartments, 72 two-bedroom apartments with an additional multipurpose space, and 48 three-bedroom apartments.

The upper levels would be capped by two four-bedroom sub-penthouses and two four-bedroom penthouses, taking the total apartment count to 208. The preliminary yield study also provides 262 car spaces, 114 resident bicycle spaces and storage for each apartment.

It represents Walker's next major residential move in the new Maroochydore CBD after the success of SOL by Walker, its $220 million two-tower project nearby.

SOL launched to market in early 2025 and has since seen strong demand, particularly from local owner-occupiers. By February this year, Walker said the first SOL tower was nearing sell-out, with a strong waitlist also emerging for its recently released penthouse collection.

Construction is already underway on SOL, with the first tower expected to be completed in late 2027 and the second to follow in early 2028.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=147777 project_image_fid=319846]

<h2 data-end="2518" data-section-id="1b2dyo5" data-start="2459">Celeste to rise 100 metres over Maroochydore City Centre</h2>

Celeste would take a different form to the twin 19-storey buildings at SOL.

Plus Studio has designed a single 100-metre tower above an activated podium, with the architecture responding to the site's prominent position and three street frontages.

The podium would incorporate commercial tenancies and public art, with sweeping façade elements wrapping the street edges. The scalloped concrete podium has been inspired by the patterns created in sand at low tide, while extensive landscaping would continue vertically through the tower.

The ground level plans show three commercial tenancies addressing Sunshine Coast Parade alongside the residential lobby and landscaped public realm. The podium would then accommodate several levels of car parking before the residential tower rises above.

<img alt="Celeste" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="121f77b1-71c5-46d7-9b36-0a7d474211ca" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-08-10%20at%2010.24.47%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=MGrg9Hb7HgzLN0Lelq_xrXNAruVl77ia" />

Plus Studio said the tower had been designed to maximise views from each apartment, taking in the Maroochy River, Sunshine Coast hinterland, Cotton Tree and Maroochydore Beach and ocean.

Those views have also shaped one of the project's key features, with Walker proposing to put the primary resident amenity on Level 29 rather than lower within the building.

The rooftop would feature a 284.9 sqm pool area with an infinity edge, along with a cold pool, spa, sauna, 93.2 sqm gym, sunset lounge, BBQ and dining areas, pool deck and private dining space. Cabanas and day beds are also shown across the recreation level.

The two penthouses would extend across the upper levels and each feature private terraces and plunge pools.

<h2 data-end="4202" data-section-id="v5f4ix" data-start="4160">Walker's growing Maroochydore footprint</h2>

Celeste further reinforces Walker's commitment to the transformation of Maroochydore City Centre.

Walker is one of the key partners delivering the new CBD alongside Sunshine Coast Council and SunCentral Maroochydore, with the broader 62-hectare Priority Development Area occupying the former Horton Park Golf Course and surrounding land.

The precinct is ultimately expected to accommodate at least 4,000 new homes as Maroochydore evolves into the Sunshine Coast's principal commercial and residential centre.

When SOL secured approval in February 2025, Walker Managing Director and CEO David Gallant described it as the "first of many residential projects" the company planned for the Maroochydore City Centre.

Celeste now provides the clearest indication yet of what comes next.

The site sits immediately within the new CBD, with the design report identifying Sunshine Plaza and surrounding parkland within walking distance and Maroochydore Beach around a five-minute drive away.

For Walker, the timing of the application comes as its first residential bet on the new CBD appears to have been vindicated.

SOL has progressed from planning approval to construction while its first release has approached sell-out, giving Walker confidence to push ahead with another 208 apartments and take its residential pipeline in the Maroochydore City Centre to around 450 dwellings across the two projects.

Celeste remains subject to planning approval, with the architectural material describing the scheme as a preliminary yield study that may change through the assessment process.

Walker doubles down on Maroochydore with 29-storey Celeste apartment tower

For most Australians, buying an apartment is one of the biggest financial decisions they'll ever make

The location, floorplan and price are often the first considerations, but in recent years another question has become increasingly important: who is actually delivering the project?

A series of high-profile builder collapses, construction delays and defect concerns have fundamentally changed how many Victorians approach buying off the plan. The collapse of Porter Davis in 2023, which reportedly left around 1,700 homes unfinished, became one of the most visible examples of the risks that can emerge when a construction company fails. <a href="https://www.equifax.com.au/sites/default/files/lpassets/pdf/Final-Business-Market-Pulse-June-Sector-Deep-Dive-Report-2.pdf">Similar challenges across the broader construction sector</a> have left buyers asking more questions before signing a contract.

As Victoria continues encouraging higher-density housing to address supply shortages, transparency is becoming just as important as location or price.

One tool increasingly entering the conversation is the <a href="https://icirt.com/">Independent Construction Industry Rating Tool (iCIRT)</a>, an independent assessment framework designed to help buyers better understand the developer or builder behind a project. Originally developed by Equifax in consultation with government and industry as part of NSW's Construct NSW reforms, the system has since expanded nationally.

<h2 data-end="1519" data-section-id="7nmx3" data-start="1492">What is an iCIRT rating?</h2>

Most Australians are familiar with independent ratings in everyday life.

We compare ANCAP safety ratings before buying a car. We look at Health Star Ratings in supermarkets. Banks rely on credit assessments when lending money.

Until recently, however, there has been very little independent information available to help apartment buyers assess the business responsible for delivering a residential project.

That gap is what iCIRT was designed to address.

Builders, developers and other construction professionals with an iCIRT rating have demonstrated high-trust characteristics through an independent, evidence-based assessment across six criteria: Character, Capability, Conduct, Capacity, Capital and Counterparties. This involves a rigorous review of financial health, past project track record, and ethical conduct. Crucially, an iCIRT rating could help provide property buyers with confidence that they are working with a professional who has demonstrated the capability, capacity, and willingness to return and rectify issues.

Importantly, iCIRT is not a recommendation to purchase a particular property, nor is it a traditional credit rating. It is an independent assessment framework designed to provide objective information about a construction business using a <a href="https://icirt.com/sites/default/files/2025-08/iCIRT-Methodology-Issue1-May-2021.pdf">published methodology</a>.

The system has been widely adopted in New South Wales, where more than one-third of medium and large residential builders and developers now hold an iCIRT rating, representing over two-thirds of the state's residential building market by value as of 2025/26.

<h2 data-end="3126" data-section-id="h6ohtj" data-start="3084">Why buyers are doing more due diligence</h2>

For many buyers, particularly those purchasing off the plan, the biggest risk isn't whether they'll like the kitchen finishes.

It's whether the project will be delivered on time, to the expected quality, and by a company capable of completing the development.

<a href="https://icirt.com/sites/default/files/2026-07/iCIRT%202025%20Consumer%20Survey%20Report%20v05.pdf">Consumer research commissioned by iCIRT</a> found more than half of respondents believed current protections do not adequately safeguard buyers from builder insolvencies or defective projects. Other research found 88 per cent of prospective buyers would seek independent ratings or due diligence before purchasing, while 90 per cent said trust in construction professionals is essential.

That doesn't mean buyers should rely on a single rating alone.

Independent legal advice, understanding the contract, and seeking financial advice all remain important parts of the due diligence process.

However, an independent assessment can provide another source of information alongside those traditional checks.

<h2 data-end="4138" data-section-id="pquzxc" data-start="4094">Trust is becoming a competitive advantage</h2>

The conversation isn't only changing for buyers.

Developers are also recognising that trust has become an increasingly important part of the sales process.

Five years ago, purchasers typically asked about floorplans, finishes and settlement dates.

Today, sales teams are increasingly being asked about the developer's experience, financial stability, previous projects and construction partners.

For companies with strong governance and established delivery records, an independent iCIRT rating provides another way to demonstrate those credentials before buyers even visit a display suite.

According to Equifax, the assessment can also help businesses drive sales and <a href="https://icirt.com/resources-for-business/icirt-rating-helps-scion-secure-high-value-projects">secure high-value projects</a>, as well as identify operational improvements and <a href="https://icirt.com/resources-for-business/mirvac-reinforces-brand-trust-and-quality-independent-icirt-rating">attract top talent</a>.

<h2 data-end="4962" data-section-id="1j54ng5" data-start="4912">Beyond buyers: lenders are paying attention too</h2>

The influence of independent construction ratings is also extending beyond consumers.

According to Stamford Capital's Real Estate Debt Capital Markets Survey, an increasing number of lenders now incorporate iCIRT ratings into their due diligence processes when assessing residential development finance applications.

The survey found lender adoption has continued to rise, with many respondents saying independent assessments provide additional insight into governance, counterparties and delivery capability beyond traditional financial analysis. Some lenders also reported declining funding applications where businesses had poor or no ratings.

As construction costs remain elevated and access to development finance becomes more selective, demonstrating credibility is becoming increasingly valuable.

<h2 data-end="5801" data-section-id="1qazuxs" data-start="5772">What it means for Victoria</h2>

Victoria's apartment market is entering a new phase.

The state is seeking to accelerate higher-density housing while simultaneously introducing reforms aimed at improving confidence in residential construction.

For buyers, that means there are more tools available than ever before to research the businesses behind a project.

For developers, it signals that transparency is becoming another point of differentiation in an increasingly competitive market.

Buyers are asking more questions than ever before and increasingly expecting independent information, not just marketing material, before making one of the biggest financial commitments of their lives.

Find out how to get iCIRT rated <a href="https://www.icirt.com/sites/default/files/2025-08/iCIRT-Infographic-Assessment-Process-Final.pdf">here</a>.

<hr data-end="6469" data-start="6466" />
The information contained in this article is general in nature and does not constitute personal, financial, legal or tax advice. It does not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Therefore, you should consider whether the information is appropriate to your circumstances before acting on it and, where appropriate, seek independent professional advice.

This article contains links to third-party websites. These links are provided for convenience only. Equifax Australia does not control and is not responsible for the content, accuracy or privacy practices of external sites.

Copyright © 2026 Equifax Australia Information Services and Solutions Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.

Michael Smith

Editor's Picks

Have something to contribute?

Developments

New apartments

New townhouses

News