Six Melbourne, Australia landowners have amalgamated their land with plans to create a $600 million residential master planned development in the old industrial area of Melbourne known as Fishermans Bend.
Under the plans lodged with the DTPLI, a total of 1,578 apartments will be built over the six, 40-level towers.
Earlier, on April 17, 2015, the Victorian Government announced important changes to the Fishermans Bend Urban Renewal Area, including
- Designating the 205 hectare industrial and commercial precinct to the west of Lorimer as a new precinct in Fishermans Bend called the Fishermans Bend Employment Precinct;
- Introducing interim mandatory maximum building heights of 40 and 6 storeys for Lorimer. These controls apply to development applications lodged after 17 April 2015 and expire two years after 17 April 2015;
- Announcement of a review of the Fishermans Bend Strategic Framework Plan (released in July 2014, amended 17 April 2015). Fishermans Bend will now be planned as five distinct precincts.
UPDATE: Former planning minister Matthew Guy shunned the early warnings of his own top planning officials when he launched Australia’s largest urban renewal project without a clear plan or finance for community infrastructure including transport, open space and affordable housing.
Mr Guy’s handling of Fishermans Bend has been almost universally slammed by planning, architectural and property experts and even real estate agents.
Senior planners remain bemused as to why the large-scale rezoning at Fishermans Bend occurred when government-sponsored Docklands next door remained unfinished, and planning had already started for publicly owned sites in North Melbourne and E Gate in West Melbourne.
The Andrews government is now seeking to buy strategic sites in the precinct at massively inflated prices.
See July 7, 2015 article announcing design plans + image credit.
See city website on Fishermans Bend Urban Renewal Area.
See November 8, 2015 article on controversy over poor planning of this project.