Central Sydney plan reaches for the sky

Central Sydney plan reaches for the skyWhile Sydney plans to raise building heights to unlock up to 2.9 million sqm of extra floor space, the Victorian Planning Minister is tightening building controls over high-rise development in Melbourne.The City of Sydney has unveiled a new strategic vision, with the potential for building heights to rise beyond 300 metres – 80 metres taller than Governor Phillip Tower – to meet long-term targets for the city’s growth.Hailed as the most comprehensive urban planning strategy for central Sydney in 45 years, the plan features concentrated ‘tower cluster’ areas – subject to federal airport approval – which would enable the city centre to grow while still retaining essential solar access to Hyde Park and other significant public sites.”Past planning strategies have successfully increased the number of residential buildings in the city centre, but now we need to protect and increase the amount of productive floor space to maintain Sydney’s economic vitality and resilience,” Lord Mayor Clover Moore says.Central Sydney generates $108 billion of economic activity each year, accommodates more than 300,000 workers each day and is home to 25,000 residents. The long-awaited strategy is needed to help shape Sydney’s future development, says the Property Council’s executive director in NSW, Jane Fitzgerald.”The strategy includes some excellent proposals such as removing long-term height controls which have constrained the CBD’s growth,” she says.”Sydney needs a sensible and sustainable supply of commercial office space, and the proposed incentives for commercial development reflect the future demand that our geographically constrained CBD faces.”Fitzgerald says the “devil is in the detail”, with the proposal to introduce a new per cent mixed use requirement for residential development an “untested model” within Sydney’s market dynamics and one which “may risk future investment”.The Property Council will be working closely with Sydney CBD-based members over the months ahead to put together a comprehensive response to the draft strategy.For more information about the Central Sydney Planning Strategy go here.Meanwhile, the Victorian Government is looking to tighten controls over high-rise developments in Melbourne’s CBD, with new limits on the amount of floor space that can be built on any area of land.Last year, Victorian Planning Minister Richard Wynne introduced an interim plot ratio of 24:1 – meaning that total floor space was restricted to 24 times the size of its site.An even stricter plot ratio of 18:1 – which can be exceeded if the minister deems the development provides significant public benefit such as social housing or green space – is being considered by a planning panel. “State planners need to remember that Melbourne’s CBD is, first and foremost, a commercial activity centre,” says the Property Council’s acting Victorian executive director Asher Judah.”The state government must make sure that it doesn’t erode the city’s commercial office edge with planning rules which stymie future investment,” Judah adds.Victoria’s new planning rules are expected to come into force when the interim measures expire in September.