THE STATE GOVERNMENT THIS WEEK ANNOUNCED THE RELEASE OF 20 PARCELS OF LAND WHICH ARE NO LONGER REQUIRED BY THE GOVERNMENT. SOME OF THE LAND WONDERFULLY LOCATED FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH QUALITY INFILL PROJECTS.
Included in the announcement is the Old Perth Girls’ School (1.7ha) and the Police Headquarters (1.78) hectares, both in East Perth along with the large (8.5ha) East Perth Power Station. Those three are likely to deliver significant infill residential development as well as potentially office and retail space. The larger site is likely to be delivered via the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority.
Prime inner suburban development sites, including the Shenton Park Hospital Site (15.8ha) and the Princess Margaret hospital site (4.16ha), are of sufficient scale to make a valuable contribution to the surrounding area by potentially delivering some vital mixed use development.
These land releases are very important. The challenge achieving infill at the moment is the level of fragmented land holdings which is driving medium density development a lot of small strata development. Fragmentation can make it difficult to deliver great amenity at a precinct level and local authorities are starting to pull back on wide spread “upzoning” of areas, favouring a more nuanced approach to getting the density which is needed to house our growing population.
Key to great urban infill is larger land parcels. This can be achieved by either by repurposing single sites where the current land use is no longer required, or assembling multiple lots into a single large land holding. The latter option is challenging. Challenging for the private sector as they need to acquire individual lots as they come onto the market, which can take years. From the government’s perspective there is little appetite for compulsory acquisition of privately owned land for the purposes of urban infill.
Whilst the announcement of the release of government land is positive it is likely that it will be some time before some of the lots make their way onto the market as the zoning, heritage matters and site specific issues are resolved.
If you are interested in seeing Perth in a completely different light, check out a new short movie which transforms parts of Perth, including the Midland workshops and the train station at Whiteman Park, into war-torn Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic under the Stalin regime (http://factory293.com). Unfortunately transformation of Perth will take a little longer than the creation of this great local film.