We already have height certainty
BLUE Edge Property managing director John Huizing is spot on when he says numerous private developments are due to begin or be completed in Hobart next year, but that continued momentum relies on certainty over height limits ( Mercury, November 4).
The Leigh Woolley report gives certainty over height limits. Mr Woolley has received a premier national award for leadership, advocacy and research at the Australian Urban Design Awards for his report on protecting Hobart’s heritage, streetscapes, and viewlines, and establishing absolute maximum building heights. The citation recognised that: “The resulting recommendations for building heights emerge from a careful reading of the city’s relationship to its distinctive surrounding landforms.”
It is sad that the Property Council was successful in convincing some aldermen to delay the implementation of Mr Woolley’s recommendations for a number of years (as per a Property Council media release).
Unfortunately the Property Council wants to promote a property boom like that on the mainland. In its recent report, “Central Hobart building and feasibility study”, they ignore the value to the community of buildings which fit within our regulations. They want to see high-rise towers in Hobart.
The Property Council should have selected development sites that have just been, or shortly will be, completed, sites that didn’t rely on exceeding the height requirements of the planning scheme: Bathurst St (Numbers 125, 126-126C, 166) and Collins St (No 212), Harrington St (No 209-213) come to mind. There are plenty of others.
Are these developers bad financial managers? Of course not, they’re developers who understand the special features of our city.
The building boom on the mainland has reduced quality and oversight. Engineers who approve designs don’t have to be registered. Designs are not independently verified before construction starts, and registered engineers don’t check the buildings at critical stages of construction. The rules don’t enforce accountability or stop people cutting corners.
Most of these problems can be traced back to deregulation and privatisation of the inspection industry. Selfregulation does not work.
There is cladding on a number of buildings in Hobart. Have these buildings been checked for fire safety? How many have a problem? Have owners been told? Owners and buyers deserve to know.
How are owners protected when many problems only show after the statutory warranty period runs out? What is being done to stop builders, who are sued, from going into liquidation and immediately starting again with a new company?
As government reduces red tape, the mainland experience suggests the building industry requires a higher standard of regulation and more certainty within the planning schemes. To give certainty to all involved – developers, architects, planners, investors, and the public – Leigh Woolley’s report should be reconsidered and adopted by the council immediately. We should develop laws and regulations that insist on quality design, construction materials, and methods.