Grand vision for UTAS

Public gets chance to have a say

MULTI-costed housing, sporting zones, civic quarters, retail outlets and eco-tourism ventures will all combine at the University of Tasmania’s reimagined Sandy Bay campus.

The third phase of the UTAS Sandy Bay masterplan consultation period starts Wednesday and will end October 31, giving a chance for more locals to have their say.

Vice-chancellor Rufus Black said 54 face-to-face group meetings had been held, more than 299 people had visited open house meetings and flurries of emails were considered.

“The immediate next step is getting community feedback on this draft masterplan,” Professor Black said.

“We’re very keen to hear what people think so they can help continue to shape it.”

Prof Black said eight key themes have shone through the consultation, including sustainability, protecting the site’s natural assets, offering diverse housing options, providing community and open space areas, and improving pedestrian access and traffic flow.

The feedback has resulted in a masterplan for five precincts, with the lifestyle and sporting precinct bordering Sandy Bay Rd, the innovation and civic quarter closer to Churchill Ave, the learning precinct bordering Proctors Rd, the per-urban neighbourhood towards Mt Nelson and an eco-tourism precinct and residential neighbourhood backing on to Olinda Grove, Mt Nelson.

The development will create about 2000 new jobs and 2500 new dwellings.

Prof Black said amenities would include aged care, retail and maintaining theatre performances.

“There are 50ha of bushland on the site and we’re going to protect all of that as a reserve,” he said.

He said the housing mix would include apartment-style housing next to the sporting precinct, middle campus buildings for smaller and medium apartment-style houses, and townhouses and semidetached houses skirting the edge of bushland near Hill St Grocer on Churchill Ave.

“Up where we currently have our student accommodation, which will stay there, there’s opportunities again for more townhouse-type accommodation,” Prof Black said.

“And then right up on Mount Nelson we see that as a kind of eco-village-type space where we can have a mix of those types of housing all together to create a new village space up there.

“(Between) five and 10 per cent of it will be affordable housing. It’s very much designed to be accessible.”

He said the housing ratio was typical of mixes in other cities. Prof Black said UTAS would submit a planning scheme amendment at the end of this year, with first multidecade developments likely to begin in late 2022.

Premier Peter Gutwein said the development would inject “millions” into the economy.