Industry rejects push to slow Coast highrises

A PUSH for city hall to cease approving new highrises has been condemned by Gold Coast development industry figures.

The Gold Coast Bulletin yesterday revealed Southport Councillor Dawn Crichlow’s calls for the halt of development application approvals for major high-rises along the coastal strip, saying there were more than enough in the pipeline to meet demand. She said no new projects should be approved until already approved towers began construction.

But the idea has failed to gain the support of either the building industry or among Cr Crichlow’s colleagues.

Master Builders Association Gold Coast regional manager John Duncalfe said the idea would not work.

“We cannot simply stop development and while I appreciate there have been a lot of applications made, it is not the builders people are waiting on; it is the developers.

“If we stopped development, prices would go up.”

Stephen Harrison, immediate past state president of the Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) said construction of new buildings was determined by market conditions.

“The market determines which projects proceed to construction and it is always changing, so some approvals which were previously granted no longer fit with different conditions,” he said. “The more time which elapses since the approval, the more the market’s appetite changes.”

Council planning boss Cr Cameron Caldwell said highrises were the “lifeblood” of the Gold Coast.

“Council’s role is to make sure that we approve developments in the right locations and that the city looks and feels the way we want it to,” he said. “It’s not our job to intervene in the market and these things do take time to work through from when they’re approved and … delivered.”