Property developers have criticised rules imposed by the Victorian government that restrict the density of skyscrapers in central Melbourne.
The interim rules demand that developers restrict the height of their towers to 24 floors, if they build to the edge of their allocated space, or find offset open space if they choose to go higher.
The average plot ratio has been reduced from 37-to-one to 24-to-one, meaning that the overall floor space can be just 24 times the size of the block of land the tower is built on. Measures to deal with excessive shading and wind shear caused by skyscrapers have also been introduced.
The rules mean that Australia 108, which will soon become Melbourne’s tallest building, would have been drastically scaled back if it were approved today. The tower is set to reach 317 metres, covering 100 storeys.
The Victorian government said the rules rein in a planning free-for-all that was damaging Melbourne’s liveability. But property developers have warned that it risks stymying investment.
Sarah Horsfield, director of Urbis, told a Property Council gathering that the new rules had hurt the confidence “of a lot of our Asian investor clients who have been quite frankly stunned that the rules of the game can be so fundamentally changed overnight without any prior warning”, the Age reported.
The real estate firm CBRE also criticised the restrictions, warning that they could harm Victoria economically.
“Victoria needs to be very aware of how many of these groups are now looking to deploy capital to both New South Wales and Queensland. It’s real and they are a major threat to Victoria’s competitiveness and future prosperity,” said CBRE’s Mark Wizel.
But Richard Wynne, Victoria’s planning minister, said the government was looking to get a balance between investor confidence and a liveable city.
He did not want a cluster of skyscrapers that would cause wind shear so severe that it would “knock you off your feet”.
He said cities such as Sydney and Hong Kong have stricter development standards than those introduced in Melbourne.
