26 June 2014
The approval of three residential skyscrapers for central Melbourne is a boost for the city’s confidence, says the Urban Taskforce.
“With Australia’s first 100 storey building designed by Fender Katsalidis now approved, Melbourne is leading the country in tall skyscrapers,” says Urban Taskforce CEO, Chris Johnson. “Brisbane and the Gold Coast are not far behind but Sydney is overly controlled by planning and aircraft regulations and only gets buildings up to 70 storeys.”
“Of the three cities Sydney has the most constrained CBD footprint with the harbour and parks limiting development potential so being further restricted in height is not helping Sydney’s future as a global city.”
“The City of Brisbane is challenging the Federal aircraft rules to allow greater height and Sydney needs to do the same.”
“The principle of building high rise residential towers near transport nodes is an essential part of housing our growing population while giving critical mass to rapid transport systems.”
“The Melbourne example of building high rise apartments within the city centre leads to urban vitality through mixing office workers and residents. Australian cities need to continue this trend.”
“The recent approval of the Greenland Tower in central Sydney is also a good demonstration of support for a mixed use city.”
