The Town of Victoria Park is embarking on an ambitious town planning exercise for the causeway land at Burswood, which could see intensive mixed-use development and six residential apartment towers of up to 18 storeys developed west of Burswood Road.
Council will begin a six-week public consultation process tomorrow on a draft strategy for the revitalisation of the precinct around Burswood and Teddington Roads, comprising 1,150 residential dwellings, 87,000 square metres of commercial floor space and 1,400sq m of designated retail floor space.
The strategy aims to provide a link between the Burswood Peninsula and the Albany Highway Precinct and encourage development of the causeway precinct as a business destination.
The Town said it would look to revitalise the precinct with the potential of generating a residential population of approximately 2,300 and supporting about 3,300 jobs.
Two smaller towers east of Burswood Road, are earmarked for developments up to a maximum of 12 storeys.
Town of Victoria Park executive manager of sustainable development, Rochelle Lavery, told WA Business News that since the current development standards were implemented in 1998, little development had occurred in the precinct.
"We're taking a whole hog approach this time to strike a good balance of economically sustainable development down there. The current standards are not sufficient and do not deliver the outcomes we require," she said.
Despite building heights proving a contentious issue for council in the past, Ms Lavery said it was confident the new height proposals would be viewed positively by the community at large.
"By building up to eighteen stories, these buildings will be narrower and have less impact on views from the ridge."
Among the sites earmarked for development of up to 18 storeys, the Sands & McDougall site owned by Watersun Property at 53-63 Burswood Road has existing approval for a 12-storey mixed-use development while 2 Hawthorne Place is set to be redeveloped with another 12-storey residential tower.
The area was identified as being of strategic importance in the Town of Victoria Park Urban Design Study from 2000 and the State Government's Network City Strategy report of 2004.
