Urban think-tank CityVision has challenged the East Perth Redevelopment Authority with an alternative plan for the $330 million Northbridge Link, estimating its version could save the government up to $46 million.
Urban think-tank CityVision has challenged the East Perth Redevelopment Authority with an alternative plan for the $330 million Northbridge Link, estimating its version could save the government up to $46 million.
At the heart of the new plan released today is a five hectare urban park bordering Roe Street, which would be created by capping the railway line and reducing the portion of developable land from approximately 63,000 square metres to 27,000sq m.
CityVision believes by intensifying development along Wellington Street rather than over the whole precinct it would allow for about 100,000sq m of commercial floor space and 1,000 residential apartments.
The plan also proposes a cross-city traffic bridge between Fitzgerald Street and Milligan Street on the city side.
Most of the cost savings it estimates, would be generated primarily by not building the proposed underground bus station and relocating the 700-bay Perth Arena car park from Roe Street to vacant land between the freeway and the Arena.
The government unveiled its draft master plan in early January, which outlined the development of approximately 1,600 homes, 155,00sq m of office space, and 16,000sq m of retail, hospitality and commercial space around the Perth Arena indoor stadium.
A road connection was proposed between Lake Street in Northbridge and King Street in the city.
CityVision chairman Ken Adam said EPRA's plan was seriously flawed, lacked diversity and was too heavily reliant on architecture and urban design detail for success.
"The CityVision plan meets the government's requirements for sinking the railway and recovering some of the costs of the development, but provides a much better outcome for the community, at a significantly lower cost to government, and will leave an enduring legacy for all Western Australians," he said in a statement.
City Vision first weighed in to the debate over the railway land in August last year after the Perth Arena plan was launched, accusing the government of giving the East Perth Redevelopment Authority a narrow brief to develop the remaining land around the stadium for commercial and residential uses.
At the time, Mr Adam said the government had failed to capitalise on an opportunity to create a grand civic space.
City Vision as it is now known, was formed in 1986 to promote best practice 'city-making' and comprises a core group of 28 members drawn from such diverse professions as planning, design, architecture, engineering, heritage, academia, arts and culture.
The Northbridge Link draft master plan will be open for public comment until April 3.
A summary of the plan is pasted below
The sinking of the railway, coinciding as it does with an unprecedented time of economic prosperity, has created the opportunity of a lifetime to simultaneously remove a blighted barrier between Northbridge and the City Centre and create a superb civic addition to the city, one that would give value and enjoyment to this and future generations.
CityVision's plan accepts the limited sinking of the railway offered by the Government and also the Government imperative to sell off part of this asset to the private sector, to offset some of the cost of the public investment.
Within those constraints the CityVision plan provides a vastly superior outcome for the people of Western Australia, at much reduced cost to the public purse.
The CityVision plan:
- provides better links between Northbridge and the City Centre proper;
- provides the much-needed Fitzgerald Street-Milligan Street cross-city road link;
- provides a great central park of 5 hectares, a green heart for the city to be enjoyed by day and night;
- allows Northbridge to retain and build on its unique character and identity;
- provides a better and more spacious setting for the iconic Perth Arena;
- sets the Perth Arena car park between the Arena and the freeway, achieving both a massive cost saving and an aesthetically superior solution;
- provides a better and less costly solution for bus and bus passenger movement than the expensive bus tunnel and underground station proposed by EPRA;
- creates significant value increase in surrounding areas, due to the superb park setting, which will lead to high quality redevelopment in that generally run-down part of the city;
- significantly reduces construction, risk and maintenance costs for the railway and bus facilities;
- breathes new life into Wellington Street, with vibrant mixed-use developments - apartments and offices above active commercial frontages to a boulevard style street;
- provides about 1000 new apartments, all with views across the park to the north, or south to the City Centre and - for some - beyond the city to the river;
- provides beautiful and relatively inexpensive landscaped parkland above the railway lines, including concealing the line, as it rises from below the surface, in elegantly moulded land form and planting;
- avoids the extremely high construction and maintenance costs, and potential risks, of building above the railway line, which would be extremely unattractive to private sector developers;
- provides immediately available and clear, attractive development opportunities to the private sector;
- provides for 100,000m² of commercial development opportunities; and
- can be implemented more easily, in very much less time, with less risk and at very much lower cost, than the EPRA plan.
There is an overall saving to Government of approximately $46 million with the CityVision plan.
The CityVision plan better meets all of the six Vision Elements for the precinct identified in the EPRA document.
The CityVision plan also shows a superior response to the Triple Bottom Line outcome statements contained in the questionnaire attached to the EPRA Draft Masterplan document.
The CityVision plan:
- Achieves all of the Northbridge Link objectives, with a net saving to Government of $46 million.
- Provides a central park - a green heart for the city.
- Creates market value in that part of the city.
- Strongly links the city centre to Northbridge, but marks a boundary for Northbridge to preserve its character.
- Is technically, economically and administratively much easier to implement than the EPRA plan
