Woolworths’ towers get green light

After going back to the drawing board, Woolworths’ $120 million proposal to develop a twin-tower mixed-use project in Scarborough has been approved. 

The proposal was recommended for approval by the Scarborough Land Redevelopment Committee a few weeks ago, which has now subsequently been approved by the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority (MRA).

Woolworths Group will now progress its plans to redevelop the White Sands Tavern site, located at 242 West Coast Highway.

Plans propose two towers of 29 level and 12 levels, connected by an integrated three-storey podium and two-level basement.

On the lower levels, the supermarket chain plans to create a 9,010 square metre shopping complex.

Levels three to 28 will house 302 residential apartments and associated amenities, including 317 non-residential car bays, as well as 354 residential car bays (allocated to apartments).

The project was designed by Taylor Robinson Chaney Broderick and MJA Studio.

Source: DevelopmentWA

Earlier iterations of the plans, which have now been scrapped, included a third tower and an aged care component.

During the consultation process 178 public submissions were received: 71 per cent were against the proposal (127 objections).

In making its decision, the MRA said while the proposal exceeded the prescribed building heights, it did so in a manner that it believed remained consistent with the precinct vision and that it would provide commensurate community benefit.

“The proposal achieves a level of development intensity below the level permissible under the prescribed height and building envelope development standards, despite the height increase,” the MRA said in its explanatory notes.

“It does so by consolidating the residential component into two slim taller towers, as opposed to three bulkier towers which would have had greater impact on views, overshadowing and privacy.

“The proposal commits to the achievement of a 5 Star Green Star rating and is pioneering an innovative new assessment approach for mixed-use projects in Australia.

“The design has been reviewed by the Authority's Design Review Panel and is deemed to have demonstrated design excellence.”

The MRA also noted that the land uses included in the proposal presented meaningful community benefit including an 845sqm high quality landscaped pedestrian accessway, which was publicly accessible, as well as public parking and a full-size supermarket that it said provided a choice of retail and employment opportunities currently not available within the Scarborough area.