Heritage Lost in a Forest of Towers
Rohan Storey (National Trust)
The Age - Opinion - 19 November 2010
(Pictures and captions added by me)
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| Plans for the Celtic Club (1890) to be mostly demolished and a 40-storey tower added |
Watered-down
controls mean the city's past is overshadowed or gone. As a young
heritage activist in 1990, I was shocked by the demolition of old city
buildings, which I had taken for granted as protected, such as the art deco
Australia Hotel.
Through that
interest I ended up with a job at the National
Trust, and I'm still there. Soon I came to understand and appreciate
the rich heritage of the CBD, and the planning controls then in force.
The ''vision''
was pretty straightforward, and tailored to Melbourne's unique built-form character.
Most importantly, areas such as Chinatown, Flinders Lane, Hardware Street and
Bourke Hill were protected as heritage areas or by height limits, such as the
40-metre height limit over the central shopping area along Swanston Street,
packed with heritage buildings.
Heritage value
would be considered for all ''graded'' buildings, and they would be generally
retained, not reduced to a facade. (The loss of the Australia Hotel turned out
to be a glaring exception.)
Large
developments were to have low podiums at street level, with any tower above
well setback, so as not to dominate the street or adjacent heritage buildings.
The basic control for these was a bonus system, in which the maximum floor area
depended on the size of the site (the ''plot ratio'') and could be increased
through providing benefits as such as heritage restoration, a new arcade, or
bluestone footpaths. The bonus system is commonly used in modern Western
cities, including London, San Francisco and even New York, the home of the
skyscraper. This was all
established by the Cain government in the early 1980s, and was supported
through to the early '90s by the Melbourne City Council. But it was greatly
undermined in 1997 as part of the Kennett-era reorganisation of local
government and planning.
The new rules
for the CBD kept most of the words of the ''vision'', but made nearly
everything ''discretionary''; plot ratio became just one of many preferred
''outcomes'', with no bonus system. The podium-setback rules, retention of
light to the streets and even height limits became just items on a list of
''preferred built-form outcomes''. Heritage value would not be considered
unless the place had a ''heritage overlay'', and outside the precincts this was
based on a list created in 1982.
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| Terraces from 1870s can be demolished at any time, despite their historical significance. |
The only mandatory
control remaining in the CBD is the 40-metre height limit protecting the
central retail area - the lanes and arcades are now stuffed with the ever more
popular bars and cafes occupying the numerous heritage buildings.
The rest of the
city has not been so lucky; after years of creeping concessions, the old vision
is all but dead. Senior planners now openly admit they no longer consider plot
ratio and apartment towers are blossoming like toadstools after rain. What's
more, they are clustering together with barely room to swing the proverbial
cat, rising straight from the ground and replacing heritage buildings that
should have been listed years ago.
The northern
fringe of the city and the ''little'' streets are fertile ground; there are
seven towers of more than 40 storeys under way or permitted between Elizabeth
and Swanston streets, north of La Trobe. Franklin Street is now decidedly
gloomy in the winter months. The Melbourne City Council has been wringing its
hands recently that Southbank is getting to be too much like Hong Kong - but at
the other end of the city Hong Kong has already arrived.
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| The Stork Hotel (1855) was recently demolished to soon accommodate this 67-storey tower. |
With planning
rules ignored, a small site such as the charming little Stork Hotel (just
demolished) can now accommodate a 67-storey tower, no setbacks, no serious
questions asked. Even a pair of 1870 terraces in Little Lonsdale Street near
Exhibition Street can be replaced by a 35-storey tower. Never mind that there
are two other towers, and more proposed, only a few buildings away. The latest
shocker is the (unlisted) Celtic Club, 40 storeys straight up, with the
Victorian facade kept like wrapping paper around the base - facadism at its
worst.
Even the ''Paris
end'' of Collins Street is suffering, with a tower proposed in front of Nauru
House with little setback, and far exceeding the ''preferred'' plot ratio -
more blocked light, and total domination of the heritage context, the opposite
of the vision applied to 101 Collins 20 years ago.
I'm not against
tall buildings, or even having lots of them, but they shouldn't steal light and
air from pedestrians (or other tower-dwellers), dominate heritage streetscapes
or replace buildings that should have been heritage listed long ago.
It's time the
council and the Minister for Planning - who has final say over almost all the
towers - looked again at their planning scheme, and not only promoted the
preservation of heritage buildings and areas, but the liveability and unique
built character of Melbourne. It's our city, too, and when our heritage
buildings are gone we can't get them back.
Rohan Storey
is architectural historian with the National Trust of Australia.
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