The RHSV has long been concerned at threats to area around the World Heritage site, called the World Heritage Environs Area (WHEA). In May 2020 we made a major contribution to a state review of the WHEA. That could lead to improvements, but will take years. In the meantime, we are facing new threats to the world heritage values of Melbourne’s only world heritage site.
In December 2020, the RHSV learned of a proposed five-storey building on Gertrude Street, Fitzroy (Yarra Council permit number PLN20/0566, 1-9 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy). The building would be in a neo-Brutalist style, bulking over the neighbouring low-rise Victorian buildings. More importantly, it would affect views to and from the REB. The Dome has been renovated and will soon be open to visitors, as during the 1880 and 1888 Exhibitions, but when visitors look east, the proposed development will loom above Royal Terrace. The RHSV Heritage Committee lodged a strong objection to this proposal in December 2020.
Now we face an even bigger threat with the proposal for construction of a new building for St Vincent’s Hospital on the corner of Nicholson Street and Victoria Parade (Yarra Council permit number PLN20/0567, 27-41 Victoria Parade, Fitzroy).
The new building is much bigger than the existing one and nearly 15 metres higher—the equivalent of five normal storeys. The proposed building is faced in glass and would dominate the heritage area. The applicant admits that it ‘is intended to be contemporary and visually striking’. This is attention-seeking architecture where what is required is respectful architecture. The RHSV lodged a major submission opposing this proposal in January 2021.
These proposals highlight a serious flaw in planning protection. The Royal Exhibition Building and surrounding gardens received World Heritage listing not only because of the quality of the building and gardens, but also because the surrounding environment retained a nineteenth century context. The Australian government promised UNESCO that it create a buffer zone in which ‘all planning policies [would] discourage the demolition of Victorian-era buildings and require any development to enhance heritage values’ and maintain Victorian-era low-rise scale.
In 2009, the Victorian government broke that promise. It did create a buffer zone, called the World Heritage Environs Area (WHEA), but split it into an ‘Area of Greater Sensitivity’ (less than half of the WHEA) and the rest. Only the ‘Area of Greater Sensitivity’ got stricter planning controls. While the Gertrude Street development falls within the ‘Area of Greater Sensitivity’ of the World Heritage Environs Area (WHEA), the St Vincent’s proposal, while in the WHEA, lies outside the ‘Area of Greater Sensitivity’, even though it is directly across Nicholson Street from the World Heritage Site.
Since it is the federal government which signed the agreement with UNESCO for World Heritage Nomination, it is the responsibility of the Minister for the Environment to ensure protection of the site. The EPBC Act 2003 provides that anyone ‘proposing to take an action that is likely to have a significant impact on … a declared World Heritage property should refer the action to the Environment Minister’, but self-referral hasn’t worked! The RHSV heritage committee wrote to the Minister for Environment Hon. Sussan Ley M.P on 31 January 2021, but have received no answer or acknowledgement to date.
In February 2021, the RHSV heritage committee took the decision to write to the Director of UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre to request their intervention with the Australia Government.
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