High-rise development in World Heritage buffer zone

October 2023

 

The RHSV is concerned about a proposed development on the corner of Rathdowne and Victoria Streets, Carlton, that involves the construction of an 8-storey apartment block. The site lies within the protected buffer zone around the World Heritage Site of the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens (known as the World Heritage Environs Area). The original proposal was for a 13-storey apartment block, but this has now been reduced to 8-storeys. Despite this reduction in height, the RHSV believes that the height and bulk of the proposed development will still significantly affect the cultural significance of the area, and that its overall appearance is out of keeping with the character of the adjacent buildings and the area more generally.

The site is currently occupied by a dilapidated two-storey building that for 30 years was the offices of the Cancer Council Victoria. In 2013 the Cancer Council sold the building to Royal Garden Manor Pty Ltd whose sole director is Chinese tycoon Wang Hua. The building was left unused and abandoned for many years and became a noted eyesore. In 2017 the owner was issued with a clean up notice by the City of Melbourne after it had become infested with rodents and littered with human waste from squatters.

 

Image: View of the proposed development (From the revised plans submitted in 2023).

In May 2022, Royal Garden Manor lodged an application for a major development of the site, an $80 million development consisting of seven three-storey townhouses, a six-storey corner podium, and a 13-storey tower containing 77 apartments. The application was however rejected by the City of Melbourne. The Deputy Lord Mayor, Nicholas Reece, said at the time:

The former Cancer Council building on Rathdowne Street is one the great eyesores of the city. While it was heartening to see a proposal to redevelop this site, the application failed to meet a range of requirements laid out in the Melbourne Planning Scheme – including height, open space and parking. Melbourne must aim higher to protect our streets and world-class heritage precincts from overdevelopment. This is a UNESCO-listed, world-heritage-listed precinct, it is important we get it right.

The grounds for the rejection were an unjustified overall height (46-metre height in the Carlton height control zone of 8 to 16 metres), an unacceptable podium height, an unreasonable impact on Carlton’s character and heritage, the negative impact on the World Heritage Environs Area, and a poor layout of open space. The Council’s notice of refusal, issued on 9 September 2023, outlined the key changes needed for the application to be supported. These included a reduction of the tower from 13 storeys to seven storeys, reduction of the podium from six storeys to three or four storeys, significant reduction of the 187 car spaces, and improved open space.

 The developers have now submitted a modified proposal, which is currently being considered by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). The RHSV has made a submission to VCAT setting out why it believes the proposal in its modified form should also be rejected.

 

Built form controls not met
In its submission the RHSV argues that the proposed development will significantly affect the cultural significance of the area by virtue of its height and bulk and its appearance being out of keeping with the character and appearance of the adjacent buildings.

The site is covered by a Design and Development Overlay (DDO) whose stated objectives include the following:

  • To protect and conserve buildings and streetscapes of significance and to reinforce the built form character of the area as being essentially of low-rise buildings.
  • To maintain the human scale of the area and to ensure compatibility with the scale and character of the existing built form.
  • To ensure that any redevelopment or new development is compatible with the scale and character of adjoining buildings and the area.
  • To protect and manage the values of and views to the Royal Exhibition Building.

The RHSV argues that the proposed development does not even come close to meeting these objectives. Amongst other things, the DDO calls for a street wall of 10 metres maximum along both the Rathdowne and Victoria Street frontages with a set-back of around three or four metres, and a higher built form of 16 metres covering most of the site. Apart from three town houses fronting Rathdowne Street at the northern boundary to the site, there is no low-level street wall fronting Rathdowne and Victoria Street.  Consequently, the low-rise built form of the area, which is predominately two or three storeys, is not maintained and the existing Victorian character is not conserved. Away from the street frontages, the proposed building rises to almost 30 metres, nearly double the maximum height proposed in the DDO. This is not a development of appropriate scale that is ‘compatible with the scale and character of adjoining buildings and the area’.

 

Buffer zone around World Heritage site undermined
More significantly the RHSV argues that the proposed development will undermine the objectives of the protected buffer zone around the World Heritage listed Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens. The objectives of this buffer zone, the World Heritage Environs Area, are set out in Clause 15.03-1L-01 of the Melbourne Planning Scheme:

  • To provide a buffer zone for the World Heritage listed Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens.
  • To provide a setting and context of significant historic character for the World Heritage property.
  • To protect significant views and vistas to the Royal Exhibition Buildings and Carlton Gardens.
  • To maintain and conserve the significant historic character including built form and landscapes of the area.

To ensure development in the area responds to the prominence and visibility of the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens.

 

The proposed development fails to meet any of these objectives. The strategies for achieving these objectives as set out in the Melbourne Planning Scheme include (1) retaining and conserving the valued heritage character of streetscapes, and (2) retaining the predominantly lower scale form of development which provides a contrast to the dominant scale and form of the Royal Exhibition Building. The proposed development undermines the first of these strategies and fails to meet the second.

Conclusion
Given the significance of the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens site and its importance for Melburnians and visitors alike, the RHSV believes that the effective conservation of the area, and in particular of the buffer zone around the World Heritage site, is the highest obligation imaginable for Melbourne and Victorian planning authorities. In line with UNESCO World Heritage standards, we are obliged to ensure that visitors drawn to the area by its World Heritage status have an experience commensurate with their expectations. It is therefore imperative that the proposed development meets the standards required by its World Heritage listing as well as those of the DDO and the Melbourne Planning Scheme. The current proposal does not meet these standards and therefore should be rejected by VCAT.

To read the RHSV’s October 2023 submission to VCAT click here.

Image: Map showing the buffer zone around the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens World Heritage site