Developers should heed mistakes of Docklands

Updated December 03, 2012 10:08:25

A former director of the Docklands Authority says urban planners should learn from mistakes made in the precinct, which has been criticised for poor design, as they work on the new Fishermans Bend development.

Two hundred hectares of land at Fishermans Bend will be developed to expand the CBD, creating five new suburbs between Southbank and Docklands.

The former director of planning and design of the Docklands Authority, Bill Chandler, says developers at Fishermans Bend should learn from the Docklands project and create a detailed plan for the area.

"The approach we took at Docklands was to have a development plan which gave a general indication of where things would be," he told ABC local radio.

"[It] spelled out the relationship between buildings and public space, and in particular the waterfront.

"I haven't seen anything yet for Fishermen's Bend which would tell me that that work is being done."

Mr Chandler is also concerned about how the precinct's public spaces will be developed.

"Part of the Docklands process was to have each of the developers pay not only for infrastructure on their own sites, but also contribute to the wider infrastructure," he said.

"I don't know whether that's going to happen at Fisherman's Bend or not."

Mr Chandler says although Docklands has its problems, there were many positive features, such as keeping the waterfront as public space.

"It wasn't just about buildings, it was about buildings in relation to the public space," he said.

He has also cautioned against high-rise development and the obsession with building the world's tallest building, saying towers can create closed communities.

"By definition, that [record] usually only lasts for a few months or a year at the most before someone else beats you to it," he said.

"In Docklands, certainly the later buildings, the decision was made by the developers there to build low and do it in a different way.

"That's more sustainable, less obvious, I suppose, from 50 kilometres out to Port Phillip Bay, but as I understand it more financially successful anyway."

"So the idea that you have to build tall just doesn't stand up."

Topics: urban-development-and-planning, southbank-3006, docklands-3008

First posted December 03, 2012 10:05:03