Government gives $180m office tower green light for Lendlease’s Melbourne Quarter

ANOTHER piece of the Docklands jigsaw puzzle has been solved with the approval of an $180 million office tower.

A $180 million office tower, as part of the Melbourne Quarter development by Lendlease, has been approved at Docklands. Picture: Supplied.

ANOTHER piece of the Docklands jigsaw puzzle has been solved with the approval of an $180 million office tower.

It came as the property industry warned that local councils were stifling development in urban renewal precincts.

Planning Minister Richard Wynne has given the green light to a 28-level tower at 693 Collins St that is the centrepiece of the $2.5 billion Melbourne Quarter project by Lendlease.

The redevelopment near Southern Cross Station will link the CBD with Docklands and create a new lane between Collins and Flinders streets.

The Melbourne Quarter development by Lendlease. Picture: Supplied.

Last year, Mr Wynne approved the first stage comprising an office tower and sky park, then gave the go-ahead for three apartment towers and shops on Flinders St.

“The Melbourne Quarter precinct is creating 15,000 jobs during construction and the latest approval will become home to 12,000 workers,’ he said.

“Melbourne Quarter isn’t just changing the shape of our city for the better, it’s creating thousands of jobs for Victorians — both during construction and once complete.”

Meanwhile, an Urban Development Institute of Australia event was told on Wednesday that councils needed to do more to unlock the development potential of urban renewal sites.

Best Hooper Lawyers principal and UDIA planning committee member John Cicero said that councils should be removed from the planning process for those sites unless they were more accountable.

The Melbourne Quarter development by Lendlease. Picture: Supplied.

“For those of us who have been involved in urban renewal projects it is damn hard to get the co-operation of local government in circumstances where there is no accountability if they say no,” he said.

Mr Cicero said the UDIA had been working with Mr Wynne’s office for reforms to introduce accountability with rezonings.

The forum on the government’s new Plan Melbourne policy heard that the city will need an extra 1.6 million dwellings and an extra 1.5 million jobs up to 2051.

Mr Cicero said the plan’s aspiration that 70 per cent of the housing growth would be in established suburbs was not realistic as many people would continue flocking to the city fringe for cheaper prices.

@JMasanauskas