Australia in danger of building ‘ghettos of tomorrow’

Australia has to change if it’s to stop building soulless suburbs devoid of character and even jobs. And the plea has come from a surprising place.

Australian cities are in danger of creating soulless new build suburbs lacking in amenities and jobs that become the “ghettos of tomorrow”.

Perhaps surprisingly that’s not the conclusion of nearby residents, fearful of new streets popping up on their doorsteps, or even local MPs, but one of Australia’s largest developers which itself is responsible for many of the country’s new homes and apartment blocks.

The comments were made by an executive at Mirvac, which builds everything from shopping centres to apartment blocks, on Thursday at the Boomtown western Sydney infrastructure summit held in Sydney Olympic Park.

Speakers at the conference were asked about the implications of a spate of shonky developments that have gone up in Sydney and other cities and how the industry’s reputation can be improved.

It wasn’t hard to find an example. Just moments away from the summit venue is the Opal tower which was infamously evacuated on Christmas Eve 2018.

The Opal Tower at Sydney Olympic Park, which was evacuated on Christmas Eve 2018. Picture: David Swift.

Nearly 300 residents were forced to leave the 36-floor tower after an internal wall cracked, causing a loud “bang” and the building to shake.

The luxury high-rise, with 392 apartments priced between $800,000 and $2.5 million, had opened just four months earlier.

Opal was not a Mirvac development. But it has felt the impact with its nearby Pavilions residential development, which suffered no structural issues, struggling to shift all its new units after some buyers shunned the area.

Mirvac’s integrated investment portfolio head Campbell Hanan told the summit there were “many different styles of developer” but Mirvac was focused on developments that created a “legacy”.

Ultimately, he said, the community had to demand better during the planning process which would also lead to suburbs and developments that were more “curated”.

“You can see lots of different parts of cities where that curation experience hasn’t worked,” he said.

Simply dumping a shopping centre and a couple of coffee shops into the middle of a new suburb with little thought of any other amenities happened too often.

“Often you have too much money for retail and not enough for other services,” Mr Hanan said.

“For the first time in Australia we have this new concept of precinct wide panning outcomes.

“That’s a really fascinating opportunity to ensure that we don’t create the ghettos of tomorrow.”

Too many suburbs in Australia had been built with too many shops but few other enmities. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard.

Last year, Mirvac opened LIV Indigo, Australia’s first apartment block built entirely to rent out.

This new way of renting – where you contract is with a big property firm rather than a private landlord – comes with perks such as being able to keep pets, and bang holes in and paint walls. As long as the rent is paid, tenants can stay put as long as they want.

But these privileges can cost more than renting a standard flat elsewhere.

The LIV Indigo by Mirvac build to rent property in Sydney Olympic Park

Christopher Brown, the chairman of the Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue which organised the summit, told news.com.au “good planning design” was essential to avoid inadvertently creating future ghettos.

“We need to make sure we don’t put these places where there is no transport.

“That we don’t get another generation of people in suburbs without trees, trains and jobs.”

Mr Brown added that a new suburbs couldn’t just be high rises and not a lot else.

“You’ve got to have the parks, the amenities, the theatres that go with it. You have to invest in your cities.”

NSW Premier, Dominic Perrottet announces funding for a new stadium at Penrith. Perrotett has a run around with Penrith Players, Jerome Luai (right) and Team Captain, Isaah Yeo (left). Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

New western Sydney stadium announced

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet opened the Boomtown summit by announcing a $300m plan to knock down and rebuild the Penrith Panthers’ football stadium in the city’s west.

“Penrith stadium hosts matches for a total of less than two weeks per year.

“The new Penrith stadium will be a sports and entertainment precinct electrifying the west all year round.”

The Premier also announced IT giant Microsoft would be a partner in the state’s first Institute of Applied Technology.

Working with higher education institutions UTS and Macquarie University the institute, based within the $154 million Meadowbank Education precinct, will see university students gets hands on technical skills with organisations including Microsoft.

Federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese also spoke at the summit. He criticised the NSW government for defects that have been found in foreign built ferries and trams and said the vehicles should have been built in Australia.