$1.7 billion Southbank arts plan approved despite ‘urban blight’ warning

Victoria’s Planning Minister Richard Wynne has approved a detailed masterplan for the $1.7 billion redevelopment of the Southbank arts precinct, including a big new garden promenade heading south from Hamer Hall and a 60-metre-tall contemporary art gallery.

An artist’s representation of the approved masterplan for Melbourne’s arts precinct redevelopment.Credit: Hassell / SO–IL

The minister approved the masterplan, by New York architects SO–IL and Australia’s Hassell, last Thursday, despite serious reservations expressed by Melbourne City Council which warned of “urban blight”, potential wind tunnels, and safety risks for pedestrians south and west of the development.

A pre-approval version assessed by the council saw the new gallery hang over existing streets on two sides and cast a long shadow over Southbank Boulevard towards the neighbouring ABC headquarters and Recital Centre.

The winner of an architectural competition to design the gallery itself, referred to as the National Gallery for Contemporary Art and Design or the “NGV Contemporary”, is yet to be announced but is expected as early as next week.

In advice delivered to the minister in draft form late last year, and officially in February, the council warned of a series of “unresolved matters” in the masterplan, though it approved of the “broad vision and intent”.

Melbourne councillor Rohan Leppert, the deputy lead of the City of Melbourne’s planning portfolio, this week welcomed the minister’s approval which “brings this spectacular project one step closer to construction”.

He noted the minister had picked up a handful of the council’s suggestions but said “some major issues will still need to be resolved”.

A 3D plan of the new development, including the contemporary art gallery.Credit: Hassell / SO-IL

The NGVC will be cantilevered over Kavanagh St and Southbank Boulevard, extending five metres over the footpaths and roads. The council warned the minister this would have potential safety implications for pedestrians, who might cross the road into traffic out of confusion, or be at risk due to reduced “passive surveillance”: the measure of visibility of pedestrians that can deter would-be assailants.

“The proposal sets an inappropriate precedent for future precinct development and enables unspecified encroachment into the public/pedestrian realm,” the council said in its advice to the minister.

“Southbank Boulevard has ... benefitted from significant public realm investment from the City of Melbourne. Pedestrian amenity, bicycle movement and greening across this road should be protected, prioritised and improved... Any building overhang of existing footpaths is not supported in its current form.”

A technical drawing show’s the new gallery’s cantilevered overhang and southern shadow.Credit: Hassell / SO-IL

At a meeting of the council’s planning body, the Future Melbourne Committee, discussing the masterplan in early February, Cr Leppert said the land under the existing arts precinct deck was “probably the closest example to the central city that you can find of urban blight ... a remarkably unattractive and decayed part of the city”.

“And what we don’t want to do [with the new development] is just push those problems even further west.”

The council recommended filling in the empty space under the new building with a colonnade, possibly commercial tenancies, and raising its height from five metres to between eight and 11 metres.

In response to a series of questions from this masthead to Mr Wynne, a government spokesperson said, “Sensible planning controls have been put in place to ensure the transformation is mindful of design impacts including wind, overshadowing, traffic, environmental sustainability and pedestrian movement.”

Mr Wynne’s gazetted approval of the plan last week ordered that the project provide a detailed “facade strategy” for his approval in consultation with the council. He also ordered wind-testing of the masterplan (the council warned the new garden promenade could become a wind tunnel, especially near the NGVC), and a “detailed overshadowing analysis”.

At 60 metres, the NGVC would be almost three times as tall as the neighbouring NGV International gallery – though less than half the height of the Arts Centre spire.

The masterplan suggests cutting a diagonal slice out of the top of the NGVC in order to reduce the size of its southern shadow. Without that slice, the new building would overshadow all of Southbank Boulevard including a public park, and some of the ABC’s Melbourne HQ. The council recommended Mr Wynne rule out the overshadowing of its new Southbank Boulevard linear park, but the minister left it at his future discretion.

“The proposed building envelope and massing at [the NGVC site] cannot be supported unless all proposed massing envelopes are demonstrated within the precinct ... to understand cumulative effects on precinct character, visual perspectives, overshadowing, wind conditions, and pedestrian amenity,” the council advised.

In published reasons for his decision, the minister said local residents had raised concerns over the “excessive height” of the NGVC building, its “visual bulk” and “wind, overlooking and noise impacts”.

He said those matters had been “considered and, where appropriate, addressed”.

The project as a whole would “reinvigorate Melbourne’s cultural heart and connect Southbank Promenade and Hamer Hall with the wider Melbourne Arts Precinct to the south,” Mr Wynne said.

”The project is expected to deliver significant economic benefits including ... the generation of approximately 11,000 jobs during construction. Once completed, the project is expected to generate approximately 200 ongoing jobs and is expected to attract an extra three million visitors to the Melbourne Arts Precinct each year.”

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