UTAS master plan for Hobart CBD move
Many students are sceptical about the University of Tasmania’s plan to move to the city, with concerns the money could be better spent to improve the current campus. LATEST >>
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The Tasmanian University Student Association says many students are sceptical about the University of Tasmania’s draft relocation plan, with concerns funds could be better spent.
The campus will move from Sandy Bay and stretch across five precincts in Hobart’s CBD.
“On the surface, the university’s move to the city appears to be a waste of money,” the union’s president Braydon Broad said.
Mr Broad says the general mood towards the project likely relates to the level of consultation students have had.
“Most students feel that they haven’t been consulted or been given the opportunity to ask questions.
“However we have observed that once students are engaged in the conversation, they seem to be more sympathetic to the university’s motivations and overall vision.”
He said many who are sceptical feel the money could be better spent on current services.
“Something that we hear from students quite often is that this seems like an irresponsible use of funds while issues remain with learning and teaching and access to services”
“ … though it’s important to note that the funding for the relocation plan comes from low interest loans that could not possibly go to operational uses.”
Mr Broad said he personally supports the plan, but that the university should also focus on current shortfalls.
“The university should absolutely ensure that it is improving its course offerings and services – but the reality is that this is not mutually exclusive with moving to the city.”
“The university can and should do both.”
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THE University of Tasmania has revealed the first draft of its $600m CBD master plan.
Vice-Chancellor Rufus Black said the relocation from the current location at Sandy Bay would transform Hobart and benefit the wider community.
“The move to the city is about bringing everything together in a single place, to create a university that’s accessible to the community and enables us to move much more closely with the community,” he said.
The campus will stretch across five precincts in Hobart’s CBD.
The “heart”, including the student centre, university club and administration building, will be at Midtown. Engineering and technology will be located at the West End, occupying the former K & D Warehouse site.
A shared university and community space will be located at the Domain.
The medical science precinct will remain at its existing facility and the creative arts precinct will be located at Wapping.
“For the average person in Hobart, this produces a city with a whole new set of civic spaces, of parks they can access, of community facilities they can access, from libraries to facilities the community can access,” Professor Black.
But to transport more students from Hobart’s outer suburbs, Prof Black said numerous transport infrastructure projects would be needed.
This includes a northern suburbs rail corridor, an upgrade to the Tasman Bridge for additional bike and pedestrian pathways and a River Derwent ferry service.
“We’d like to see a dedicated, high-frequency, high-capacity transport corridor and we really need to get going with it,” he said.
“The university alone has more than 1500 students who live in that corridor.
“There are many others who would benefit from that kind of transport link.”
The state government announced plans for a trial of a ferry service in March this year, but calls for a northern suburbs rail corridor have so far gone unanswered.
Mr Black said he was confident it could be complete by the time the relocation was finished.
“We’ve talked about this going until at least 2030,” he said.
“This is a decade-long project to make happen.
“You need to remember the university is already quite substantially in the city – more than a third of our staff and students already work there. “
Prof Black said the project’s $600m price tag was affordable, and that the university could afford it without further funding commitments from the state and federal governments.
“Spread out across 10 years, that’s a very affordable amount of money.
“It’s an intergenerational project, it’s not about imposing it on any one generation.
“We’ve been very well supported by the state and federal governments in our northern projects and that does enable us to support our southern projects.”
As for the current campus in Sandy Bay, the university hopes to maintain ownership of the land, and control development on it.
“We’d love to see Sandy Bay evolve over time to be a truly sustainable micro-suburb that provides that full range of housing that Hobart obviously very urgently needs,” Prof Black said.
“It’s a nice way of actually having what we’re looking for as a mixed-used suburb for all kinds of housing for all kinds of price points and that’s kind of important for an inclusive housing agenda in Hobart.”
The university had previously attempted to subdivide and sell off a large portion of the campus, but last year lost a court battle to do so.
Prof Black said he is hopeful the university won’t run into a similar problem.
“What the courts required was just to have a really good master plan for Sandy Bay and that’s what we’re working on this year to do this kind of integrated development.”
The apartments and colleges on College Rd will remain as accommodation for students.
“Students are always well looked after and what actually matters for them is choice,” Prof Black said.
“Some students may want to live right in the apartments in the city and others may want to live here as others do who choose private accommodation.”
Expansion puts hopes of light rail back on the agenda – Community reacts
THE University of Tasmania’s move to the CBD has reignited hopes for Hobart’s light rail link to the northern suburbs.
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie says the expansion will create many challenges.
“These include traffic, parking, heritage, residential and city amenity, affordable housing and more,” he said.
“While all of these will need to be addressed, light rail will go some considerable way towards addressing traffic and parking issues.”
Mr Wilkie said progress on light rail had been slow.
“Let’s hope the academic interest helps drive the rail project forward after years of inaction. We have $25m in the Hobart City Deal to activate the transit corridor, so let’s finally get this city-shaping project moving.”
The Bicycle Network says plans for improved transport infrastructure could lead to more bikes on the road and it threw its support behind separated bike paths along Campbell and Melville streets.
“If we are going to see more people choose to ride we need separated cycleways and the tied developer contributions from the university to the council could help these eventuate. The end-of-trip facilities and cycleway shortcuts through the campuses will also help people choose two wheels.”
The university relocation is also being hailed as “essential” for the growth of Tasmania.
The Property Council’s executive director Rebecca Ellston says the plan will be crucial in Hobart’s recovery from the pandemic.
“It is now more crucial than ever that we lay the foundations for Tasmania’s future prosperity,” she said.
“Significant projects such as the $600m UTAS inner city campus establishment … are essential if we are going to see Tasmania reach its full potential.”
Premier Peter Gutwein says he hasn’t been involved in discussions about the future of the Sandy Bay campus but that the overall plan is exciting.
“I think it’s brave and it’s bold,” he said.
“I think it’s going to be good for the university, good for the city. I think it’ll be good for the economic circumstances of the city in terms of businesses that operate but also be good for students as well.”
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