Glebe Residents’ Association has unveiled its plans for UTAS’ Domain campus

A community group has released a vision for Glebe Hill and is hoping the University of Tasmania will adopt it.

Glebe Residents’ Association members Roland Browne, his son, Tim Calwell-Browne, Denise Brown, Kerry Burns and former Green's leader, Bob Brown with a draft plan to restrict future building development on the site of the old University, Glebe. Picture: MATT THOMPSON

A COMMUNITY group opposing large scale development on Glebe Hill has released a vision for the area it hopes the University of Tasmania will adopt.

The Glebe Residents’ Association [GRA] unveiled its Domain Campus Masterplan on Sunday which is said to “give life to the site, without taking away from its important values”.

UTAS plans to develop a law, humanities and social sciences precinct from the original home of the university at the Domain as part of UTAS’s 10-15 year CBD move.

The GRA’s Masterplan proposes no new buildings be built there, but current facilities be restored and better utilised. It also proposes new trees be planted and a tennis court be resurfaced.

Veteran environmentalist Bob Brown, who launched GRA’s masterplan yesterday, said he was concerned over UTAS’s CBD move and said the GRA vision represented community interest.

“There’s a lot of community apprehension about UTAS’s massive investment in the city. Here’s the perfect way for the university to say ‘we’re here with the community’ and I think they’ll get enormous kudos for going along with the plan,” he said.

GRA president Kerry Burns said he hoped UTAS Vice-Chancellor Rufus Black would endorse “the values and importance of the site” by backing the masterplan.

UTAS southern future director Tim Rutherford said the university would continue working with the GRA directly and through a heritage framework being prepared for the Domain Campus by heritage consultants Lovell Chen.

“We welcome the residents’ association masterplan. Our thinking about the future of a new inner-city campus will be informed by a range of inputs and perspectives, and this will become one of those inputs,” he said.