City of Launceston to judge tall developments on ‘design excellence’ under new building heights policy

Launceston has set a height limit on buildings for the city. Find out how high they are willing to go.

Proposed new developments taller than 24 metres in the Launceston CBD would be judged on their design excellence under a new building heights policy. Picture: CHRISTOPHER TESTA

PROPOSED new buildings taller than 24m in the Launceston CBD would have to demonstrate their “design excellence” to be approved, under a new building heights policy adopted by the city’s council.

The new policy was based on an extensive analysis by consultant Paul Davies, who had initially recommended absolute maximum height limits be imposed across Launceston.

But the Launceston Chamber of Commerce warned such criteria — which would have required developments taller than 24 metres to pass a planning scheme amendment process — would have been practically insurmountable for developers.

The chamber’s executive officer Neil Grose welcomed the new policy supported by councillors on Thursday, saying it would encourage major investment and protect the city’s historic architecture.

Mr Grose said the performance criteria that tall buildings will be judged against would “probably be a bit groundbreaking for some cities in Australia”.

The criteria will include a “design excellence” component, based on still-to-be-determined guidelines that Mr Davies said would ensure buildings “contribute to the quality of the city”.

A design review panel would assess the projects.

“We don’t want to see grey boxes like you see in other cities around Tasmania beginning with ‘H’,” Mr Grose said.

Mr Davies’ report said a 24m limit would allow for the development of new buildings about seven storeys tall.

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The Chamber of Commerce was unsuccessful in lobbying for the height limit to be set at 30 metres, but did convince councillors to retain an existing 14.5m threshold below which proposed developments won’t have to go out for public comment.

The council, and Mr Davies, had proposed setting that at nine metres, however Cr Nick Daking successfully moved for an increase.

During debate on the policy, councillors spoke of the need to encourage investment in Launceston, while protecting its unique heritage and architecture.

The building heights policy is only part of a longer process being undertaken by the City of Launceston to finalise planning controls in the CBD.

The council will now proceed with developing a Special Area Plan, followed by further community consultation, before an eventual submission to the Tasmanian Planning Commission early next year.