After 13 years and seven housing ministers, it’s back to square one for Perth’s biggest urban infill project

“[We] will get on with the failures of the former government and do what it could not do in 8½ years. We find ourselves ... with 25 hectares sitting on the doorstep of the city laying fallow … [due to] a dysfunctional government.”

Those were the words of then-housing minister Peter Tinley six years ago as he berated the former Liberal government in the WA parliament for failing to get the state’s biggest urban infill project at the old Brownlie Towers site in Bentley off the ground.

The plagued Bentley regeneration project has failed to get off the ground in 13 years.

Tinley’s words are coming back to haunt the Labor government after it announced on Tuesday that the $1 billion project, which has been in the pipeline for 13 years, was back to square one.

More than a decade of consultation, planning approvals, designs and construction plans have been tossed due to “a heated construction market”.

In 2012, the state government announced the new housing precinct would include 1500 dwellings, a community facility, parks and a village centre, with construction touted to begin in 2015.

Since then, two private developer partnerships have fallen over, with the only major works completed to date being the demolishment of the original Brownlie Towers in 2019, and the installation of temporary park lands.

The delayed project, which has been renamed four times and been overseen by seven housing ministers, was put on hold in 2019, just two years after then-Member for Victoria Park Ben Wyatt made an election promise to start regenerating the area “immediately”.

“Ultimately, the people of Bentley and St James and surrounding areas are frustrated that this huge area of land owned by the State Government largely sits there unused and with that comes the inevitable crime and antisocial issues,” he said at the time.

During Tuesday’s announcement that the project would need a new master plan, Housing Minister John Carey said the community’s needs and aspirations for the area had changed since the original planning and design for Bentley 360.

He said the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent heated construction market had also permanently changed the economics in delivering large-scale redevelopments.

“The Cook government is tackling a number of large-scale legacy redevelopment projects which are currently undergoing major renewal works to boost the State’s housing supply – including projects in North Beach, Subiaco, and Bentley,” he said.

“These are the first steps towards the creation of an inclusive community at Bentley, as part of an important broader urban regeneration project.”

A 2015 artist impression of the Bentley site.

City of Canning mayor Patrick Hall welcomed the state government’s announcement.

“I’m not disheartened by it. I’m really not, I’m just actually quite happy that something is actually happening and it’s now, front and centre,” he said.

Herron Todd White director Chris Hinchliffe said the escalated cost of developing new apartment complexes was prohibiting viability in more affordable areas.

“Although costs overall have begun to steady in comparison to last year, they remain far higher than what existing, semi-modern stock is currently selling for,” he said.

“Hence there has been no new supply in more affordable areas for some time, and there is unlikely to be any soon.”

A 2019 artist impression of the Bentley site.

In the last three financial years, WA has averaged 14,000 new dwellings per year. That’s just 42,000 additional homes when, over the same period, the state’s population has grown by about 60,000 new households.

In a statement, DevelopmentWA, the lead agency for delivering the Bentley Redevelopment Project, said the challenging project would become a priority for government.

“Stage 1 of the project is being expedited with civil works set to commence later this year, subject to approvals,” it said.

“A new master plan and refined vision for the rest of the project area will be developed in consultation with the local community and other stakeholders over the coming months.

“The plan aims to deliver predominantly medium density townhouses and single dwellings, with small apartment development in the later stages. The final dwelling yield for the project will be informed by the community feedback on the new master plan.”

An approval project structure plan from 2015.

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