OFFICIAL: PRIORITIZE MELBOURNE URBAN-RENEWAL PROJECT

Gavin Jennings, minister for priority projects in Victoria, Australia, said during a recent Committee for Economic Development Australia event that the country’s largest urban-renewal project, Fisherman’s Bend in Melbourne, must be prioritized since it has the potential to spark economic growth and accommodate a growing population, The Urban Developer reports. Skyscraper applications for the area on the southern edge of the CBD have surged since 2017 after a draft framework projecting dense population of 1,300 people per hectare was released. Last year, however, Planning Minister Richard Wynne froze 26 tower applications until new planning guidelines are developed. This, critics say, contradicts Wynne’s previous statement that applications would be assessed based on interim guidelines.