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Policy decisions made in the next three years will irreversibly change the look and feel

of Perth city and regional WA. For the first time ever, Scoop presents the collective

vision of the 14 key decision-makers and opinion leaders shaping the future of

this great State in the 21st century Words Georgina Barker, David Hogan & Gabi Mills Photography Ross Wallace

Colin Barnett WA Premier The importance of making change happen ........... 54

John Day WA Minister for Planning, and Steve WooDlanD State Architect Creating a more connected and stimulating city .... 58

roSS holt CEO of LandCorpWorking with stakeholders to change the face of WA 62

BrenDon GryllS WA Minister for Regional Development and Lands, and lynDa DorrinGton executive director of FORMBringing the arts and amenities to regional WA ......... 66

tony MorGan CEO of the Metropolitan Redevelopment AuthorityBuilding a city for the future ..................................70

Warren Kerr former president of the Australian Institute of Architects, and DaviD KarotKin current Australian Institute of Architects WA presidentThe importance of design and threat of mediocrity ...72

liSa SCaffiDi Perth Lord Mayor, and CraiG SMith City ArchitectCreating a more liveable city ............................. 76

Marion fulKer CEO of the Committee for Perth The need for a broader vision .............................. 80

BraDley WooDS CEO of the Australian Hotels Association (WA), and evan hall CEO of the Tourism Council of WACreating a global city for tourism and hospitality .... 82


Feature | Vision WA Debate | Vision WADebate | Vision WA

pipeline, large-scale investment in agriculture, the development of Fremantle Harbour, an extensive rail network and even the national rail link, finally completed in 1917.

It didn’t happen without great controversy. Forrest was slandered in the press, victimised by the newspapers of the day. The pipeline was pilloried as the ravings of a madman. There were strikes in Kalgoorlie and a strong push for the Goldfields to secede from WA as a separate colony or join South Australia. There was even talk of the north-west becoming a separate state as happened in the east with the creation of Queensland. Forrest was seen to be looking after his mates in the city and wasting money on unworkable projects in the bush. But the projects went forward and WA is the better for it.

A century later, history repeats Western Australia’s economy is again booming. We need to develop quickly and people don’t like it. Similar to the 1890s, we need people, homes, office space, bars, restaurants, water, infrastructure, bigger towns, a bigger capital. And we need them yesterday.

In 2011, over 55,000 new residents settled in WA and new housing development is not keeping pace. Over $200 billion in industrial development drives demand. The money is there and through the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority and the new DAPs (Development Assessment Panels) system, local councils can now be effectively bypassed.

Many believe this is necessary, that State priorities come before local politics, that the waterfront and other public assets belong to the city, not to the suburb. It prevents the ‘not in my backyard’ mentality and allows greater density in the city. Whether you agree or not, it has paved the way for more rapid development.

So like it or not, change is coming, and people are afraid And so they should be. The decisions made in the next few years will dictate the shape and style of our towns and cities. The Perth of 2020, let alone 2050, will be radically different to the Perth we live in today.

What’s encouraging is that there is strong consensus amongst the key decision-makers and opinion leaders about what we do and don’t want. All 14 people we interviewed came across as competent, experienced and genuinely passionate about leaving a legacy for future generations.

It was widely acknowledged that mistakes have been made. No one wants another shed on the foreshore or endless urban sprawl centred on US-style shopping malls. Housing density without appropriate street-front amenities leaves communities without a town centre and a soul.

Everyone is cognisant of the need to get it right – that this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to leave a legacy. There is recognition of key stakeholders and the importance of

innovative design, public space, the arts, more hotels, social housing and better transport systems.

Planning documents such as Directions 2031 and Beyond are a good start. It acknowledges the challenges and plans for the future. It signs off on many qualitative aspects of the future of WA and has a common goal for decision-makers. But is it enough to safeguard the quality of future development?

The consensus is no – not yet, anyway. There are two concerns.

We need to think bigWe can’t measure the cost of development in terms of hospital beds. We need to think of the big picture, to 2050 and beyond, when the population of Perth is predicted to reach 3.5 million.

We need to accept great design won’t be popular with everyone. Iconic design will always divide

opinion; the popular decision will offend few but impress none – the very essence of mediocrity.

We need to future proof our society and our economy so we are able to compete as a global city. No one should be left behind – we need to leave a legacy that benefits all West Australians. We don’t want to lose what makes WA a great place to live, and we want to ensure that even the lowest income earners can enjoy our world-class public assets – our waterways, our parks, our sporting facilities, the arts and cultural events. But at the same time we want to live and work in a place that is inspiring.

If it takes $200 million to turn a functional development into a globally recognisable icon, then we should spend the money. Why? Because it will put us on the map. It will show the rest of Australia and the rest of the world that we are a global city

capable of greatness. Because it instills confidence, attracts finance and human capital. Our economy relies on attracting and retaining the world’s best and brightest, along with their families. They won’t come and they won’t stay unless we have something to offer beyond the functional.

Because it makes us a tourism destination for the future – something that will be vital when the resources run dry. It will help grow our city and give us a critical population mass that boosts the local economy and makes industry and jobs safe.

Because it will make us proud to live in a thriving economy with great art and design. Because it makes every day a little bit brighter when our office, living and public spaces are of a high standard. Because life is about more than food and shelter – we need to be inspired. But mostly, because a thriving society will drive an economy that will fund the hospital beds and classrooms for the future.

Someone needs to explain how this is going to happenEveryone we interviewed recognised the importance of quality design, but was less certain about how this will happen. There is little documentation on design standards and how they will be implemented. It is a broad concern that is shared by many in the industry. There is acknowledgement that communication with the public could also be improved.

However it’s likely not the entire truth. There are two challenges for government.

First, while West Australians are renowned for innovation in business, we are conservative on social change. Radical design is almost always strongly opposed from the outset: look at the Opera House and Federation Square. Perth will be no different.

Second, the West Australian media cannot always be trusted to provide a fair analysis or interpretation of any vision presented by government, and as a result, government will often elect to take a small-target strategy and keep under the radar.

That is a great shame, because in this time of great change we need leadership and vision, particularly when it comes to something that will impact on our future quality of life, our cost of living, the health and happiness of our communities, our ability to compete for human capital, our economy and the lives of future generations.

Whether or not Barnett and other decision-makers are ready to take the challenge – and do it right – remains to be seen. One thing that can be said about Barnett is that he pays little heed to public opinion – if he thinks it is the right thing to do, he will do it. Whether or not he is prepared to step up Kennett-style, convince WA that now is the time to invest in the future, and put measures in place that leave a legacy we can be proud of, only time will tell.

“We need to think of the big picture, to 2050 and beyond, when the population

of Perth is predicted to reach 3.5m”

“Radical design is almost always strongly opposed from the outset: look at the Opera House and Federation Square. Perth will be no different”

interested in finding out more? | For more information, to read more detailed transcripts and to review relevant documents, go to scoop.com.au and click on the Commercial Building & Design portal. We intend to continue to follow the development of WA closely and invite anyone with an active interest in the future of WA to subscribe to our free monthly newsletter.

Like it or not, the 14 individuals interviewed for this feature are shaping the future of WASo we thought it was essential to provide each of them an opportunity to present a clear and unfettered summary of their vision, an idea of what we can expect for the future of WA.

Don’t mistake this for a critical review. This is them having their say, trusting that their views will be fairly represented and not hijacked with a single phrase taken out of context, deliberately misconstrued, sensationalised or turned into a story that doesn’t exist.

Painting a vision, something for which they can be held accountable, is just the first step. Critiquing their views, reviewing their track record and assessing their capacity and their will to implement their vision is a story that will be carried on through Scoop magazine, Scoop Homes & Art magazine and our new web portal, scoop.com.au.

Western Australia is on the cusp of the greatest phase of development since the gold rush in the 1890s... John Forrest was the Premier of the day and a real visionary, pushing through major infrastructure projects in the face of enormous opposition to change, including the Perth to Kalgoorlie


Feature | Vision WA Feature | Vision WA

Perth is clearly going to grow strongly, probably more so than any other australian city. The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is likely to be a marker in history that Perth has been discovered by a large part of the world. I think over the next decade Perth will firmly establish itself as Australia’s west-coast capital, Australia’s Indian Ocean city and the city closest to Asia… to the subcontinent – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh – and increasingly, Africa. One of my cliche sayings –“WA looks over the horizon, not over the Nullarbor” – is becoming a reality.

Perth is going through a fundamental change. If you look back in history, it was around 100 years ago that the city changed, that Perth was established. The State changed in the 1890s with the discovery of gold, then over the next decade, electricity was put into the city, Parliament House and the Supreme Court were built, along with Fremantle Harbour and the water pipeline to Kalgoorlie. They were extraordinary projects that happened when WA was a tiny place of barely 50,000 people. This period now is the second great building period of Perth city. History will show that quite clearly.

Perth will be a very different-looking city by 2020. We are already into construction of Perth City Link. We are finally sinking the rail, which we have talked about for 100 years, and removing that barrier between Perth and Northbridge. As part of that, we’re going to have a great city square, about 30 per cent bigger than Melbourne’s Federation Square, where the Horseshoe Bridge is. Perth Waterfront project will start serious construction in early 2012. It will bring the river back into its original shoreline and will give Perth a waterfront similar to what Sydney has with Circular Quay. On the eastern side, the construction of the stadium will start in a couple of years, and will finish about mid-2017. A footbridge across to the city, a bit like the footbridges in Brisbane, will open up a whole new entertainment/sports precinct with the stadium as the centrepiece. And up at Kings Park we will have a connection between the city and West Perth.

all these projects are being done at once. That’s what’s unique. On four points of the city we have major historical change taking place – Perth

Colin Barnett

c olin Barnett is Premier of WA during the second great building period

in the State’s history. Renowned for his pro-development stance, Colin and

his government have worked hard at removing impediments to progress and

believe strongly that doing nothing at all is the worst mistake we can make.

He makes it clear that like it or not, change is happening – the city will be

different, and we should be excited. With his worst fear being the risk of

cutting corners, Colin stresses the importance of protecting WA lifestyle

for all West Australians, catering for the needs of young families,

and the need for more innovation, inspiration and flair from architects

and builders operating in WA

The importance of making change happen

7 WA’s Best Commercial Building & Design 2012

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Waterfront, Perth City Link, east-side precinct and Kings Park. There hasn’t been a period since the 1900s that you’ve had such a transformation take place in the city.

The number-one priority is going to continue to be about protecting the Wa lifestyle. And that means different things to different people. You can join a tennis club and pay $400 a year to play on grass courts as good as Wimbledon all year round. You can join a golf club and play golf all year round, or

you can buy a dinghy and join a yacht club and sail on the river. Those activities are not the province of the wealthy in Perth. They are basically available to all the community and that’s always going to be number-one priority, to maintain that and protect that, as well as family living.

i see the role of the government as laying out the big picture. Government decides we’re going to have an eastern precinct, we’re going to have a stadium, and so on. What is up to the industry, particularly the architects, is to fill in the detail. Where Perth has fallen behind is in the quality of some of the architecture. We don’t have enough striking buildings that stand out. The property industry can definitely be more innovative in inner-city housing, apartments, terraces and townhouses. There are signs of that but we still have a fair way to go. We need more choices for people at any point in their life. And we need better public art incorporated into the projects.

There is a clear desire amongst our younger adult generation for inner-city living. Congestion on our roads and freeways is becoming an issue for the first time in history. It’s the inner-city areas that can offer the choice and vitality of different types of lifestyles. As long as we always have the traditional Australian quarter-acre-or-less block

“What I would hope comes out of this period is that there are more high-quality activities and events for young families”

and house as an option, I would encourage the industry to be more innovative and build some really attractive, classy developments. A lot of the townhouses and apartment blocks are basically spat out of a machine – simple design at minimal cost. I’d like to see some more exotic design. Take a look at New York and Paris and see what architects are doing there.

The city hasn’t had a new five-star hotel for 25 years. There are a couple of big projects on

the horizon, and China Southern Airlines will now play a big part in Asian tourism, particularly from China. We’re retaining some sites for hotels and are looking at development incentives such as allowing mixed tourism and residential, and removing height restrictions. for example, in Cottesloe the town planning scheme is 20 years out of date, so the State is taking over the planning of the area. That won’t be high-rise development like the Gold

“As long as we always have the traditional Australian quarter-acre-or-less block and house as an option, I would encourage the industry to be more innovative and build some really attractive classy developments”

Coast, but my view is that at least up to five storeys should be allowed, along with better-quality entertainment, restaurants and bars. It will happen. It’s been frustrated for a long time and I think the majority of people in Cottesloe now want to see change – that’s the feedback I’m getting as Member for Cottesloe.

Scarborough desperately needs to be re-done. Scarborough is the big public city beach. The State will take a lead role. It will probably come under the new Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority, which will have special planning and zoning powers to develop some of the vacant sites to a high standard and then hand responsibility back to local council.

What i would hope comes out of this period is that there are more high-quality activities and events for young families. With a mortgage, kids at school, and balancing work, school and sport, young families are the ones who need the most help. I’d like to see more

opportunity for them to go to free events, such as Carols by Candlelight, pantomimes for children, concerts for teenagers – events that bring people into the city or other venues. I want to see a culture of people getting out, enjoying themselves and interacting with other people for free, or for minimal charge.

My biggest disappointment, in 20 years’ time, will be if our developments weren’t done well and corners were cut.

The Perth Waterfront redevelopment is intended to give the city a space similar to Sydney’s Circular Quay.


Feature | Vision WA Feature | Vision WA

John Day & Steve Woodland

j ohn Day has been Minister for Planning; Culture and the Arts

in WA since September 2008, something that he says goes hand-in-hand

with urban design. He is said to be one of Colin Barnett’s trusted

inner-circle and is guiding many of the radical changes being made

to the face of Perth and WA. Minister Day does not shy away from the

need for more centralised control over urban development, and speaks

with passion about the need for greater density, connectivity and living

spaces that are activated and stimulating

Steve WooDlanD is a director of Cox Howlett & Bailey Woodland

and has been State Architect since May 2009, charged with advising the

Minister on matters related to urban design and architecture in WA. He

admits that while the suburban model has merit, it has been hijacked along

the way and there is now a clear preference for street-fronted retail and

activated town centres. He stresses the importance of human capital and

notes that the most resilient cities in the world have typically had strong

education backgrounds and strong cultural support systems

We’re expecting at least another 550 to 600,000 people in Perth and Peel in the next 20 years. The message of Directions 2031 and Beyond (Department of Planning) is to provide for a growing and ageing population, and we can’t rely on urban sprawl as we have in the past. There is greater emphasis on urban consolidation, urban infill projects. (JD)

in 20 years, i’d like to see affordable housing available for people who want or need to live here. I’d like to see a greater activation of public spaces; more opportunities for people to recreate, go out to cafes and small bars in their local area; and good inclusion of public art and performing arts facilities, where appropriate. All these help make a society that’s interesting and stimulating. Just having bland boring suburban developments without anything to intellectually stimulate or entertain people produces a pretty soulless outcome. (JD)

We need to be a more connected city, less reliant on individual motor cars. People are experiencing congestion coming into the city from every direction. We need better-developed public transport and to make that viable we need higher-density developments around major public transport, which includes our existing heavy rail system, a further-developed bus network, and light rail in the not-too-distant future. People need to be able to access public transport from high-quality apartments close to public transport routes. (JD)

There is an increasing number of people who don’t want a suburban house on a block of land. Of course plenty of people do still want that, but more and more people are chasing conveniently located, smaller-scale accommodation – ‘lock and leave’ apartments and townhouses that have good access to public transport and amenities. (JD)

Creating a more connected and stimulating city


Feature | Vision WA

and the design review process, including assessing against the original design objectives. (SW)

These major projects will produce a significant shift, not just in the physical aspects of the city but in the quality. Each of these projects is about a collective move towards adding a sense of public domain and public interaction. Importantly, the association between culture, arts and planning is a potent one. Statistically, if you look at cities internationally, nearly all the cities that have survived and grown have had strong education backgrounds and strong cultural support systems. At the end of the day it’s all about the human capital of the city. The thing that makes a city robust over time is human capital and how you attract, retain and maintain that. (SW)

Previously, the reason the city has grown is because pressure on office space means developers have put up office buildings. That will continue, but we’re now in a phase where various things are important to our city: the Cultural Centre; being on the river; linking the city north, not simply because it provides a whole stack of buildings but because it does something for the people. (SW)

i think there’s quite a strong consensus. There’s a similar thought and ambition among the people who are… interested in the city and surrounds. The major projects are not just development projects; they are public-domain building projects. I can’t think of a time when there has been these sorts of moves in the city – significant moves creating public domain – that carry with them all those things about the value of human capital and the value of the city. (SW)

i agree we have a good alignment of all the decision-makers and stakeholders. I think we could do with a document that better communicates the overall vision, but a lot of what we’re saying is in Directions 2031 and Beyond and other documents. (JD)

“At the end of the day it’s all about the human capital of the city. The thing that makes a city

robust over time is human capital and how you attract, retain and maintain that” (SW)

The suburban model does have attractions but it got hijacked along the way, in particular by retail. Retail used to exist in a traditional town centre. With the transition to shopping malls, the neighbourhood that used to hold the suburb together got fractured. People started to think, “What’s my town centre? What’s my neighbourhood?” (SW)

We now have a planning emphasis on activated street fronts. In all the planning work I see and am involved with, there’s a preference towards street-fronted retail. Having said that, the retail industry is a very precedent-based industry with strict formulas, so breaking those has been a challenge. Even Claremont Quarter is a bit of a hybrid – you’ve got ‘big box’ retail and a supermarket in an internal space, but you’ve also got an activated street. (SW)

We’re certainly trying to get away from ‘big box’ retail developments. Even in large-scale greenfields developments, we’re now aiming to achieve more of a town centre. This will include higher density near the centre and larger blocks radiating out, so you’ve got more diversity, more choice and better use of land, as well as local facilities some developments from the last 30 years missed out on. (JD)

amendments to the Planning and Development act (2005) have streamlined the approvals system. They ensure that, when necessary, at a State level we can make decisions more effectively than previously. Development Assessment Panels (DAPs) have been established to make decisions for larger-scale projects in place of Local Government councils. Decisions are made more on professional advice and objective assessment as opposed to local political issues, which in the past have tended to dominate. It’s important that at a State level we look at the bigger picture and make decisions based on the longer-term needs of the State. (JD)

Cottesloe is a good example of where change is needed. In my view, the built form along Cottesloe

beachfront is backward and shabby. It’s a lost opportunity, which is why we need to have the powers at a State level to change planning schemes when justified. Cottesloe has Statewide importance and we can do better there, while preserving a high level of amenity for people who live in the area. (JD)

it’s definitely not the case that anything goes. Projects or planning scheme amendments that are proposed need to be well-founded and based on good long-term thinking. It’s essential we achieve high-quality design outcomes, particularly from major buildings. Well-considered design guidelines need to be a part of all our major projects. (JD)

The major projects such as Perth Waterfront, Perth City link and riverside have strong parameters about design quality. A significant part of the evaluation is to do with design proposals from developers to ensure the design quality offered is of equal importance to the commercial value of the project. There are serious objectives in terms of design quality and what that means, particularly in terms of pedestrian and public domain. Design quality is considered very early in the bidding phase

“Just having bland suburban developments without anything to intellectually stimulate or entertain produces a soulless outcome” (JD)

The Riverside development is intended to maintain strong design parameters.


Feature | Vision WA

“WA has to be an affordable place. We need to get far smarter and get on the

front foot with the affordability issue. And we have to diversify the economy”

i believe there is a coherent vision for Wa. Directions 2031 and Beyond (Department of Planning) is the overarching planning document that informs how we’re going to maintain our lifestyle rather than get swamped by dramatic population growth. It identifies where development should happen, where density should be increased, where activity centres should be located and where fringe growth should happen. What it doesn’t say is how we’re going to get there, so perhaps what we’re missing is an implementation strategy. However, I don’t think the absence of an overarching implementation strategy is stopping anything from happening.

Major development projects are a vehicle to deliver a lot of what Wa is going to be in the future. It’s about using resource opportunities to diversify our economy, develop new industries and offer new experiences. How do we become the centre of excellence in the world for offshore oil and gas? How do we attract the smartest and brightest people into that space? How do we cater for locals and visitors? It’s not about developments, it’s about experiences, but developments are the vehicle to deliver those experiences.

Creating 50 activity centres of intense development will be decades of work. Joondalup,

Ross Holt

r oss Holt is CEO of LandCorp, the State Government developer charged

with delivering land and infrastructure projects using government land,

and often when the numbers don’t stack up for the private sector. The

scale and number of developments throughout Perth and regional WA is

truly mind-boggling. With more than 20 years of experience in large-scale

developments involving the financing, delivery and operation aspects, Ross

talks with great confidence about previous successes, exciting progress,

lessons learnt and the need to adopt a less risk-averse attitude to WA’s

development. He expresses a strong understanding of the connection

between development and social and economic imperatives, and about using

human capital to make WA a centre of excellence. While he believes there

is a coherent vision for development, he expresses some concern about the

absence of a clear path for implementing qualitative outcomes

Working with stakeholders to change the face of WA


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which is the result of a mid-1970s vision to create a satellite city, is well underway but is still only going through its first generation. Satellite cities of tomorrow will be the activity centres, such as Murdoch. With Fiona Stanley Hospital, St John of God Hospital, Murdoch University and Challenger TAFE all growing dramatically, by 2031 Murdoch is set to employ 35,000 people within 300 to 400 hectares, and become the second employment area outside Perth. But it can’t just be about hospitals and universities – it’s about creating an experience. Where do people live? Where do they go for coffee? Where do they meet people? That’s all in the planning. The intent is to make Murdoch like a town centre, with a main street and excellent transport connections to the freeway, and railway and buses within. It will be a major urban centre.

i have a concern with how the current major city projects are being staged. Perth Waterfront, Perth City Link and Riverside projects are about a lot more apartments and intensity. I don’t know if we can have everything happening at once with thousands of apartments and office blocks being built – we’re not big enough. So you have to say, “What’s most important? What do you do first? Where do you put your energies?” Hopefully that’s happening below the surface.

vibrancy, opportunity and diversity that you see in Perth.

in regional Wa we’re doing everything we can to accelerate land supply. In the Pilbara, for example, we’re doing subdivision releases of up to 450 lots at a time and releasing them, quite often by ballot, at a set price. We don’t auction and we give preference to first-homebuyers and local businesses. We do everything we can to decrease any speculative element and make land as affordable as possible. Similarly in Broome, we’re trying to get ahead of the game to make sure prices aren’t driven up by any resource developments. We have an area called Broome North with about 4000 lots. People say we’re selling land too cheaply and devaluing the rest of Broome, but we’ve tried to respond to the concern of affordability.

Coastal limitation is an issue in regional Wa but i don’t think it should scare off development. Risk-averse people say we shouldn’t be developing land subject to periodical – once in 50 or 100 years – flooding. But why can’t we design for periodic inundation? We need to be open to more innovative or pragmatic solutions rather than put up barriers. The Pilbara is a

classic example. Port Hedland is very constrained geographically, but we could access low-lying areas and design to fit that situation. We’ve got to look at the broader value equation – the broader cost benefit and solutions rather than the ‘why-nots’. Unfortunately I think risk-averse attitude is getting worse.

The successful outcome, in 20 years’ time, is that Perth will still be one of the most liveable cities, with all the amenity and lifestyle benefits that people associate with Perth. High-quality, higher density, high-amenity areas that people live in or gravitate to. But it won’t just be about Perth. Lifestyle opportunities in Regional WA will be at least equal to Perth. Towns will have the same vibrancy, buzz, diversity and choice,

in terms of urban development, there are different ways of doing the same thing by way of landCorp, redevelopment authorities or private developers. A number of major inner-city projects are under the responsibility of the MRA. As the MRA has both planning and development powers this enables these projects to be fast-tracked compared with projects being undertaken by private developers or LandCorp. This is an appropriate solution for high-priority projects.

however i don’t think redevelopment authorities are the answer across the board. Other models, while they may be less speedy, can better engage

the local authority and general community. From a LandCorp point of view, we think the general model should be one based on collaboration between the developer and local council and community. The developer – be it LandCorp, private developer or a redevelopment authority – is only there briefly, yet the local council is left running with it forever. The people who inherit it [local council and local residents] need to be happy with

it, so it’s extremely important to engage them and make sure they’re on side. That said, some projects do have a Statewide significance beyond what an individual local council can deal with and this is where there might be a place for a redevelopment authority. But generally, we live in a democracy, we have a range of existing institutions and checks and balances in the development approval systems, and we should use them. Mandurah ocean Marina is a fantastic example of the developer – in this case landCorp – collaborating with the local council. Government tipped in about $10 million to make the feasibility

stack up and in the end, real estate prices were equal to East Perth and it has generated a significant return to the taxpayer. It was based on engaging with council from day one. It was based on the fact that the council would be responsible for managing it. We worked with council to develop a business plan to address the financial liabilities they would be picking up and together we put a management structure in place. We built a family-friendly chalet park with all associated revenues going to council. Council also picks up revenue from hundreds of boat pens and other facilities. It is an arrangement that is working superbly and the project just won a ‘marina of the world’ award [at the International Council of Marine Industry Associations World Marinas Conference in Singapore last year].

one of our key lessons learnt is that regional Wa has the same appetite as Perth in terms of vibrancy, opportunity and diversity. When we did the Marlston Hill development in Bunbury in 1996, we did some demo building on small lots. People down there said it wouldn’t work – that Bunbury is an expansive country town and people want big blocks. But they were wrong, and we were wrong. You go to Marlston Hill now and the stuff we did is the most modest of anything that’s happened there. We completely under-did it; we completely misunderstood what they wanted. The Bunburys of the world want East Perth – as much as Perth people. It was a key lesson for us – that regional WA has exactly the same appetite as Perth. So the developments we’re now doing, in Karratha and Port Hedland particularly, are going to give a lot of that feel,

“You need good leadership. Perth Waterfront is only happening because the Premier is on side. Take him out and you’ve got nothing”

“People say we’re selling land too cheaply and devaluing the rest of

Broome, but we’ve tried to respond to the concern of affordability”

but they will have their own feel – they will hook into the local character of the region. Overall, WA has to be an affordable place. We need to get far smarter and get on the front foot with the affordability issue. And we have to diversify the economy.

for any development to go forward you need good leadership. Perth Waterfront is only happening because the Premier is on side. Take him out and you’ve got nothing. All of these projects are the same. Without Brendon Grylls and the Premier pushing Pilbara Cities, it wouldn’t happen. You need the leadership. You need the planning. You need the delivery capacity. And you need the funding. Anything only happens when the planets are aligned.


Section title | Story titleFeature | Vision WA

Brendon Grylls & Lynda Dorrington

it’s a fantastic time to be in Wa. Our iron ore is helping to build the world’s houses, our gas is heating their homes. There are business leaders here who are looked up to by the whole world, and that’s why people like me – the boy from the Wheatbelt - want to be here because you can be in this fantastic circle of people who are transforming Perth, transforming the Australian economy. (BG)

i think our place in the world and in australia is growing; we don’t want to be a Melbourne or a Sydney any more. People are being funnelled to the west. This is the place to be. That’s the kind of thing that builds a confidence and an enthusiasm, which, if governments are smart, can be harnessed. (LD)

The economic expansion of the State is bringing the best and brightest to our door. I had a conversation with a lawyer who had returned to Perth, thinking it would be a step back. But he’s saying, no, London is coming to Perth. The whole world is looking at Perth – it’s the centre of resources expansion. (BG)

however we still have a net loss of creators every year, despite the fact that we have more intellectual property creators per capita than every other state. We have more engineers, more scientists. That is, in itself, a catalyst for change, but until we invest in interdisciplinary practice – for instance medical

“I think our place in the world and in Australia

is growing” (LD)

scientists, working with high level creatives – we’re just not going to see the innovation factor. (LD)

if you want to be central to what’s happening, you need to be here. Yes, we don’t have the small laneways culture of Melbourne, but in due course there may be something similar. But we don’t want it to be Melbourne. We have a different focus, a different ideology. We want to be us. Rapid growth is coming – will we get it all right? No, perhaps not. Will the commentators be happy with

the politicians’ vision? Probably not, but it’s their job to commentate, and it’s our job as politicians to be doing things, and that can be hard. (BG)

you can’t come to a city of two million people and complain that it isn’t Sydney or Melbourne, and it’s not london and it’s not Milan. As we grow to four million people, more of those things will occur – it’s starting already. There’s this cringe that Perth doesn’t have this and that – it’s like saying Corrigin, where I’m from in the Wheatbelt, doesn’t have what Perth has. It’s just missing the point. (BG)

yes, so rather than asking whether you’d prefer Perth to morph into an la or a Melbourne, i’d prefer it to become a Portland or a Copenhagen. They’re both small cities. It isn’t a population issue. What we’re discovering in the north [of WA], is that there’s this enormous sense of optimism. The State didn’t have that five years ago. There’s a sense of “This is really happening – I’m part of what’s making it happen”. We have to harness that sense of action, the people and their networks. We need to embed more investment in the cultural sector.

We need to put a shot across the bow of big private companies to step up. When I first started working with BHP eight years ago, their involvement was little bit by little bit. Now it’s “How much do you need?”, “What do you need to make it happen?”, and “How do we get behind the State?” If we had a few more of those in the north, government money would be multiplied many times over. (LD)

it’s no different in country Wa than the argument we all have about Perth – country towns want liveability and amenity. We spend a lot of time

“If you want to be central to what’s happening, you need to be here” (BG)

b renDon GryllS is WA Minister for Regional Development

and Lands. He is a passionate advocate for development in regional WA

and holder of the purse strings of the Royalties for Regions initiative. He

talks with wonderment of the scale and style of development in regional

towns, the frustration with constant big-city comparisons, and already

delivering a high quality of life and sophistication throughout regional WA.

Like all politicians and bureaucrats in WA, he despairs at the media’s lack

of attention on the big issues and immense progress being made, preferring

to beat up minor issues with little relevance to the big picture

lynDa DorrinGton is executive director of FORM, a not-for-profit

organisation that advocates and develops creativity in WA. Lynda is

well-known, well-connected and widely respected in the arts, urban

and regional development and political arena. Lynda speaks of renewed

optimism in the North West, working closely with the corporate sector

such as BHP, whose attitude has gone from ‘little by little’ to ‘how much

do you need to make it happen?’

Bringing the arts and amenities to regional WA


Feature | Vision WA

not-for-profits and small businesses. We’ve put solar panels on every one, because this is a place where the energy needs are so great they put the air-con on on 1 January and turn it off on 31 December. It’s a really important small step but I hope it will encourage others to follow suit. (BG)

BhP’s boss said to me, “you’re building communities my workers want to live in… because it looks the same as what they’ve got back home”. That’s the kind of thing which transforms communities. People may still have this vision of the Karratha of the past, but that was 10 years ago – then it was a donga town, you couldn’t get a coffee or a hair cut, and you were surrounded by sweaty blokes working hard. Now, from the middle of the year, you can move into an apartment with water views, with a hairdresser downstairs and a cafe round the corner. And that’s not a vision, it’s actually happening. (BG)

i’d agree, and based on a survey we just did of a core sample of 700, they’re all saying, “We want this, we know it’s coming, we’re seeing it in our lifetime. We came for a year, and we’re still here 10 years later. We’re loving it”. And you’ve got companies like BHP saying, yes, it will build an A-class gallery in Port Hedland, and yes, it will look to Asia, because it makes good sense from a business perspective to have both cultural relationships with our trading partners and to build viable economical outcomes for Indigenous people. The people themselves are transforming it. There’s been a significant shifting of the zeitgeist, which is very rare. (LD)

This year, we’re opening a water park in Port hedland, with a park, a water playground; it’s set to be the area’s Kings Park. I’m convinced that FIFO Dad will bring Perth Mum and two kids up to Port Hedland for a barbecue in the park, and [Dad will] say, “Why am I only spending one weekend in four with the family when we could live here all the time, in a great place to bring up the kids?” We’ve got a brand-new public space, a top-class marina development, the best fishing in the whole of Australia just off the coast, a $15 million dollar youth base, we’ve remodelled the main street, and the commercial precinct is going in, along with brand new housing. (BG)

“We’ve realised [WA has] long-term resilience now, which should give more comfort to the major corporates to start

partnering. We aren’t boom and bust” (BG)

We’ve realised [Wa has] long-term resilience now, which should give more comfort to major corporates to start partnering. We aren’t boom and bust. (BG)

i’d agree, although at forM we’re better than most in terms of what we raise – $7m a year – but generally it’s pretty hard out there. You can’t have science innovation, physical infrastructure and culture in the one portfolio and see what we see now. It needs to be more of a living, breathing ecology of development because that’s where you’ll find the innovation. You’ve got Karratha, Broome and Port Hedland ideally situated to be energy cities of the north, with the largest market the world has ever seen above it in the same time zone. What are we doing to breed new technologies and techniques to address tomorrow’s market needs? (LD)

i think we’re getting there in terms of… creating innovative designs architecturally. We’re looking at built form – [urban strategist] Charles Landry has travelled through the regions talking about the Pilbara style – it’s not the Kununurra style, it’s not the Broome style. It’s unique. We’ve built a lifestyle village in Karratha to deal with the extraordinary rents that we’re subsidising for the

speaking about sports facilities and, of course, providing those does come into it, but I’m convinced that the secret to the success of liveable places rests in questions like, “Can I get a good coffee and a good haircut?” And if you don’t get that then you’re constantly pushing uphill, which is what we’re doing when we’re comparing ourselves to Melbourne and Sydney. (BG)

Communities like Karratha, Port hedland and Broome should have the capacity to breathe, to take people in and let them go again. You need to be able to Google the likes of Port Hedland and find more than just the resources industry. You need things like backpacker hostels – very dedicated places. The service industry can’t exist before you have that, so you can’t have a cafe before you know you’ll have a guy from Germany visiting to buy a coffee. (LD)

My vision, for the Karrathas, the Port hedlands and the Broomes, is to expand them to 50,000 people – double where they are now – then increasing incrementally after that. We’re doing all we can to drive that, while keeping the uniqueness of Broome, in particular. And it’s difficult, and the community does oppose it, but it’s no different to Perth, with

issues around trading-hour expansion. What ten years ago we saw in Sydney, we’re seeing in Perth. High density around transport nodes – it’s all happening. Perth being a few years behind isn’t us being ‘wait a while’, it’s that Perth is smaller. (BG)

and we learn from other cities’ experience. The cheap win is to put some serious money on the ground for creativity. It’s minuscule. (LD)

Possible ideas for Karratha include expanding the population to twice what it is now.

“Communities like Karratha, Port Hedland and Broome should have the capacity to breathe, to take people in and let them go again” (LD)



Mra’s vision is for a revitalised Perth. We will build sense of place in the redevelopment areas by supporting unique and high-quality design, heritage protection, public art and culture that respond to Perth’s environment, climate and lifestyle.

We will promote urban efficiency in the design and construction of infrastructure and buildings and in the mix of land use and through facilitating a critical mass of population and employment in the redevelopment areas. We will enhance connectivity in the redevelopment areas with well-designed places that support walking, cycling, and public transit so residents and visitors can access services, activities and employment without reliance on cars.

We will promote economic well-being by meeting market demand projections, providing opportunities for local businesses and emerging industries, and generating employment opportunities. We will promote social inclusion for varied people in the redevelopment areas by requiring diverse and affordable housing and by supporting community infrastructure, activities and opportunities for visitors and residents to socialise. And we will enhance environmental integrity by supporting ecologically sustainable

design, resource efficiency, recycling, renewable energy and protection of the local ecology.

We have more than 10 projects on the go in the Perth metropolitan area, including armadale and Midland. Right now, we are focused on making all these projects happen. The major projects in the city centre are particularly exciting. I’ve lived these projects for years and now they’re funded and happening. We’ve had plenty of preparation time to get the opportunity right and it’s been a great team effort. We’ve had strong bipartisan support all along and I think this will continue because I believe we’re all pushing for the same cause.

The major projects are aimed at creating a central city that spreads 5km in every direction. They will bring activated streets and places for community to meet – and community is what we’ve got to stand for. We’re also focusing on waterfront activation, which will include a combination of places for people to live, work and play.

t ony MorGan is CEO of the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority,

currently responsible for more than $11 billion worth of development

projects including Perth City Link, Perth Waterfront, Perth Cultural Centre

and Riverside. The MRA was formed on January 1, 2012 as an amalgamation

of four previous authorities: Subiaco, Midland, East Perth and Armadale.

Tony was in charge of Subiaco and East Perth, and before that was Director,

Urban Operations at LandCorp. Well respected and with more than 24

years’ experience in large-scale development, Tony talks about maintaining

design standards with the private sector, the danger of being too

conservative, and the projects that will redefine our city and create places

where people want to live, work and visit in the Perth of 2050

“We need to look at ideas and build them into a form that suits Perth. Perth is Perth. We must ensure that in any new development, the uniqueness of our landscape and its history is retained”

Tony Morgan

although we need to review it under the Mra and include Perth Waterfront, ePra redevelopment Scheme 2 describes what’s going to happen in the private and public domains in the areas in which we are working. Most areas we go into are a problem for the private sector to engage in. It’s our job to get them to a point where the private sector can engage, but from there we maintain a high level of control. When developers come on board they are under a commercial contract – a project development agreement that specifies all the contract conditions they must deliver on. And we hold them to that.

Mra is also the planning regulator in all these areas. This means we actually regulate and provide all the approvals the developers need. So we can say, no, we won’t approve it as it is – there’s got to be more social housing, there’s got to be more street activation, there’s got to be a better canopy to shield from the weather and so on. The developers work to a scheme and also work to design guidelines and it’s a process of negotiation.

We’re planning a city for 2050. It’s going to be a truly global city. Our job is to make sure there are no supply issues in the city centre. Currently we’ve got very low commercial vacancies and we’ve got a lack of hotels and a lack of residential accommodation. Collectively, the major projects of Perth City Link, Perth Waterfront and Riverside will create 6750 new dwellings, 1290 hotel rooms, 471,000sqm of commercial space and more than 70,000sqm of retail space.

This is Perth’s time in the sun – Sydney’s had it. Melbourne’s had it. Brisbane’s had it – and I don’t think we can get it wrong. But we really have to work hard to make sure we do some great things and that’s where we’ve got to have a lateral mind. We need to look at ideas and build them into a form that suits Perth. Perth is Perth. We must ensure that in any new development, the uniqueness of our landscape and its history is retained.

in 2050, Perth will be a success if it is truly the headquarters of Western australia. It will be a resource-rich state, with international trading

partners to our north. People will be enjoying the streets, the piazzas, the bars, the cultural events. Perth will be a great location to live. It will be a great place to grow a family, a great place to live as a single and meet partners, and it will be very easy to travel to other parts of the world. It will be a connected city. Tourists will come because the locals enjoy it and tourists hunt down territory where the locals are activated and enjoying their environment.

Areas like Perth’s Cultural Precinct are already revitalising the city.

“Collectively, the major projects of Perth City Link, Perth Waterfront and Riverside will create 6750 new dwellings, 1290 hotel rooms, 471,000 sqm of commercial space and more than 70,000 sqm of retail space”

Building a city for the future


Feature | Vision WA Feature | Vision WAwWarren Kerr& David Karotkin

arren Kerr is National Director of the Hames Sharley Health

Group and a former President of the Australian Institute of Architects

DaviD KarotKin is the current AIA WA president

They speak passionately about the positive impact of great design,

the opportunities to redesign Perth from the ground up, their very

real concerns for a city operating without a clearly documented

policy for urban design and the danger of opting for something that

everybody loves and ending up with mediocrity...

in europe, you’re forced to recognise that you’re in an environment which is contracting. In contrast there’s so much growth here. It’s a wonderful period to be alive, to be an architect and to be a West Australian. We’ve got the chance to forge the future, a wonderful opportunity which we can get right or get wrong. We can either be expedient or really get that thinking right, and the first building block of getting that strategy is to have a policy on the built environment so that we can get a consensus view on how we proceed. (WK)

as an institute, our long-standing policy is to have the State Government and/or local Government develop a policy on the built environment. Other sectors – health, education, justice – have clear government policies. But in our sector, nobody has made a quantitative statement saying that these are the design quality standards we should have. You need to have that as the basis for a discussion so you can get those fundamentals sorted and get the government to develop a policy. (WK)

We do now, though, have a State architect – a position promoted strongly by our institute. His appointment is part of a national agenda and we’re now looking at getting a Commonwealth Architect. The State Architect is drafting a policy document on the built environment. It’s supported by design

standards documents and ultimately will help form a suite of regulations, and, as Warren says, by having it as government policy, will create a benchmark against which quality can be assessed. However, it will still require champions because policies can end up on a shelf somewhere. (DK)

The secret and the fun in architectural design is combining functionality and sustainability, making it excellent for those of us who are here. Effective design comes down to how you put the ingredients together, like a recipe. If you are a chef, you put together those ingredients to create something extraordinary. It’s the same thing for an architect – you can create design value in how you arrange those components. (WK)

our vision for the future of the city is tied to its functionality – every part of the built environment has an impact on every part of our life, whether we’re working, worshipping, shopping or playing. It’s all been created and that can be good or bad. For instance, in healthcare, good design has been shown to affect recovery times of people in hospitals. (WK)

if you look at the major drawcards in the world in terms of cities, tourism-wise – Paris, Venice, San Francisco – you realise that people aren’t flocking there to see the natural hills and valleys. They’re

The importance of design and threat of mediocrity


Feature | Vision WA

going to see the built environment. In Perth, we’ve got a wonderful opportunity to virtually create something from scratch, to get it right and show the rest of the world how you can do a city with sustainable design in an Australian climate. (WK)

as an institute, we’re trying to achieve the highest standards. We’re putting in place regulations that require certain processes and outcomes. In Sydney, for instance… to develop a tower in the city above a modest size or value, the developer must run a limited design competition and have a city-appointed group on the jury. That announces that they’re design stakeholders in the community. Another model is to have panels who assess designs at development approval phase. Of course… when you start putting design guidelines in place, they can inhibit creative design outcomes and you don’t want to go down that path. The other way is to try to create an environment which encourages developers to build quality built outcomes. (DK)

if we can reach the public about the issues and the imperative to demand better design, you’ll get better design. In the built environment there’s a stack of backyard operators who can get away with shoddy work, and that impacts the whole community, on sustainability and on energy costs. (WK)

i think it’s good that we’re getting conversations about architecture since the days of the Bell tower – a subject which attracts all sorts of opinions. A lot of those opinions may be ill-informed but at least people are thinking about design and talking about it. It’s a first step. Once you get a dialogue going you become more aware of the key issues. We have a great opportunity to shape, long-term, how Perth

can look. We should have a long-view vision about how we want the city to look for future generations. And we’ve got to get it right this time. (DK)

at the moment, unfortunately, there is no State strategy. Various people are doing the right things. On a wider level the relationship between the State and Perth, and a unity of purpose, has dysfunctional elements to it. (WK)

as David said earlier, you need a champion who’ll grab the nettle and say, “This is my vision for the

future”. As an active institute, we can put certain views across. An individual architect can’t put forward their ideas to the Premier in the same way, but as an institute we can say that we’ve considered it and this is the way you should go. (WK)

architecture is for everybody, and we talk a lot about what impact it has on the public realm. However, I do think there’s room to consider the pure artistry associated with architecture and perhaps recognise that sometimes a building is perfectly functional but may not be popular. There’s a danger of opting for something that everybody loves and ending up with mediocrity. (DK)

i would say, though, in a democracy you should end up with a built environment that everybody loves and cherishes. Take the Sydney Opera House. It’s a design with a bit of imagination that’s now regarded as a national emblem. (WK)

The processes in place for the development of the foreshore and the Perth City link are different.

For the foreshore development, the government is building the infrastructure… creating individual lots for development, and I’d hope there would be design parameters in place. For the City Link project, the [Metropolitan] Redevelopment Authority has packaged up all the land, which will be right in the guts of the city, and they’re looking at getting one developer to take on the entire project. Nobody can understand it – it’s their way of saying, “We don’t want to carry the risk of doing the development”. It will feel like a planned precinct, and you won’t get that soul that

you get in a city, which has evolved, where people innovate over time. (DK)

yes, you’ll end up with a sameness. In contrast, when you look at the foreshore development, there will be individual interpretations of each space, and each of those buildings will have an energy and vitality. You won’t get beautiful little laneways on a monochromatic huge development at the heart of the city. There’s the potential to have a huge blandness at the heart of the city, which could be very soul-destroying. (WK)

Despite that, i think we’re seeing an emerging group of younger architects [working on a smaller scale] who are producing a new style of architecture, a lot in residential, which is shifting into commercial. I think that bodes well for the city because their works will add texture to the city at a human level, and will start to influence the nature of the city. Those sorts of projects will heighten the community’s awareness of design. (DK)

Bilbao [Spain] is a great example of a city taking design by the horns. They went out and said, “We want to attract a world-class architect to design a world-class building to be a major rejuvenator of the city”. They got Frank Gehry, who designed the Guggenheim Museum, and that was a decision which has paid for itself a thousand times over. (WK)

in terms of the city’s new arena, i believe it will become an iconic building for Perth. But its drawing power will be limited. If we had a project which was a cultural project, and then there was a real commitment to make it a world-class iconic building, that could stimulate all sorts of positive things for the city. For instance, I’ve just come back from MONA [Museum of Old and New Art] in Hobart – honestly, you can feel the shift in Tasmania, not just in Hobart. Now people are being drawn to Tasmania from all over the world, thanks to the world-class facility. (DK)

“I do think there’s room to consider the pure artistry associated with architecture

and perhaps recognise that sometimes a building is perfectly functional but may not

be popular. There’s a danger of opting for something that everybody loves

and ending up with mediocrity” (DK)

“If we can reach the public about the issues and the imperative to demand better design, then you’ll get better design” (WK)



l iSa SCaffiDi is in her second term and fifth year as Lord Mayor of Perth.

She is popular, pro-development and excited to see Perth become a more

liveable city that resonates with people on every level

CraiG SMith is part-time (although it rarely works out that way) City

Architect, charged with the responsibility for developing policy and

ensuring every project delivers a better result for the city of Perth

They have a bold vision for the Perth of the future and a strong

understanding of the policies and practicalities required to make it

happen. They envisage a total city makeover, with exciting new projects,

mix of social housing and city-wide wi-fi, and a city lifestyle that includes

ready access to first-class amenities

our city population has doubled in the last seven years and will double again in the next seven years. What we need to do is create communities within the city. [An] Urban Design Framework, which was published at the start of 2011, looks at where we might go by 2029. It aims to give guidance to all the people who have jurisdiction in the city – ourselves, the State, Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority (MRA), Main Roads, Public Transport Authority, Swan River Trust. The document outlines where shops should be, where density needs to increase, where transport needs to be and so on, in order to create centres within the city. (CS)

We’re about to build a new library, which will be our first public building for 30 years. The last civil construction we undertook was the Concert Hall in the 1970s. Estimated to cost $54m, the new lend library will be a significant building because it’s on the most historical part of our city. The square behind St George’s Cathedral will become

Lisa Scaffidi & Craig Smith

a piazza, with part of the Public Trustee Building demolished and the [Old] Treasury Buildings redeveloped into a 35-storey office tower, as well as a hotel component. The new lending library will be in the modern guise of a library, with e-books, internet, meeting-room space, collective meeting-room space for young people, coffee shops and hopefully a wi-fi zone around the perimeter and into the park. (LS)

i’d really like to see free wi-fi happening in the city. There is an absolute readiness and appetite for it within the younger generation. But then you get to some of the older people, who are probably the decision-makers and the ones who can enact it all and approve it, but they aren’t as savvy with the technology and they’re not quick enough to get their head around it. Thinking is costly. Because of our isolation we should just be saying yes to all this cutting-edge technology because it’s going to keep us globally connected and better educated. (LS)

“Our big focus moving forward is on encouraging diverse accommodation and

striving for design excellence” (LS)

Creating a more liveable city


Feature | Vision WA

our big focus moving forward is on encouraging diverse accommodation and striving for design excellence. At the moment we don’t have a lot of kids; we have a lot of empty-nesters, singles and young couples, but that will change dramatically. The city’s first housing project is underway next to the Perth Mint. It will have 48 units of affordable housing for young city workers who don’t want to commute. (CS)

We’ve given land from a car park to develop key city housing to encourage people to get a taste of inner-city living. They will be limited by tenure to three or five years and will pay less than market-value rents. The idea is that they save money and when their tenure is up they have converted to inner-city living and can afford to purchase some of the accommodation that will then be available. (LS)

We’re not saying the more residents the better. We’ve got to be very focused on not just saying yes to all developments. We need to be more specific in the criteria we seek. We need to be very strategic in ensuring there is good diversity and amenity. It’s one thing having many apartments and shops and businesses, but we need to encourage the amenity that residents seek. Only so many people want to live close to work. We want to attract other people who just see the merit of being close to amenity and lifestyle. (LS)

one way to encourage development is by offering incentives. We are currently looking at increasing plot ratios (the amount of building on any one lot) in certain areas to encourage development. For example, we are looking into offering a series of

bonuses via which developers can gain extra development space, perhaps by providing public facilities or public space or by achieving a six-star Green Star rating. In particular we’re looking at hotels, which are blighted by three things – land costs too much, building costs too much and it costs too much to run them. The government is looking for the capacity to give automatic bonuses of increased plot ratio if hotel developers meet certain performance criteria. This would push a number of developments that are currently not happening because of that plot-ratio restriction. (CS)

More hotels will come into the city. Demand is already there so it will happen, but I think incentives are vital. The government has not yet decided what incentives will be included in Perth Waterfront development. There’s a resistance to ‘incentivise’ the land price, which I think is a

mistake, because globally there is so much offering out there in terms of incentives. If we’re not going to play in that space we’re not going to attract the interest because of the other impediments we’ve been talking about. (LS)

We need to be really aiming to promote Perth as a ‘can do’ destination. We’re open for business, investment and we’re an attractive location to do business in. We’re one of the most liveable cities in the world in terms of investment and political safety. In every way we are a good city to be in, so we need to create the capacity. We’ve got the biggest American investment

outside domestic America with the likes of Chevron, Woodside, BHP all investing here on the back of our resources. As a result of them having a presence here there’s all the spin-off of the financial services, new law firms and accounting services. This filters down to creating a need for more restaurants and cafes. (LS)

The new BhP forecourt, which opens in June 2012, is going to be a huge boost for the city. It’s fantastic – a site that was vacant for 30 years, set to have a forecourt with no less than about 12 to 16 restaurants, cutting-edge, diverse, amazing fine-dining eateries. (LS)

That building [City Square tower block at 125 St Georges terrace] is going to bring the centre of Perth back to where it should be. It’s a feast of restaurants, bars and interactivity. Just that

one city block coming to life is going to make a fundamental change to the city. (CS)

vancouver is the city model we aspire to. I don’t like comparisons with other cities but we can learn from other cities and benchmark against the best of the best. Vancouver has a nice mix of all the right things in terms of good planning, efficiencies of scale. (LS)

The P for Perth should stand for purpose and passion in everything we do. It’s that capital city mandate. We need to be putting a welcome mat out there. We need to be open to ideas. We can’t be complacent. (LS)

The City Square development, part of the new BHP Billiton headquarters.

“We’re one of the most liveable cities in the world in terms of investment and political safety. In every way we are a good city to be in, so we need to create the capacity” (LS)



Marion Fulker

Directions 2031 and Beyond (Department of Planning) is the first strategy-to-implementation document that’s gained traction since the Stephenson-hepburn report of the 1950s. Stephenson and Hepburn planned four suburban corridors, district shopping centres and a central business district, and worked out where the rail corridors and roads would go. Most cities would check back and say, “Is this still the city we want to be?” but we have continued to follow this plan. Directions 2031 is probably a bit late. It’s a good document but only looks at the next half-million people, for which you could probably take the ‘business as usual’ approach. For a city of 3.5 million, everything needs to be pulled apart, blown up and reconstructed.

We’ve got some issues facing a city that used to be a country town. This city is going to be increasingly important on the national agenda and I’m not sure it’s getting the attention it deserves at a State level. The Premier is so focused on the State, I’m not sure he understands the role of the capital city within the State. Yes, he’s investing in some projects that you could say are ‘city-making’ or ‘city-defining’, but a museum should have been done decades ago, a stadium at least a decade ago.

The idea of the major projects on each side of the city is great because at least it will give us something in a core. But the concern is that we’re going to have all this construction going on at the same time in a condensed geographic space and people are going to be inconvenienced. It’s going to feel like a construction zone. The city will emerge at the end a beautiful butterfly but it’s not going to be a beautiful city during the transformation – it’s probably going to be pretty ugly, but the government hasn’t told anyone why it’s being done. There is no vision for people to understand and buy into.

We need a vision for Perth – a shared aspiration of what we want to be. Are we going to be an education city, a commercial city, a tourism city, a lifestyle city, an Indigenous city that celebrates other cultures? We have to reflect all our aspirations in our built form, as well as in our

natural environment, but we don’t yet know what these aspirations are because we haven’t yet had a shared conversation. It has to be a whole-of-community conversation, driven by government.

The built form has to feel like Perth. It has to represent the colours we identify with. How can we tell investors and developers what we want Perth to look like? We need a vision that can be replicated in our built form. Otherwise we’re just going to end up with one of those big, glassy, glossy cities and it won’t feel like Perth.

as for Perth Waterfront project, we at Committee for Perth believe it will be nothing without the indigenous cultural centre, which at the moment is on the backburner. If we want to turn Perth Waterfront on from day one, we’ve got to have a cultural link – there’s got to be some heart to it

that’s not about retail and fine dining. Celebrating Indigenous culture could be one of the distinctive things for Perth, something we could embrace. A world centre for Indigenous culture could bring world indigenous cultures together into a central place of cultural exchange, reconciliation and learning. I can’t find any benchmark for this anywhere else in the world. It’s ambitious and I think that’s what scares the government. Our greatest fear is that this cultural centre won’t get done, or it won’t get done properly. It’s an advantage that Perth could miss out on. We’re not the only city in Australia thinking about how to embrace Indigenous people and their culture. We’re the ones who have done the hard yards on it – we should actually realise it ourselves and not let our intellectual property go off to another city.

everyone talks about a place laden with opportunity, but as a city and a State that operates in a very conservative way, can we seize it? We might have all this opportunity at our feet, which other states probably wish they had at this point in time, but we just don’t have a great track record of seizing the moment, and I think that is because of our prevailing conservatism. Perth people are known to be incredibly entrepreneurial and inventive. It’s an absolute paradox that we can be so entrepreneurial in a business sense but so conservative in a social sense. a s CEO for the private-sector-funded Committee for

Perth, Sydney-raised Marion Fulker has an intense passion for her adopted

city and is concerned we are not keeping pace with growth. She says that

without a broad vision, community resistance to change is only going to

further stymie development in our city, which the State demographer

predicts will reach a population of 3.5 million by 2050

“We have to reflect all our aspirations in our built form, as well as in our natural environment, but we don’t yet know what these aspirations are because we haven’t yet had a shared conversation”

“This city is going to be increasingly important on the national agenda and I’m not sure

it’s getting the political attention it deserves at a State level. The Premier is so focused on

the State, I’m not sure he understands the role of the capital city within the State”

Perth Waterfront development, showing the proposed Indigenous cultural centre.

The need for a broader vision



b raDley WooDS is CEO of the all-powerful Australian Hotels

Association (WA), a consummate professional and leading lobbyist with

strong business and political connections in WA

evan hall is the newly appointed CEO of the Tourism Council of WA,

recently arrived in Perth after five years as National Policy Director of the

influential Tourism and Transport Forum, the peak industry group for the

tourism, transport and infrastructure sectors

Both represent the interests of tourism and hospitality in WA and believe

that while opportunities exist, there are inherent structural problems in

politics and government that are impeding the development of Perth into a

more liveable city, and WA into a renowned global travel destination

We need built design that understands the need for flexible spaces and a multitude of spaces. There needs to be consideration of how commercial and leisure markets shift and change in the context of a week or a year, and we need to look at developments that morph. The needs of a business traveller may be for unique, individual, private spaces, whereas the leisure traveller may want more communal, open spaces where they can meet people, including local people. Hotels, restaurants and hospitality businesses need to mix and match that. (BW)

We’re not just talking five-star hotels. I’m confident in 20 to 30 years’ time there will be people buying apartments without kitchens because they’re within a complex that has restaurants – half residential, half tourism. They think: “This is how I live my life – I don’t want to cook for myself and I don’t eat at home because I’m out every night because I live in a global city in destination Perth”. (EH)

Meeting space is infrastructure for the modern economy. Space and venues for knowledge workers to get together to share ideas and expertise is critical to doing business in today’s world. I don’t think the city has come to terms with that yet. The modern economy is about people and about people interacting with other people – public assets such as museums, stadiums and open space, planned for and delivered on Crown land. First you plan for the transport service and you plan for infrastructure of a visitor economy with venues, attractions, exhibits, sporting facilities and places for events. And once you plan for that, the market will either respond by building accommodation or, if need be, government encouraging accommodation on Crown land. It’s about mapping together the things that will turn Perth into a global destination – beyond people who are already here, but for the people who will be here in the next 20 years. (EH)

Bradley Woods& Evan Hall

“The modern economy is about people and about

people interacting with other people

– public assets such as museums, stadiums and open space, planned for

and delivered on Crown land” (EH)

Creating a global city for tourism and hospitality


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Governments are poorly constructed for the modern economy. There’s no ministry for hospitality, nor for the service economy. Traditionally you’ve got ministers to look after resources and manufacturing and so on, all of which are in long-term decline. Resources are not the driver for 30 years. They might be for 10 to 20, but you’re going to need a different economy after that. We need one body responsible for Perth – from the airport to the beaches and Fremantle – everything that makes up Perth as an experience for residents or visitors. And that doesn’t happen if you leave it up to seven city councils: they can only deliver for current residents. (EH)

Dubai, for example, has long been an oil-rich economy, but it has also built and prepared itself as a tourism and leisure economy. They are diversifying – they know their resources have a lifespan and will be tapped out. (BW)

We need one approval authority. A liquor licence should never be a barrier to competition or a barrier to product development. One of the main problems we have is the person who says yes or no to it has no vested interest in the success of your business or success of your vision – they can get their arse kicked if there is public outcry (about drunkenness and disorderly behaviour) so their interest is to say no. I know projects that have died because the conditions put on the liquor licence make it impossible for it to be commercially viable or to deliver the sort of product they intended to deliver to the market. What we’d like to see is one approval authority, rather than going through 12 different government agencies, and for that authority to have

as much responsibility for getting hotels developed as they have for public safety. Developers need to know where they stand in advance. (EH)

We need to develop a character of our own within our city urban environment. Melbourne is an example of a planning triumph, starting with the city being reoriented towards the water. Melbourne

has lots of public space, such as Federation Square, which was absolutely hated at the time but is now beloved by the people of Melbourne. There’s always something going on there and everyone’s having fun. Police don’t have to keep it under control because it’s a well-designed space and you get lots of different crowds mingling together. You’ve got that right next to a world-class casino, a convention centre, hotels and residential, and you can walk along it or catch a tram. Lots of jobs and activity have been created without having to dig anything up, simply by the way it’s been designed. And it’s not just economies of scale – they built this over the last 10 to 15 years because they chose to. (EH)

nearly every tourist goes up to Kings Park and they look over the city and see a giant tin shed. I’ve been saying for nearly 10 years that the tin shed should be painted. It’s the largest blank canvas the city has – why not use it to draw people into that space? Why not make it an attraction in its own right? It’s a giant sign saying, “Come here”. Perhaps we could find a way to make it the largest Indigenous canvas in the world and have a group of well-known Indigenous artists take ownership. (BW)

With this sort of thing, the government is hamstrung by the politics of: “Why are you spending money on a grand Indigenous canvas rather than on a hospital or school”. It’s hard to get across to the public the idea that the way a city is designed can create money, jobs, wealth, which then goes on to pay for hospitals and schools and so on. (EH)

My vision is that we see the river and beachside areas unlocked. As a capital city, as a potential major international city, we’ve got a unique environment in that we’re only 15 minutes from some of the most beautiful white beaches in the world, and yet they’re totally and utterly underdeveloped, with minimal hospitality and accommodation. West Australians and interstate and international visitors have been locked out of those spaces for too long. There needs to be a serious, community-driven effort

– everyone who doesn’t live beachside needs to demand that the State Government gives access to the beach. It’s the same with the river – for too long there has been too much control by the Swan River Trust, excluding the community from having access to and enjoying the riverfront. It is possible for the government to abolish the Swan River Trust and take back control in a much more professional and more managed way to give access to those spaces to the whole community. Once a government decides to go down that path, that’s when we’ll start to see Perth turn a corner and get some really exciting developments along the water. (BW)

“As a capital city, as a potential major international city, we’ve got a unique environment in that we’re only 15 minutes from some of the most beautiful white beaches in the world, and yet they’re totally and utterly underdeveloped...” (BW)

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