Heart of Nedlands set to change after triple-tower project approved

The two tallest towers at each end of the development would also be reduced in height while the smallest tower, nine storeys high, was scrapped.

The council and its staff remained against the project, however, with Mayor Cilla De Lacy writing to JDAP to argue having two towers around 20 storeys high did not fit with the scale and character of the street.

“In fact, a development of this height would sit totally out of context with the only adopted desired
future scale of three to nine storeys,” she wrote.

“Whilst the City is developing the framework to define the desired future scale more clearly for the Nedlands Town Centre, in the absence of any other subsequent desired future scale being adopted by the council, approval of this development, with a building height more than double that identified in the strategy would be inconsistent with proper and orderly planning.

“The setbacks to the residential zone to the north does not provide an appropriate transition to this land, which is most likely to be developed at a scale of five storeys.”

The WA government’s own State Design Review Panel has repeatedly given advice that it was not in support of the proposal, including its most recent analysis from January.

“The panel is concerned that there remains no strategic justification for a building of this scale in this location and the proposal does not deliver the level of amenity appropriate for development of this nature,” it wrote.

There are no height constraints for the site, however, and Urbanista Planning wrote to the JDAP on behalf of the proponent to argue the height and plot ratio was consistent with the local planning framework.

“Regardless of the numbers, the bulk and scale of the proposed development is consistent with the planned and permissible future character and scale of the local area,” they wrote.

“This proposal is aligned with the draft precinct plan and the endorsed planning framework which envisages high density along the highway and more intense density within the town centre.”

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The traffic consultant for the proponent, Transcore, has asserted there would be no significant or adverse traffic impacts from the development despite concerns from the City of Nedlands.

Liberal Nedlands MP Bill Marmion said he was surprised the project had been approved.

“This is an example of what’s happened under the Labor government,” he said.

“I’m concerned from a traffic management point of view, I’d like to see how the road network is going to work when the Chellingworth towers are built, Aldi is built, and Woolworths is built [across the road].”

The proponent was contacted for comment.