CITY LIFE

Becoming more hectic and crowded by the day...

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme

FLAT TO LET

We are currently experiencing a housing shortage in Victoria with supply unable to keep up with population growth. This is especially true in Melbourne, where booming population is forcing extensive development. People are urged to embrace higher density living if the city is to keep up with demand for new homes.

New data from the Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) found that despite record-high levels of housing development, the state had a shortfall of 9,000 new properties in the past two years. It said if that trend continued it would lead to an undersupply in excess of 50,000 houses by 2020...

The homelessness crisis in Melbourne is much worse in the suburbs and on the urban fringe than in the CBD. It's just not as obvious because people are taking shelter in places such as toilet blocks, bushes and cars. Private rentals are expensive, shared accommodation is often full, cheap motels are only a short-term fix and the waiting list for public housing is only getting longer.

Victoria is the fastest growing state in the nation because of the remarkable population growth in its capital. From congested roads to overcrowded public transport, energy, housing affordability and public safety, managing Australia’s most rapid population growth is an extraordinary challenge.

A total of 77 per cent of our state’s population live in Melbourne and about 90 per cent of our annual growth settles in the capital. If we continue as “business as usual”, Victoria by 2051 will see another 3.8 million people in Melbourne but only 690,000 people moving or settling in the rest of state — a pattern that is reflected across much of the country.

Not only is decentralisation important to protecting and conserving the capital’s liveability, it makes economic sense. Essential Economics observed: “It is less costly for government to ­develop the regions than provide for increased infrastructure to manage increased growth in Melbourne. Indeed, it has been estimated that to provide infra­structure to support a 50,000-person population increase in regional Victoria, it would cost $1 billion, compared with $3.1 billion to provide for the same increase in metropolitan Melbourne.”

Victoria has not had a decentralisation agenda since the Hamer Liberal government in the 1970s, and during that period Victoria witnessed 10 consecutive years when the population growth rate in the regions outperformed the capital. Now we are overdeveloping Melbourne, we are overcrowding the city and the increasing density is such that the infrastructure cannot keep up. Regional Victoria is languishing and country towns are experiencing population decreases. Building more and more apartment buildings in the city is not the answer.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,
and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,
and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

EUREKA TOWER

Eureka Tower is a 297.3-metre skyscraper located in the Southbank precinct of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Construction began in August 2002 and the exterior completed on 1 June 2006. The plaza was finished in June 2006 and the building was officially opened on 11 October 2006. The project was designed by Melbourne architectural firm Fender Katsalidis Architects and was built by Grocon (Grollo Australia).

The developer of the tower was Eureka Tower Pty Ltd, a joint venture consisting of Daniel Grollo (Grocon), investor Tab Fried and one of the Tower's architects Nonda Katsalidis. It was the world's tallest residential tower when measured to its highest floor, until surpassed by Ocean Heights and the HHHR Tower in Dubai. It is the second tallest building in Australia, behind Q1, Queensland, and is the tallest to roof (excluding spire). As of 2016 it is the 15th tallest residential building in the world.

This post is part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

PRESTON MARKET

Preston Market is the second largest market in Melbourne selling fresh produce, clothing and homewares with a variety of restaurants and food stalls; it attracts over 80,000 visitors per week.

Construction on the Preston Market began in October 1969 when Preston Mayor W. K. Larkins drove home the first stake in the site of the former Broadhurst Tannery.    The original investment in the site was $2 million.

The market opened in 1970 and by 1976 the market had grown to include 46 green grocers, 15 delicatessens, 4 fish shops, 4 poultry shops, 19 butchers and a variety of small goods shops including toys, clothes, carpets, plants, and sporting goods.

In 2004 the owners of Preston Market, Centro MCS, sold the property to Salta Properties for $36.75 million.   The new company plans to renovate the site.

On February 27 2017, Darebin council voted to reject an application by Preston Market Developments (owned by Salta Properties and Medich Corporation), to build three residential towers - one of 14 storeys and two of 10 storeys with a total of 300 apartments and ground floor retail outlets - on part of what is currently a market car park on Murray Road.

But the developers have announced they will appeal the decision in VCAT. Salta managing director Sam Tarascio​ said Darebin councillors went against expert advice to the council that the development was consistent with its planning for Preston.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,
and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme.

CONSTRUCTION

Construction of yet another high rise apartment building in Southbank. I guess the only good thing about it is that at least it providing work for construction workers.

Domain Group senior economist Andrew Wilson said the CBD market was starting to see the first significant signs of an oversupplied rental market after recent high levels of new apartment construction. Supply is now galloping ahead of demand...

This post is part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

BUILDING FRENZY

Rapid expansion in construction and high-rise development in the city’s CBD and inner north threatens to destroy the quality of life and amenity for many local residents alike. With no fewer than 30,000 new residents predicted to live in eight city blocks bounded by Swanston, Victoria, Queen and Lonsdale streets – local resident, architect and urban designer Bruce Echberg has found himself at the “epicentre of the biggest and most rapid skyscraper-building frenzy Melbourne has seen.”

Buying in to one of the first wave of apartment developments in Melbourne in the early days of the Melbourne City Council’s ‘Postcode 3000’ program, Mr. Echberg is now concerned that his apartment “could be rendered uninhabitable by massive and poorly designed residential developments on three sides.” Apart from an oversupply of high-rise construction, one of the key issues comes back to the quality of design and build; with many of these skyscrapers funded by overseas developers and sold to offshore investors, these finer details are often overlooked – at the cost of residents, renters and the local property market.

For these reasons and many more, there should be stricter guidelines and restrictions on minimum standards for apartment developments — because as we’ve seen, previous governments unfortunately approved developments on the ground of “piecemeal – without any regard for the area as a whole.” Source: theage.com.au

This post is part of the Blue Monday meme.
and also part of the Through my Lens meme.

SOUTHBANK REFLECTIONS

View from Southbank towards the South and Port Phillip Bay.

This post is part of the Weekend Reflections meme,
and also part of the Weekly TopShot meme,
and also part of the Scenic Weekends meme.

SUNSET REFLECTIONS

The sunset sky reflected in the Southbank high rise apartments adds a golden touch to otherwise cold and blue-gray façades. A cold night ahead!

This post is part of the Weekend Reflections meme,
and also part of the Weekly TopShot meme,
and also part of the Scenic Weekends meme.

ABITO APARTMENTS, FITZROY

The brief for the award winning Abito was to integrate the heritage value of the existing streetscape in a new residential project delivering environmental design innovation. The construction was very demanding given the logistical constraints of the inner-urban environment. The building features 60 luxury apartments, a double basement car park and a number of retail tenancies. The Urban Development Institute of Australia recognised Hickory’s work on Abito by awarding the project their 2006 Award for Excellence, Medium-Density Development.

The building addresses the corner and transitions its height to meet its eastern neighbours.  By directing vehicle access to the laneway, the street frontage is reserved for retail and residential entries.  The continuous ground floor and the indented upper floors respond to the residential character across Victoria Street, while the flat treatment of the eastern façade responds to the adjacent industrial architecture. The variation in the exterior walls also permits access to light and air for internal rooms and upper level landscaped terraces. The graffiti/mural finish on the lowermost walls fits in with the graffiti on other surrounding buildings, while conserving the pink/green colour scheme of the project.

This post is part of the Monday Murals meme.

GOLDEN SUNSET REFLECTIONS

Southbank is an inner suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 1 km south of Melbourne's Central Business District, directly south of the Yarra River. At the 2011 Census, Southbank had a population of 11,235. Southbank is bordered to the north by the Yarra River, and to the east by St Kilda Road. Southbank's southern and western borders are bounded by Dorcas Street, Kings Way, the West Gate Freeway and Montague Street.

Today Southbank is dominated by high-rise development. It is one of the primary business centres in Greater Melbourne, being the headquarters of Foster's, Treasury Wine Estates, Crown Limited, Alumina, Incitec Pivot, The Herald and Weekly Times (including the Herald Sun), as well as regional offices of many major corporations, in a cluster of towers with over 340,000 square metres of office space in 2008. It is also one of the most densely populated areas of Melbourne, with a large cluster of apartment towers, including Australia's tallest tower measured to its highest floor, the Eureka Tower.

This post is part of the Weekend Reflections meme,
and also part of the Weekly TopShot meme.

SAILING INTO THE SUNSET

Here are some photos I took of the big cruise ship "Celebrity Solstice" as it sailed out of Melbourne last Saturday. The light wasn't the best and the distance was considerable, but I think these photos give you an idea of the size of the ship... Melbourne is a popular port of call for the cruise liners and one can often see groups of tourists int he City after a ship docks at the port.

This post is part of the Watery Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme.

QUEEN BEE MURAL AT EUREKA TOWER

When in Southbank one of the highlights for many Melbourne visitors is visiting the 297.3-metre tall Eureka Tower, the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. The observation deck on the top provides stunning 360˚ views of the City.

However, some visitors may miss seeing the "Queen Bee" mural which adorns one of the sides of the building. The "Queen Bee" was developed by sculptor Richard Stringer for a series of studio works in 2003-04. Nonda Katsalidis, the architect, saw these original sculptures and began the process of finding funding for a large scale version while Stringer adapted the idea to the building in regards to scale, layout and construction method.

Katsalidis and Stringer had discussed the idea of making a permanent installation on various building projects over the years and the image of a Queen Bee and colony had a obvious conceptual compatibility to the context of this gigantic residential tower. The gold finish of Stringer's works also complemented the golden glass apex of the building designed by Katsalidis.

The sculptures are made from anodised aluminium sheet using cast aluminium for all the antennae and small bees' legs. The sheets are riveted together using 110,000 anodised rivets. The work was begun in January 2006 at Stringer's Richmond studio and the completed work was installed in December 2007.

The sculptural mural provides a wonderful 3D mural creation that catches the eye and decorates beautifully the lower parts of this iconic Melbourne skyscraper.

This post is part of the Monday Murals meme.