the manjana people, page-3

Clay Lucas
October 21, 2006

POOR planning, indifferent design and cost-cutting in Melbourne's newest suburbs are condemning residents to a a life of misery, Melbourne's top planners and architects say.

Dissatisfied with the design standards of new estates on the city's fringes, the Planning Institute of Australia has, for the third year in a row, refused to award a prize to any such estates.

It concluded that not a single development deserved recognition for good design.

Senior planner and architect Jim Holdsworth, a member of the institute's judging panel for the past three years, said developers were putting profit ahead of quality.

"If this is as good as we can manage, we are not doing well," Mr Holdsworth said before the institute's annual state awards dinner last night.

"You drive around these new suburbs that are springing up overnight, and you just think to yourself, 'Is this the best we can do for future generations?' We are failing them badly."

Mr Holdsworth said poor urban planning in developments from Caroline Springs in the north-west to Narre Warren in the south-east had resulted in:

�¡Blocks of land up to 1000 square metres, far bigger than residents needed or often wanted.

�¡Average house sizes of 253 square metres, up from 176 square metres 15 years ago, despite the average household size falling.

�¡Houses built too close together, leading to noise and privacy issues.

�¡Too little use of sustainable technology such as solar panels and greywater, and too much reliance on air-conditioning for cooling instead of siting a house properly and building eaves and verandas.

The Bracks Government introduced five-star energy standards in 2003 that require all new homes to have solar hot water or rainwater tanks, and other features. "But the State Government is not driving hard enough," Mr Holdsworth said.

Architects agree with planners that better house designs and estate subdivisions are required.

"The sad aspect of this is the missed opportunity," Victorian Royal Australian Institute of Architect president Philip Goad said.

The Government had to compel developers to provide more street trees, compulsory stormwater collection, and houses that did not need air-conditioning, he said.

The State Government's controversial planning blueprint Melbourne 2030 aims to squeeze 1 million more residents into Melbourne's existing boundaries over the next 25 years. Designed to curb urban sprawl, it does little to improve planning on the fringes, critics say.

The director of Monash University's Centre for Population and Urban Research, Bob Birrell, said a renewed focus on Melbourne's fringe was needed. "The planning intelligentsia don't live in outer suburbia so they don't understand this stuff," Dr Birrell said..

Melbourne developers are not required to spend as much on services on each new block as they are in other Australian cities.

Sydney's Rouse Hill has stormwater forced through reed beds to purify it, all houses have greywater, and all have solar heating. "It's expensive there, but these people can water their gardens throughout summer," Mr Birrell said.

One developer said it was unfair to focus on new suburbs when inner suburbs never had to meet environmental standards.

"The environmental performance of the older, established suburbs is nowhere near what is being achieved (in the outer suburbs)," said Bryce Moore, Victorian head of Delfin Lend Lease.

The State Government defended its work, saying there had been "a quiet revolution" introducing sustainability into planning.