More than 150 built-environment professionals have signed an open letter to Sonya Kilkenny, Victorian minister for planning and the suburbs, advocating for the removal of upper-level setback requirements within the state’s planning scheme.
The letter, dated 2 September 2024, follows a recent announcement from the Department of Planning and Transport outlining draft controls for ten slated activity centres across Melbourne. Drafted by YIMBY Melbourne, the letter builds upon the company’s research into relevant global and local precedents of high-rise residential development. It argues that building upward and without setbacks is conducive to better outcomes – both more affordable and environmentally sustainable.
“Upper-level setbacks are the most poorly-evidenced rule in the Victorian planning system, and are almost entirely indefensible. The rules are underpinned by confected terms such as ‘visual bulk’ and ‘break up the form,’ which don’t mean anything and provide no material benefit to anyone,” commented YIMBY Melbourne lead organiser Jonathan O’Brien. “No one goes to Paris or Prague and complains of the visual bulk. We shouldn’t complain about it here in Melbourne, either.”
An excerpt from the open letter reads:
We congratulate the minister on the ambition to deliver increased density and more homes where people want to live.
However, as advocates, architects and urban design professionals, we have serious concerns with the prescriptive design controls within the plans. Most notably: the requirement for upper-level setbacks across all buildings.
All of the research and practice demonstrates the negative impacts of these mandated planning controls. These include but are not limited to:
· decreased thermal efficiency across the whole building
· increased embodied carbon within the building
· higher levels of defects, including timber-rot and mould
· reduced streetscape interface and forgoing amenity and passive surveillance
· reduced project viability and fewer, more expensive homes
The evidence is overwhelming: requiring upper-level setbacks is no way to build a sustainable, affordable city. These are outdated planning controls that offer little benefit to Victorians and as such should not be included within the Plan for Victoria.
Upper-level setbacks require architects and urban designers to compromise on both external built form and internal apartment design across projects. Upper-level setbacks force highly-compromised and complex apartment layouts with lower amenity, as well as fewer family-size apartments across our city.
Signatories to the open letter include representatives from: Apparte, Austin Maynard Architects, Breathe, Cox Architecture, Cera Stribley, Chloe Antonio Architecture, Clarke Hopkins Clarke, Co-lab Architecture, Cumulus Studio, Edition Office, Forum, Ha Architecture, Hassell, Ian Moore Architects, Jackson Clements Burrows, Karen Abernethy Architects, Keep Studio, Kennedy Nolan, Kerry Kounnapis Architecture Practice, Kerstin Thompson Architects, Milieu Property, Murray Barker, Nightingale Housing, Schored Projects, Studio Edwards, Tecture, YIMBY, YSG and Ys Housing.
The complete letter can be viewed online.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
