Other retail shops should be well connected to the supermarket to maximise cross-usage and visits between the supermarket and these shops. Thus, most retail shops should be agglomerated around the supermarket and along its associated travel paths to the primary carpark.

In addition, consideration must be given to the functional supermarket layout requirements. It is important to ensure that adequate access for loading is provided at the rear of the site.

Finally, it is important that other land uses such as office space, is only added at an appropriate stage in the Town Centre Development. While commercial offices are an important component of any well-established activity centre, their inclusion within an infant centre is generally uncommercial and could result in vacant space (as has been experienced at other recently completed town centres.

The scientific audit was commissioned by the NSW government and was prepared by an independent panel of experts. Roberta Ryan, Urbis Director of Public Policy was selected as a member of the panel, contributing extensive social research, social impact and public policy expertise. “It was great to be involved in such an important study that has the potential to change the way we manage and preserve our marine environment” commented Roberta.

The key findings outlined in the report include recommendations to maintain the current system of marine parks, while implementing a number of changes to the way in which they are managed. “It is really pleasing to see that a wide variety of marine park users have shown their support for the recommended reforms outlined in the report” added Roberta.

The Marine Parks Audit report is now publicly available and the government is awaiting public comment on the findings.

See below for more information on the NSW Marine Park Audit:

Media release

• http://www.marineparksaudit.nsw.gov.au/imagesDB/wysiwyg/MarineParksAuditPanelmediarelease_16022012.pdf

Related news coverage:

• http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/new-marine-parks-on-hold-while-public-has-its-say-20120216-1tbwk.html
• http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-nsw/marine-parks-need-urgent-attention-says-audit/story-e6freuzi-1226272950410

My own preference … is our third category: investment in productive assets, whether businesses, farms, or real estate. Ideally, these assets should have the ability in inflationary times to deliver output that will retain its purchasing-power value while requiring a minimum of new capital investment. Farms, real estate, and many businesses such as Coca-Cola (KO), IBM (IBM), and our own See’s Candy meet that double-barreled test.

The context of this comment is that investments in cash are inherently risky, as your purchasing power will be eaten away by inflation over time, even though the returns you receive might be stable. He also provides an excellent illustration of why investments such as gold are more risky than productive assets, as bubbles form in those types of asset prices, which always burst in the end.

To read the full letter, go here

Residents living in the outer suburbs of the Camden and Campbelltown council areas generally describe their neighbourhoods as having a “rural character”, and are keen to ensure that this character is kept as the area is developed for housing.

At the same time, they believe that the current infrastructure improvements, such as roads and public transport, have not kept pace with residential development, and access to local amenities such as shops and restaurants are not being met by their current area. Lifestyle factors including provision of open space and sporting and recreation facilities are also important.

Yet it may be that the concept of a ‘rural character’ is more obvious at an emotional level. Residents from the adjoining urban area of Liverpool focused on feelings of safety and social cohesion. In regard to safety, they are seeking safe places for children to play and reduce their fear of crime. Social cohesion is sought through a lack of conflict with neighbours and proximity to social support networks, such as friends and family.

These aspects are so important that residents suggested that conflicts with neighbouring residents can impact on the emotional wellbeing of the entire family.

This study reinforces the qualitative differences between these peri-urban localities and the middle suburbs. As Urbis continues to work with new community developments, we gain deeper insights into the requirements of these residents, and the solutions that satisfy them, advice we can share with the development industry and local government

The Subiaco Redevelopment Scheme is a project that has and continues to revitalize 80 hectares of former industrial land in the heart of Subiaco, in Inner Perth. The redevelopment scheme is based on applying a number of Transit Oriented Development (TOD) principles, resulting in a cosmopolitan mix of townhouses, apartments, parkland and commercial and retail space.

In addition to being considered one of the Nation’s outstanding urban renewal projects it is also held up as an excellent example of Transit Oriented Development, especially due to the attractive Subiaco Railway Station undergrounding being the major catalyst for releasing lands that could be redeveloped along TOD planning principles.

An important focus of TODs across Australia is to limit the dependency of car use. The Subiaco Redevelopment Scheme had similar ambitions, yet its carparking code delivers the maximum amount of flexibility for potential developers to meet the requirements of end users with respect to carparking.

Rather than limiting carparking, a series of traffic calming measures have been implemented that make the area very pedestrian-friendly. Urbis commends this approach of providing flexibility to a development – enabling the market to determine the exact requirements for carparking . In addition to providing opportunities for the market to decide how much car parking needs to be delivered this has been coupled with the provision of accessible and efficient public transit that gives the consumer the ultimate choice, thus creating opportunities to limit car dependency.

With far higher population density, centres in Shanghai are able to trade from a far more compact area. As a result, the way that shoppers use centres is different. There is a greater focus on daily visitation and regular convenience shopping, with the centre accessed on foot or by public transport. This means that average spends per visit are typically lower than they would be in a centre visited weekly by car. It also means there is a greater focus upon food and beverage and lower order products in the mixing of such centres, right through from specialty tenants to the majors that anchor them.

The difference in the way the centres are used also impacts broader aspects of the development.

• Because catchments can be so geographically small, and walk-up or public transport use is higher, the acceptable parking provision at centres in Shanghai can be much lower than in Australia. This alters the development economics of centres, as the ratio of net to gross built area is closer.
• Population density allows for far more comprehensive public transport options, making this a far more popular alternative in Shanghai. Public transport links are far more important for your typical Shanghai shopping centre.
• Pedestrian links need to be relatively simple in Shanghai due to the fact that walk-up populations are far higher. Being ‘snuggly’ surrounded by residential development in Shanghai is seen as a strength; in Australia it can cause problems.
• The tenancy mix is typically more focused on F&B and leisure/entertainment in centres in Shanghai. With population density comes small apartments, meaning that a lot of the activities that Australians do at home (e.g. having dinner) occur within a shopping centre in Shanghai.
• Density of population allows for density of retail provision. This can result in multiple shopping centres being supportable within a very small geographical area, a situation that is less likely to occur in Australia. However, the capacity to support multiple centres in a small area means that the focus of the centre, and its capacity to provide a unique offering, is far more important to many centres in Shanghai.

Forest Lake was Brisbane’s first master planned community, developed by Delfin Lend Lease, with the first blocks of land released in 1991. Rather than releasing just traditional blocks of over 600m2, Forest Lake consists of a range of housing with detached dwellings on blocks of 300m2 to 640m2 plus some townhouses and apartments. As a masterplanned community, it also differs from a standard suburban subdivision (typical of the era), with its inclusion of a range of facilities such as a substantial retail centre, Brisbane’s largest recreational lake and many community facilities.

Forest Lake’s well-planned character, its proximity to employment nodes and education, coupled with its affordability has seen its suburbs register consistently strong sales volumes.

Overall funding for the project exceeded $17million dollars and Urbis was a key player in ensuring the project got a green light from a planning perspective.

Minister Parker said PlantBank is vital for the future of Australian biodiversity. Located at the nation’s largest botanic garden, the $19.8 million scientific facility will Incorporate its largest native seedbank.

“While banks manage our money and futures, PlantBank at the Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan will invest in nature,” Ms Parker said.

“Millions of living seeds will be collected and deposited to preserve Australia’s biodiversity and establish a hub for research into the survival needs and life-giving properties of our plants.

For more information about Urbis’ role in this project click here

Recent strategic research by Urbis has analysed the performance of Councils in Inner Sydney (inside a 10km ring from the CBD) in delivering the new dwellings required to meet State Government Metropolitan Strategy targets. The research shows that ‘place matters’ when it comes to local government attitude towards development proposals.

Urbis analysed high level data on Council development assessment performance between 2007 and 2010 including information on application determination times and success rates, new dwelling approvals as a percentage of Strategic Plan targets and Land and Environment Court determinations.

Key lessons from the research include:

• Councils that delegate decision-making authority to planners have been better able to deliver major projects, freed from much of the political obstructionism that comes from decisions being made at Council meetings;
• Smaller and less-resourced Councils are less able to deliver good determination times and rates of approval, as well as having some of the highest rates of merit appeals to the Land and Environment Court;
• Inner West Councils of Ashfield, Leichhardt and Marrickville are well down in some of the key performance indicators, being well below the average for DA determination times, proportion of DAs approved and the potential for Council staff to determine applications under delegated authority; and
• Councils that include major urban renewal precincts, such as City of Sydney, Rockdale, Canada Bay and Ryde generally have good performance indicators that reflect a positive and engaging attitude towards development by their staff and Councillors.

It will be interesting to monitor these numbers as the impact change in political parties and the resultant planning reforms is reflected in the data analysed by the ABS and Department of Planning and Infrastructure for 2011.

While the prescriptive requirements provide some clarity to prospective developers, they also make it hard for some innovative businesses to find suitable land and thus enter the market. More generally, they also work to prevent the market from allocating land to its most valued uses.

Over recent months, Urbis has uncovered two bureaucratic examples of regulation which certainly has made it hard for innovative businesses.

WHAT IS A SITE AND WHAT IS A LOT?

Within one Victorian local government Planning Scheme, a distinction is made between a lot and a site, giving rise to a significant anomaly.  Our client was seeking to subdivide a 2 hectare parcel of land into two lots of 1.2ha and 8000 sqm and build a ‘service station’ on the smaller lot.  However, in this particular scheme, the ‘site’ for a service station must not exceed 3000 sqm.
Is a ‘site’ the same as a ‘lot’? The ‘site’ of the service station is proposed to be only 3000 sqm, but located on the ‘lot’ of 8000sqm.  These definitional issues add confusion, uncertainty and a lack of flexibility to the development of these sites.

WHAT IS A BULKY GOODS COMPLEX, SALESROOM OR SHOWROOM?

The second example is an innovative bulky goods development in Sydney’s west. Whilst a ‘bulky goods salesroom or showroom’ is a permissible land use on the subject site, a ‘bulky goods complex’ is a prohibited land use and could not therefore be approved on the site.
The proposal is a new style of complex, that doesn’t fit neatly into the existing bulky goods sales paradigms.  This is exactly the problem the Productivity Commission had in mind when it lamented the difficulty that some operators have in entering the market.

In each of these cases, Urbis works closely with the developers and the local government to find a solution to these ambiguities.  However, we continue to confront this type of bureaucratic language that restricts the retail industry from improving its productivity by offering new approaches to the market.

Written by Jamie Governlock. For more information about Jamie click here