Collins Wharf Development Proposal Gets Council thumbs-down

Property group Lend Lease has suffered a knock-back from the Melbourne City Council over their five-tower residential proposal for their Collins Wharf development.

The setback occurred after the Future Melbourne Committee, who supported the building of residential towers at the eastern end of the wharf, ruled that the property group would need to work with the government to produce a proposal that best ­reflected the wharf's heritage.

According to The Australian, Lend Lease’s proposal involved building five residential towers at its Collins Wharf development, increasing on its original proposal of one tower.

The towers were planned to be the same height, but Melbourne City Council rejected Lend Lease’s proposal of building the five towers next to Bolte Bridge so as to avoid boxing in Victoria Harbour, The Australian says.

Lend Lease’s proposal was aiming to provide around 1,500 apartments in the area which, earlier this year, was described by Melbourne councillor Stephen Mayne when he spoke to The Age in Victoria as a wasteland with rundown buildings and rotting timber.

While the aim of Collins Wharf was to become appealing real estate with sweeping views of the harbour, city and the Yarra River, The Age revealed that council did not think the development proposal reflected the best intentions for the area, and saw the development as “simply a wall of towers that step up to Bolte Bridge”.

Council’s preference was to redesign the project so the buildings "better reflected the heritage of the wharf" by being lower rise, and descend in height from east to west, stepping down to the water.

Despite the setback, Lend Lease seems eager to deliver their intentions of delivering quality developments in prime real estate options, contributing to the growth of the area.

Keen to come to an amicable result, a Lend Lease spokeswoman said the company would keep working on the plan.

“We’ll continue to work with our stakeholders and government partners on the next steps for our Collins Wharf proposal,” she said.