Melbourne Draws Line in the Sand on Poor Design

The Melbourne council is taking a stand against what it calls poor designs and an over-reliance on “starchitects” in a bid to improve the city’s built legacy.

The City of Melbourne Council voted unanimously to implement a design excellence program to start in this year and designed to enhance the character, style, sophistication and materiality of new developments.

Deputy lord mayor Nicholas Reece reiterated he wanted buildings in the city to be “more Barcelona and less Gold Coast”.

“We have a really strong design culture in this city and, unlike some other cities, we have a strong architecture and design culture, and a really strong architectural community,” Reece said.

“And we haven’t, like some cities, resorted to an over-reliance, in my view, on international starchitects (a celebrity architect) but the truth is in a city like Melbourne you can also do better.

“The painful truth is that in recent times in Melbourne there have been too many poor developments that have preceded and haven’t achieved the excellence we try to pursue.

“This is an opportunity for Melbourne to draw a line in the sand, take a stand and help Melbourne to the next level.”

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There are two major components of the program, including a design review panel, made up of experts in the industry, to cast an eye over new applications.

The other is a committee to provide advice on broader urban planning issues, identify which developments need to undergo an excellence competition, foster a culture of design excellence and support architecture awards for Melbourne.

Cr Rohan Leppert congratulated the deputy lord mayor on championing the program and said it would shift the development culture in the city.

“Sometimes it’s about influence, sometimes it’s about encouragement, sometimes it's about getting experts in a room to open the eyes of potential applicants about new ideas,” Leppert said.

“Getting those experts together in a design review panel is a way not of adding any hurdle to the planning application process but to make it more efficient and improve it.”

Melbourne council is not the only city pushing away from Gold Coast-style architecture.

Perth’s Metro Central Joint Development Assessment Panel rejected Civic Heart by Finbar as it looked similar to the coast's Q1—but this decision was overturned by the state planning minister last year.