Council Says No to Melbourne Tower Amendments

The City of Melbourne’s Future Melbourne Committee has refused to support the controversial Spring Street tower in Melbourne’s CBD.

Last year an application was lodged for an amendment to the Melbourne Planning Scheme to allow the 28-storey tower and a plaza to be built. 

It included a gross floor area of 35,804 sq m, 26,023sq m of commercial space, five basement levels and a sky bridge to Shell House. 

Plans for the project were part of an Incorporated Document attached to the amendment.

Daniel Besen and the Roth family are the applicants via the company Phillip Nominees Pty Ltd.

The project also included partial demolition and construction in and around two heritage-listed building—Milton House and the Harry Seidler-designed Shell House.

This triggered two applications to Heritage Victoria in 2022 for separate heritage permission—both were rejected. 

Several revisions to the amendment application and the included plans were made in consultation with planning officers culminating in the Revisions G set of plans. 

▲ The redesigned Tower 2 in the Revision G set of plans by Daniel Besen’s Phillip Nominees on Spring Street. Source: Phillip Nominees

In April 2022, the Future Melbourne Committee considered the plans included in Revision G lodged before the council and agreed to support it subject to certain conditions including the reduction of the cantilevered portion of the tower facade to prevent overshadowing of the plaza area.

The matter was then called in by the Victorian planning minister in June 2022 who appointed an Advisory Committee to consider the plans and the amendment. 

That hearing is scheduled for March, 2023. 

“The advisory committee is actually the best way to resolve what is really challenging and complicated proposal,” Councillor Rohan Leppert said.

“Our role here today is to define which aspects of the Melbourne Planning Scheme absolutely needs to be held up but ultimately the minister will make the decision based on the advisory committee thrashing out these issues with all the relevant stakeholders.”

Phillip Nominees were invited to submit amended plans and therefore submitted a Revision J to Amendment C401 to council which did not include any of the approved conditions and changes. 

Planning officers determined that not enough of the plaza space was left open to the sky, that the setbacks were not sufficient, and that the cantilevered affect over Milton House of the tower's facade was reintroduced.

It was also determined that the plans went against design and built form outcomes set out in DDO1 and DDO10 of the planning scheme.

“The tower design is stunning,” deputy lord mayor Nicholas Reece said.

“Because it is located in this Spring Street location which is a publicly accessible private owned square tt has run into a number of very challenging aspects of the planning system which have been set up deliberately to try and protect those precious, publicly accessible spaces.”

City of Melbourne planning officers' recommendation that council refuse to support the Revision J version of the amendment was amended to include a notation that the Revision G version of the plans were supported in April 2022.

This motion was then carried unanimously.

The Victorian planning minister will make the final determination after the advisory committee holds its hearing in March and hears from all stakeholders.