Extension sought for Burswood twin tower apartment development
Two prominent riverfront tower developments with a combined 456 apartments have stalled as another residential project succumbs to the state’s construction gridlock.
The deadline to start substantial works on the 27 and 32-storey towers on Seabiscuit Drive in Burswood passed in October, with developer Golden Group now requesting a four-year extension.
A request to extend the construction deadline of two Burswood residential towers will come before state planners.Credit: Inner-metro Development Assessment Panel
In a letter to the Metro Inner Development Assessment Panel, Element Advisory, the applicant for the developer, said the extension would allow enough time to start construction with time to spare in the case of further “building industry pressures”.
The development forms part of Precinct D in the Burswood Point precinct plan which, when finished, will include 4500 homes, 90,000 square metres of office and retail space and 110,000 square metres of public open space, and would span more than 2.5 kilometres of Swan River foreshore.
Element senior planning consultant Kaitlin Redmond-Ball said “competing priorities” had led to a change of direction to deliver Precinct A on the north side of development sooner.
“There have been significant works undertaken at a considerable cost to get the land shovel ready for development with major infrastructure and utilities being brought into the site,” she wrote to the Town of Victoria Park.
An artist’s impression of the overall Burswood Point development.Credit: Golden Sedayu
“Following the COVID-19 pandemic, focus was shifted to the delivery of green title lots to the market to fulfil the scarcity of product.”
Having now secured approval for 74 luxury townhouses in North Park, focus has returned to the delivery of apartments.
“The requested four-year extension period will provide adequate time for the proponent to proceed through to the construction phase of the development whilst also accommodating a contingency period which accounts for any delays experienced as a result of clearing the imposed development conditions to be fulfilled prior to the lodgement of a building permit and building industry pressures,” Redmond-Ball said.
Other proposed modifications to the existing approval include changes to the apartment layouts and dwelling mix as well as a height increase of 4.8m and 5.8m respectively to each tower.
The additional height accommodates for a 200-millimetre increase of each floor’s ceiling heights, which Element said would “slim” the overall mass of the towers.
A second 19 and 22-storey 204-apartment twin tower development with a first-of-its-kind stewards’ box to view jockeys head-on was then approved in the same precinct in July.
The first stage of construction started with a sod-turning event in September – 13 years in the making after Golden Group bought the land off Perth Racing in 2011.
The Town of Victoria Park has recommended the extension be approved when it comes before the panel on December 12.
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