Despite years of pain, South Brisbane is one step closer this week to becoming the vibrant, cultural urban hub that it has long deserved.

Landowners are breathing a collective sigh of relief as the South Brisbane Neighbourhood plan finally brings certainty to their development timetables with densities. The Local Area Plan was adopted on Friday the 15 April, taking densities up to 30 stories in some areas on complying sites.

The area has been waiting for this plan since mid-2006 when changes to development in the region were first proposed. The process of building this plan has been long, drawn out and involved lengthy community consultation, at great cost to landowners in the area contemplating development.

In fact, the West End Community Association has called this “the largest, longest neighbourhood planning exercise in Brisbane.”

It has caused massive delays in development throughout the area.

“No landholder is going to build a three story building on his piece of land if the proposed local area plan starts telling him he will be able to take his site to 6 stories if and when the plans are amended… are they?” said Scott Whiteoak from Ellivo Architects.

But Scott is also the first to complement the potential of the new plan, “The plan provides a framework for a world class cultural district. And if interpreted correctly with an affordable, vibrant, mixed use precinct of appropriate height and density variation will be everything the industry and residents had hoped. But it has been a long time coming.”

During the 4-5 years of waiting, the timeline for completion has been modified several times, increasing the shadow of uncertainty over the timing of potential development in South Brisbane every time. And, as it has dragged on it has slowed development applications in the wait for new frameworks. Similar pain is being felt all over Brisbane in the 36 local areas still waiting for their plans to be formally adopted.

“We celebrate the achievement of this new plan, but find it timely to point out the enormous stress this delay to Local Area Plan adoption is placing on the development industry as a whole all across the city of Brisbane”, said Scott.

In 2003 the SEQ regional plan highlighted a need to increase density in our city, and 8 years on, the market, despite enormous financial pressures is prepared to respond if the frameworks for sustainable development are managed.

PLACE Design Group prepared a renewal strategy and implementation plan for the inner Brisbane suburbs of South Brisbane and West End. The resulting strategic plan will guide improvements for the spatial framework of the area, public realm assets, land-use mix, and connectivity. A range of development scenarios reflecting the complexity of the area were explored to ensure that the renewal strategy was practical and achievable, meeting State Government population targets.

Brisbane City Council’s website indicates that there is 36 local area plans in the Brisbane area currently under review, and very little activity in the development marketplace at the moment as landowners wait and hope. Developers are sitting on their hands awaiting the approval of new densities that would make projects feasible in these LAP areas.

“We have more than half a dozen clients currently waiting for local area planning to be resolved. These delays are having a vast impact on development decision making”, said Scott Whiteoak.

“The cost of holding their land indefinitely is hurting developers, but it is also contributing to the steady increase in costs of development and directly impacting afordability of housing in the future.”

“We applaud the process of gaining community input but the whole LAP Review process is frankly taking too long. The time delays have been counterproductive causing disengagement with the community and creating uncertainty for landowners contemplating development in a time when the industry is already struggling to get developments to stack up.”

And now, with elections looming on both tiers of government will this delay continue?

Scott Whiteoak is one of the two founding Co-Directors of Ellivo Architects, and has focused his 25-year architecture career on creating an inclusive and vibrant design team that delivers logical, buildable architectural outcomes for his clients in the sub-tropical SE Queensland region.