Gary Dempsey Developments’ revised proposal for a seven-storey building along Marine Parade has been recommended for approval when the state's planning body meets next week.
Gary Dempsey Developments’ revised proposal for a seven-storey building along Marine Parade has been recommended for approval when the state's planning body meets next week.
The latest proposal is the third to be submitted by the developer, following push back on the project's height from both the Town of Cottesloe and a group of local residents.
Planned for Cottesloe’s popular beachfront strip, the revised development application proposes a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments (12 in total), as well as a four-bedroom penthouse apartment with a floor area of 250 square metres, and a 100sqm ground floor cafe/restaurant.
The 561sqm site, located at 120 Marine Parade, currently accommodates an existing three-storey mixed-use building.
In December, Gary Dempsey Developments (GDD) chose to lodge a development application via the State Development Assessment Unit, with initial plans proposing a nine-storey apartment building featuring 16 apartments over eight levels, with the ninth floor occupied entirely by one penthouse.
The initial concept for a nine-storey apartment building. Image: Klopper & Davis Architects.
The SDAU was established in 2020 as a means to streamline developments deemed significant as part of the state government’s COVID economic stimulus measures.
GDD’s project meets the $20 million minimum threshold to be considered by the SDAU, with an estimated build cost of about $22.8 million, with an anticipated 44 full-time-equivalent direct and indirect jobs to be created during construction.
By submitting a development application via the SDAU, projects are determined by the Western Australian Planning Commission rather than local government and Joint-Development-Assessment Panels.
GDD has been sent back to the drawing board several times, with building height the centre of contention among a group of local residents and the Town of Cottesloe.
The Town of Cottesloe has previously publicly spoken out against the project, subsequently forwarding a submission to the SDAU outlining that the initial design breached local height limits by 12.5 metres.
New plans surfaced earlier this year, prompted by SDAU advice, removing one level that reduced overall height by 6.6 metres and the total number of apartments to 14.
Those updated plans were considered significant enough by the SDAU to warrant a second community feedback period, which ran until the end of April.
The State Design Review Panel maintained its previous position that the height and bulk of the building was not appropriate for the location and that it would have a significant and adverse impact on the locality.
GDD revised its plans for a third time, submitting a new proposal in June, further reducing height and scale to propose a seven-storey, 12-apartment development.
“We have listened to the community’s concerns and feedback and taken them into account. We believe we have responded to them accordingly while still ensuring the design is befitting of its iconic location,” GDD founder Gary Dempsey said in a statement issued today.
“We look forward to a formal response to our application for the site in the coming weeks.”
As these plans were submitted to address issues raised by the State Design Review Panel and the Town of Cottesloe during the previous consultation processes; they were not released for further public consultation.
However, the SDAU said all public submissions received in response to previous proposals were considered in its assessment.
The SDAU has recommended the project for approval when the WAPC meets to determine the project next week.
Assessing height
In its assessment of the development, the SDAU notes in the meeting agenda that the project must comply with the maximum building height of five storeys and 21 metres, as set out in the Town of Cottesloe’s Local Planning Scheme No.3 (LPS3), which was gazetted in 2014.
GDD’s initial proposal for a nine-storey building stood at 33.7 metres, with the second iteration shedding one level to reach 27.1 metres.
A comparison between the first and second concepts. Source: WAPC.
The height and scale of those proposals were not supported by the Town of Cottesloe, the Heritage Council of Western Australia or the State Design Review Panel, and were accompanied by a high volume of public submissions that objected to those concept plans.
The latest plans still exceed that 21-metre height limit, at 24.9 metres to the top of the lift overrun and approximately 23.7 metres to the top of the roof.
The WAPC is not bound by the height provisions of LPS3 in making its determination; nor is it bound by any planning or non-planning law, rule or other requirement when determining SDAU applications (other than the Environmental Protection Act).
However, the meeting agenda notes that the WAPC must still have due regard to any public submissions received and be satisfied that the proposed development would be consistent with orderly and proper planning.
The SDAU lists several key reasons why it believes the proposed building height is supported.
That includes measuring building height at certain levels of the project: on level seven, the building height at the front facade is 21.2 metres.
“[This] responds to the desired scale and character of the area by maintaining the 21-metre height datum along this section of Marine Parade that is permitted by LPS3,” it said.
“The 21-metre building height limit is sufficient to accommodate 6 storeys within this building envelope while maintaining adequate floor to ceiling heights on all levels.
“The penthouse apartment on level seven is setback approximately two metres to four metres behind the front façade of the building and approximately two metres from the side boundary walls.
“These setbacks minimise the visual impact of the upper floor when viewed from Marine Parade and the lower angle of Cottesloe Beach.”
An excerpt from the WAPC meeting agenda that breaks down the building height of the latest concept. Source: WAPC meeting agenda.
The agenda also highlights how modelling provided by GDD demonstrated that the development would not interrupt key view corridors from the Cottesloe Civic Centre.
“It is also noted that views of the ocean directly west of the Cottesloe Civic Centre and in the line of sight of the proposed development, are largely obscured by vegetation and recently constructed buildings at 9 Napier Street and 15 Overton Gardens,” it stated.
“The impact of the development on solar access to the adjoining property to the south is comparable to that of a five-storey, 21 metre-high development that would be permitted under LPS3.
“The roof of the penthouse apartment is setback approximately two metres from the southern side boundary and does not result in any further overshadowing of the adjoining property to the south at 12pm on the winter solstice.
“Overshadowing of the Cottesloe foreshore and the surrounding public realm is comparable to that which could be caused by a development that was compliant with the building height and setback requirements of LPS3.”
The meeting agenda states that the Heritage Council of Western Australia has no objection to the new plans, and said the quality of the design now responded well to the setting of Cottesloe Beach.
The State Design Review Panel has also changed its previous position, and said it recognised the functionality, generosity and build quality of the proposed development and “commended the elegant, sculptural quality of the design”.
Business News contacted the Town of Cottesloe for comment.
The SDAU has received more than 70 proposals since it was established mid-last year: all 11 development applications that have progressed to the determination stage have been approved.
Over the past 20 years, little property development has taken shape along Cottesloe's beachfront strip, but there are several signficant projects in the pipeline for the area, including Andrew Forrest's plans to revamp the Indiana Teahouse.
