Fishermans Bend Forum reflections: 'Not another Docklands'

It was hardly surprising that a recurrent theme expressed by many at the Fishermans Bend forum on 7 July was 'not another Docklands'. Port Places is keen to delve a little deeper into what this means to different people and what direction it offers for Fishermans Bend.
At Open House Melbourne's speaker series, Minister Guy declared himself frustrated by people's criticisms of Docklands on the basis that it is only 48% complete. At that same meeting, he suggested that Fishermans Bend would complement other urban renewal areas, rather than replicating them. That seems to be at odds with what is happening on the ground.
On the Fishermans Bend panel there were sightly different views about Docklands. Perhaps a distinction needs to be made between the original aspiration for Docklands and what has been delivered. Port Places is very interested to hear and understand more from planners and community members who were involved in planning processes at that time.
Dr Darragh O'Brien observed that Docklands has never been formally evaluated so it is hard to say whether what was intended has been achieved.
An early critique of Docklands in Architecture Australia September/October 1998  by Anthony Styant-Browne has a prescient quality. In describing Docklands he says:

‘A mixture of philosophy and pragmatism has produced a unique laissez-fair development process inconceivable prior to the Reagan/Thatcher years. Government funding for infrastructure was out of the question, given the state of the public purse; confidence in the ability of conventional planning processes to deliver a successful outcome was low; and there was a born-again faith in the market as the driving force for urban development.’(p87)

Sound familiar?
O'Brien emphasised the fundamental importance of attention to the public realm. Styant-Brown shared this concern for a more comprehensive approach to the public realm in Docklands. What was needed was

'careful attention to linkage at interfaces between precincts, common attitudes to the waterfront edges, a considered system of public open spaces, a tree-planting program and the nature of connections (physical and visual) to the CBD'. 

What do people really mean when they say 'Not Another Docklands'? What might the positive 'not Docklands' features of the Fishermens Bend precinct be? Picking up on O'Brien's comment, what can we learn from the community engagement, planning and built form outcomes at Docklands to inform the approach to Fishermans Bend?
Meanwhile people living in Docklands are fighting back. Take a look at these images and see Docklands in a different light - literally. Several of these stunning photographs show some of the urban art including Bunjil presiding over us all. Would urban art feature in your preferred future for Fishermans Bend and how would it be paid for?

Fishermans Bend Forum reflections 1

A forum on the future of Fishermans Bend was hosted by the Community Alliance of Port Phillip on Sunday 7 July. A thoughtful panel addressed the theme of  the urban renewal of this area from different perspectives.  Readers will need to forgive the clumsy acronym FBURA, the Fishermans Bend Urban Renewal Area, which will be used in this and future posts.
Introducing the forum, Peter Mares set the scene. At 240 hectares, the FBURA is bigger than Docklands and Southbank combined. It is the largest urban renewal project in Australia - bigger than Barangaroo in Sydney. On the Melbourne planning scene, a new metropolitan strategy is anticipated.
Dr Rory Hyde kicked off the forum. That was appropriate. He has recently published Future Practice. Alone of all the speakers, he showed some familiarity with the area.  The current tabula rasa approach being taken denies what is actually happening in Fishermans Bend right now. He spoke about the creative energy constellating around Globe's refurbishment of the former Cadbury building in Fennell St. Instead of a staff canteen, the Salford Lads Club has got people flocking from around Melbourne and even walking across Williamstown Road - something that rarely happened before.  That has been followed by a barber, the Matilda Bay brewery and a vintage car race. Their approach has become a bit of a case study for the re-use of industrial buildings. He made the point that creative industries and the knowledge sector have a recognised role in urban renewal.

outside the Salford Lads Club, Fennell St, Port Melbourne

Rory also highlighted the influence of Fishermans Bend's underlying topography on future development scenarios. Port Places has always been fascinated by how the area's topography has influenced activities in Fishermans Bend since white settlement.  Unsuited to housing because of its sandy, swampy nature, Fishermans Bend's logistical advantages and proximity to the river made it well suited to the industrial focus of the post-war period. Those industrial uses have, in turn, left legacies of contamination that will add significantly to the cost of future development. In addition, the swampy character of the area will require expensive construction techniques which will likely lead to tower forms.
The creative industries are not only located in this part of Fishermans Bend. There is a very significant cluster of film related industries in the Montague precinct. These uses will be difficult to sustain with land value increases.
Hyde made the dire prediction that the (lack of) planning for the area 'will lead to the worst part of Melbourne ever to be built.'
It is the intention of generating community debate on the future of Fishermans Bend to ensure that doesn't happen.

Colour, cranes and mid-winter blue

This weekend, Jeffrey Smart died. The papers were full of his urban images. I love the strong colour in his work and that he addressed stark urban subjects, like containers. Colour was central to his work. This is in my mind as the Port of Melbourne Corporation invites people's views about crane colours as part of the Port expansion project. There are a bewildering 18 colour options offered. The Port of Melbourne's publications have always drawn on the very strong colours of gantry, container and ship. But it seems that at this stage the public's preferred option is for disguise, camouflage and grey. Don't know about you, but grey and camouflage communicate uncomfortably about navies and war. I much prefer to look the Port to look like the Port. The mid-winter sun on the Port this morning confirmed just how much I like that red.
Since we (in Port) are going to see quite a few of these gantries along the eastern side of Webb Dock, it is worth expressing an opinion on the crane colours since your opinion is being invited.
What do you prefer?
You can try out all the crane colour options at the Port's Capacity Project page and indicate your preference.

Down river from the Bolte Bridge

The Banks of the Yarra

Last week I loved listening to My Brown Yarra sung by Homebrew Verandah Music in Federation Square. If you don't know this affectionate homage to our River written by Frank Jones for the Whirling Furphies, the chorus is 'when I die, put me in a barra, wheel me down to the banks of the Yarra.'
Yesterday, I sat on Needles Beach on the banks of the Werribee River and this is what I saw.

Today, I positioned myself under the Westgate Bridge on this little beach to watch for the arrival of the new portainer cranes destined for Swanson Dock.

While waiting in the company of much more patient fishermen, I picked up just a fraction of what the river  conveyed to this little beach in last week's rain:  43 plastic bottles, these assembled straws and endless broken pieces of polystyrene - but no portainer cranes came into view.

The cranes are now coming up the river tomorrow at 13.30.

What you can do:

Pick up litter anywhere anytime to prevent in ending up in our beautiful river and bay and support the government's Cleaner Yarra River &Port Phillip Bay: A Plan of Action 

For sale: Montague

A property at 123 Montague Street is offered for sale by CBRE by international public expression of interest.
The property, advertised in today's Age, notes that an application for 680 apartments and 3,000 sqm of retail has been lodged.

Carlins: 6 to 78 Buckhurst St

The Age's Marc Pallisco reported on Saturday 1 June that Carlins has lodged an application for a staged development of 4 towers,  the tallest of which will be 38 storeys, for their massive site on Buckhurst St. The proposed development includes 1023 flats.
The application, lodged on 27 May 2013,  is listed on the Minister's Planning Permit register with scant further information at this time.
As you can see from the photos below, the site is large and Buckhurst St is very wide. It was envisaged as the main street and community heart of Montague in the City of Port Phillip's plan for the suburb.
Since a different future to that imagined by Port Phillip is unfolding, where is a precinct plan to show the role of streets such as Buckhurst in the new Montague, and how positive community benefit will flow from the many developments now under consideration by the Minister for Planning?

Buckhurst St frontage

Buckhurst St frontage

cnr Kerr and Buckhurst St

Connecting Fishermans Bend with the rail network

Urban Melbourne responded to Jason Dowling's  article in The Age today on the future traffic load on the Westgate Bridge by highlighting the contribution that rail will and might make on these scenarios.
UM prefer PTV's  (Public Transport Victoria) long term plan for a connection from Southern Cross to Fishermans Bend - a Mernda to Fishermans Bend line - to a second bridge crossing.
PTV's plan says

The Fishermans Bend area will undergo significant redevelopment in the coming decades and become an important new hub in the expanding CBD. This area will need significant additional public transport capacity and connections as it develops and it is anticipated that the initial enhanced bus network will not be sufficient to support the longer term needs for passengers wishing to access the area. This project enables a fast and frequent train service to be provided [p130 of 140]

Urban Melbourne cautions against thinking that further road based projects will ease current or future congestion. However, given the current debate on the merits of the East-West Link relative to the Melbourne Metro, it is hard to muster any confidence that there is the vision or the will to plan for a liveable future for our great city.