VPELA Revue (October 2023)

revue

victorian / planning / environmental / law / association / volume 119

October 23

Contents From the Editors Letters to the Editors President's Column From the Minister

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People A word about…

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The Paul Jerome Award 2023 VPELA’s inaugural Mentorning Program

2023 YPG Masterclass Series

Conference Access all areas: Ramping up our approach to accessibility

Integrity in the Planning System: Lessons from Sandon Melbourne Water's pivotal role in ensuring environmental resilience

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Reflections on the State Planning Conference

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Seminar The elusive “social license” and how to build it for transmission and renewables in the race to Net Zero

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The Business Good, better … excellent? The challenges of navigating design quality through planning policy and assessment Could Tasmania become Australia’s Finland and end homelessness?

In case you missed it…

Cover: The Paul Jerome Award recipient Kate Stapleton, Director Planning and Heritage Practice, Department of Transport and Planning pictured with Tim McBride-Burgess Contour Consultants award sponsor.

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Newsletter editors: Amanda Ring M: 0419 332 473 E: aring@upco.com.au T: 8648 3500

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Holly McFall M: 0459 321 020 E: hmcfall@upco.com.au T: 8648 3500

VPELA PO Box 1291 Camberwell 3124 www.vpela.org.au E: admin@vpela.org.au T: 9813 2801

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From the Editors Amanda Ring

As newcomers to the journal editing business, Holly and I have been pleasantly surprised by the interest in contributing to Revue, and the number of calls we take, and emails we receive, often soon after publication. As Shakespeare wrote, though, the better part of valor is discretion!

On reflection, we shouldn’t be surprised by the willingness – unsolicited or invited – of members to contribute. After all, why wouldn’t the membership want to contribute, in some way, to a publication which can share a wide range of views and opinions?

Pleasingly, the contributions come from a range of sectors and are penned by practitioners with different ranges of experience.

As is the usual practice, this October edition is dominated by reporting of yet another successful VPELA Annual Conference under the expert stewardship of Co-convenors Michael Deidun and Anna Borthwick.

This, of course, is Michael’s last year as Conference Convenor, and many participants have reported that this year’s conference was, perhaps fittingly, his best.

Holly and I have enjoyed reading, and editing for publication, the various accounts of the conference program which clearly impacted and resonated with attendees in a time of diversity and inclusion.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to the conference this year but, clearly, we missed out. It’s a note to selves for next year’s conference under the new stewardship of Anna Borthwick.

While the conference is well reported in this edition, we are delighted that the Minister is again contributing to Revue, after a short hiatus.

In this edition, the Minister speaks to the Government’s recently released Housing Statement which sets ‘a bold target to build 800,000 homes in Victoria over the next decade…in an Affordability Partnership with industry.’ It was very eagerly anticipated and, it seems, broadly received with a degree of optimism, but also with some skepticism.

Like so many statements released by governments, ‘the proof will be in the pudding’. And let’s hope so, as more and more Victorians chase desperately needed housing security.

Holly McFall

Vale This edition wouldn’t be complete without acknowledging the recent passing of Simon Gutteridge and Judith Nicholson.

Many members were fortunate to attend Simon’s funeral and/or the fitting memorial recently hosted by the City of Port Phillip, at the St Kilda Town Hall. Simon was a very quiet achiever in his more than 25 years of planning; committed to the relevance and longevity of the City of Port Phillip’s heritage values, a positive future for Fishermans Bend and, nurturing those who worked with, and under, him. Recent opportunities to celebrate a quiet but very generous personal, and professional, life simply confirmed what many of us already knew – that Simon will be missed.

Many in VPELA who knew Judy Nicholson were saddened to learn of her advanced illness in a beautiful LinkedIn message posted earlier this year, on her behalf, by a close friend. It was sadder still to learn more recently of Judy’s peaceful passing. It is a tall order summarising the best qualities and achievements of Judith Nicholson but, in this edition of Revue, Deb Butcher, a colleague of Judy’s at Perrott Lyon Matheson in the 90s, gives us a little insight with her Vale tribute. Many members were fortunate to have attended the wonderful celebration of Judy’s very full and well-lived life.

Finally, as we head into the last months of 2023 and the inevitable rush to the ‘finish line’, Holly and I, like your President, will be looking forward to catching up with many of you at one, or more, of VPELA’s 23/24 summer events, including the annual Christmas function.

Amanda Ring and Holly McFall – both are part of the team at UPco,

STOP PRESS

In addition to the articles reporting or emerging from the Annual Conference program, we hope that you will enjoy reading:

2023 BOARD ELECTION RESULTS

• your President’s Column; • an experienced practitioner’s continuing plea for a review of outdated car parking standards in Letters to the Editors; • a reminder from Catherine Heggen and some of her industry colleagues about the outstanding contribution that Tim Biles has made to the planning and urban design sectors as he steps away from consulting with Ratio and goes fishing; • Simon McPherson’s piece on design excellence; • Rob Pradolin’s article on possible solutions to homelessness; • feedback from some participants in the 2023 VPELA Mentoring Program; and • contributions to our new column entitled In case you missed it.

VPELA would like to congratulate sitting Board members Meg Lee, Mark Sheppard, Ellen Tarasenko and Mia Zar who were all successfully returned in our recent election.

Warm congratulations to Anna Borthwick, KPMG and Eliza Minney, Best Hooper Lawyers, who were also elected and will join the Board next month.

A full profile of our new members will be included in the March 2024 Revue.

VPELA Revue October 2023 / 3

Letters to the Editors Dear Eds Planning Scheme Car Parking Standards I was very pleased to see the article by Henry Turnbull, entitled ‘Parking for modern vehicles’ in the June 2023 edition of Revue.

Although Car Parking Advisory Committee reviews were undertaken in 2008 & 2012, they were silent in relation to vehicle sizes and parking bay dimensions. The 2012 report mentioned the confusion between parking bay dimensions in the Planning Scheme (PS) and those in the Australian Standards (AS) and suggested that the PS dimensions were preferred.

In March 2019, Henry Turnbull wrote an article in Revue referring to the increasing use of car stackers noting that ‘some stacker spaces are very narrow and do not meet current parking standards’. In June 2019, I wrote an article for Revue entitled ‘Car stackers – do they comply?’, highlighting the fact that once a planning permit issued, there appeared to be no accountability for ensuring that what is built complies with what was approved.

In January 2020, I wrote to the DELWP pointing out what I considered to be errors and omissions in the PS regarding car parking, particularly in relation to car parking modules and car stackers. I indicated that

parking spaces can have PS parking bay dimensions on one level & AS dimensions on another. Car stackers do not rate a mention in the PS. Mechanical parking has three dot points; one being ‘the design and operation is to the satisfaction of the responsible authority’. In one residential development, I measured the effective width of a car stacker space as being 2.2 metres, which complies with neither standard!

The DELWP response I received explained ‘if the Australian Standard were to change because of the changing vehicle size, I agree that a review of the standards in the car parking provisions may be justified’.

On February 1, 2020, I responded to DELWP pointing out that the AS quotes vehicle sales data for the year 2000 and that the 2008 & 2012 reviews were silent on the issue of vehicle dimensions or parking bay sizes. In March 2020, I received a response from the Acting Executive Director of DELWP suggesting that I raise the issue of vehicle dimensions with Standards Australia and helpfully providing contact details.

I understood that DELWP was responsible for updating and administering the PS to ensure that it keeps pace with changing trends. In May 2021, I again wrote to DELWP to enquire whether any consideration had been given to updating car parking standards.

Disappointingly, it was not part of the what the Department described as it's massive planning reform program’ aimed at facilitating, amongst other things, Covid-era planning projects.

It is now 23 years since any planning authority had any regard to current vehicle dimensions. Vehicle dimensions have changed a lot in almost a generation.

In my view, it is time that Department of Transport and Planning (DoTP) acts to contemporise car parking provisions in the PS. A proper review is required; updating parking bay dimensions to accord with the current vehicle fleet and combining the best aspects of the PS and AS into a single reliable provision without conflict. If the DoTP has insufficient in-house resources, competent consultants must be retained to undertake this work.

The Government must take notice and implement changes to the PS. It cannot continue to take cover behind Standards Australia. As Henry Turnbull has shown, it does not take brain surgery to establish popular vehicle dimensions and it’s time the PS reflected such. It should not be controversial.

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Des Grogan

President’s Column

Taking courage Mark Sheppard, Director, Urbis Welcome to the last edition of Revue for 2023. As always, it’s been a busy few months since the last issue.

Diversity and inclusion We held our annual conference in lovely Lorne in late August and early September. I’ve heard the phrase ‘best ever’ from a number of people and, whether you agree with that or not, it was undoubtedly an exceptional event, littered with insightful and provocative speakers, and leavened by lots of enjoyable networking – and some memorable pirate costumes!

The theme of the conference was Celebrating the Future with Diversity and Inclusion. We were challenged to ensure that our work considers the needs of the marginalised in our society – in particular, First Nations people, those with mobility impairments, refugees and victims of child sexual abuse. We were urged to have the courage to question conventional wisdom and stand up for those without a strong voice.

This year’s conference was the last under the direction of Michael Deidun, who has since stepped down from the Conference Committee.

I’d like to take this opportunity to express, once again, the Association’s deep gratitude to Michael for his enormous contribution to the committee and conferences over more than a decade. The standard of the conferences has gone from strength to strength during his tenure.

Fortunately, many of the Conference Committee members are continuing – notably, co-convenor Anna Borthwick. So I’m confident Michael’s legacy of stimulating themes and meticulous planning will live on. Huge thanks to all of the committee members for putting together such a thought-provoking and enjoyable conference.

Housing Statement September saw the long-promised release of the Victorian Government’s Housing Statement, aimed at boosting the provision of new and, particularly, affordable housing through planning reform and other initiatives. The focus of the planning reforms is on providing greater speed and certainty of planning approvals for housing development within established areas, from ‘granny flats’ to large projects.

The Statement raises many questions. For example: Does the housing industry have the capacity to deliver the increased rate of new housing sought by Government? What role are councils expected to play in achieving the housing target? What form will the ‘clear planning controls’ for the 10 identified activity centres take? What impact will the BADS updates have on affordability? Does ResCode Standard B1 (Neighbourhood Character) ‘trump’ the deemed to satisfy standards?

Despite these unknowns, the Government is to be congratulated for being willing to take some bold steps to address the housing crisis.

While more can always be done, there will no doubt be much debate about the merits of some of the proposals. Many questions remain about the details, but it’s good to see the inclusion of initiatives to streamline planning approvals despite their likely unpopularity with voters. The large number and broad range of measures discussed in the Statement recognise that there is no silver bullet, and every possible lever must be pulled to meet burgeoning housing demand.

Urbis delegates picture with Ian Hamm at the State Planning Conference.

We thank the Minister’s Office for engaging with us over this and other issues, and look forward to more opportunities to provide industry perspectives and a sounding board for reform ideas.

It was good to be able to discuss these at our Housing Statement Reform seminar on 17 October with Phil Burn, Department of Transport and Planning, Marji Kennedy, City of Melbourne, Rob Pradolin, Founder of Housing All Australians and Carolyn Viney, Super Housing Partnerships.

And finally…

VPELA has a new board. Adam Terrill stepped down after three terms, in accordance with our board tenure policy. I’d like to thank Adam for his sterling service over almost a decade – including three years as Vice President – and his support and wise counsel since I became President. My thanks also to Christina McRae for her outstanding commitment and contribution during both her terms on the Board.

I extend congratulations and a warm welcome to Anna Borthwick, KPMG and Eliza Minney, Best Hooper Laywers.

In closing, I’m excited to announce our return to international study tours next year. Watch out for more information about the expedition to Canada. In the meantime, I’m sure those participating will enjoy our short tour to Sydney in October.

If I don’t see you before, I look forward to catching up with you at the Christmas party at Zinc on 5 December.

Mark Sheppard is President of VPELA and a Director at Urbis.

Follow us on https://au.linkedin.com/company/vpela VPELA Revue October 2023 / 5

From the Minister

A Housing Statement for Victoria Hon. Sonya Kilkenny MP, Minister for Planning As by now you are aware, the highly anticipated Housing Statement has unveiled a series of transformative reforms.

As I approach my 12-month anniversary as Minister for Planning in December I can’t help but feel immense pride in the Housing Statement and the collective efforts of so many across Government in bringing it together. I would like to especially thank the dedicated staff in my department who have worked so tirelessly on this.

Now, it’s time for implementation.

The Housing Statement comprises a number of immediate initiatives – underscoring the urgency to address the housing crisis and this government’s commitment to getting more quality homes built in the places where people want to live.

There’s a commitment to addressing the long-standing issue of planning application backlogs and an expansion of the Development Facilitation Program to ensure we get good decisions faster and which provide true housing choice.

The conversation about change can be a difficult one. I understand this, both as a local member and from the issues that cross my desk daily as Minister for Planning. But, I also understand that many Victorians are shut out of existing, well serviced communities because there

Victoria’s Housing Statement The decade ahead | 2024-2034

simply aren’t enough homes. I know that many members of VPELA are closely engaged with these types of conversations, the disputes they cause, and that you are all invested in creating a better system that works well for everyone.

The work on activity centres, Future Homes and codifying residential development is about enabling this change whilst at the same time providing certainty to both the community and developers.

Providing certainty through deemed to comply codes will support innovative investment by industry in new housing construction methods. For landowners, greater certainty around the planning process means being able to better plan for projects. After all, it is not always about the final decision of the application – it is also about the time it takes to get there and the number of unknowns that exist along that journey.

We know that the existing residential design standards are not fit for purpose, particularly when it comes to 3-4 storey apartment buildings and townhouses and we’re going to do something about that.

Certainty with height controls and affordable housing expectations in activity centres will help us have open and constructive conversations with communities about what change will look like and what communities need to keep those centres vibrant, thriving and connected.

Future Homes, which will enable builders and developers to purchase and adapt competition winning designs on their well-located land right across metropolitan Melbourne, will be critical in demonstrating how apartment buildings are something that Victorians can be excited about.

We’re taking Future Homes even further by working with industry and universities to develop new designs with a core emphasis on affordability, construction innovation and sustainability.

Our planning system needs to deliver housing choice in established areas, but choice is just that. We also recognise the importance of supporting those who choose to live in Melbourne’s diverse growth areas so planning for sustainable future communities must continue in these locations.

The Housing Statement confirms the precinct structure planning work to be undertaken by the Victorian Planning Authority in greenfield areas, and I looked forward to working closely with the Authority to help support the emergence of new communities.

Our state is growing quickly. We need to make sure that our neighbourhoods are within reach of Victorians, give Victorians access to great jobs and provide connected infrastructure – such as schools, hospitals, public transport, parks and open spaces and community facilities and services.

The task before us is clear – to provide greater housing choice by increasing the supply of affordable, diverse and well-designed homes in established parts of Melbourne, while also ensuring a sustainable supply of greenfield land.

Victorian Housing Statement (DoTP).

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As a part of the engagement on the new plan for Victoria we will be working with communities to identify and prioritise the things they love; that contribute to their wellbeing and quality of life.

Underpinning all of this will be an exploration of how best we can support sustainable environments, with climate action and climate change mitigation – acknowledging the critical importance of safeguarding our environment for future generations. This focus is not just a commitment, it’s a call to action, emphasising the need for cleaner air, greener streets, and healthier waterways – to enhance our quality of life and contribute to the happiness and well-being of our neighbourhoods and communities.

Victoria’s natural environment, including its air quality, water sources, and food security, is inextricably linked to the health and well-being of its residents. As the impacts of a changing climate become increasingly evident, we recognise the urgency of our response. Adaptation and preparation for the challenges of the future are paramount.

By embracing innovative approaches and reducing emissions and pollution, we are not only working towards our goal of achieving netzero emissions by 2045 but also creating opportunities for innovation that reduce household energy bills and create more jobs. These efforts are essential in our pursuit of creating liveable and thriving neighbourhoods.

Furthermore, adapting to climate change and building resilient, prepared communities is crucial in mitigating the impacts of climaterelated and natural hazards. This necessitates careful consideration of housing locations to mitigate the risks of bushfire, flood, coastal inundation, erosion, and landslides.

Preserving our natural landscapes and containing urban sprawl are integral to protecting our environment, safeguarding natural ecosystems, waterways, agricultural land, and habitats. By doing so, we will lessen our impact on the environment and ensure the beauty and richness of Victoria’s landscapes can endure for generations to come.

I look forward to engaging with members of VPELA during this exciting time for Victoria.

Hon. Sonya Kilkenny MP, Minister for Planning

Vale – Judith Nicholson It was with great sadness that I learned of the passing of Judy Nicholson, after illness, on Saturday 30 September. She was a well known and loved member of the Victorian Planning community, and her all too early passing will be of sorrow to everyone that knew her.

Judy began her planning career in Victoria with architectural practice Perrott Lyon Mathieson (PLM) where she worked for some 15 years. I was fortunate to work with her for a time in the 1990s. At PLM she had the opportunity to work with fellow esteemed planner, David Whitney, and mentor many young planners who are now, themselves, respected senior industry figures. In 2001, Judy moved to Arup where she also worked for many years, before starting her own consulting practice in 2010, Nicholson Planning and Development. In 2019 she returned to the world of larger consulting practice, joining GHD as the Technical Director of Planning and Approvals. In 2021, she made her final professional move to KBR as the firm’s Principal Planner and Environment Discipline Manager, before becoming unwell last year and stepping back from the work she loved, to manage her health.

Aside from contributions to the planning world, Judy also made a huge (and mostly quiet) contribution to the broader community through her involvement in Albert Park Rotary for more than 20 years, her role on a range of boards and her support serving Sunday dinners at St Silas Church for many years.

Jude, as many knew her, was a fun-loving and larger than life personality. As a mentor to younger planners, she had plenty of advice to give; professional and technical, as well as life advice more generally – including the occasional fashion tip (she loved Carla Zampatti clothes – ‘Aunty Carla’ she would call her!) and other useful titbits (such as the best champagne to order at a restaurant). She would walk into a meeting, often in a brightly coloured, finely tailored suit, and would immediately command the attention of everyone in that room. She would then use her significant planning knowledge, and her formidable negotiation skills, to get the best outcome she could for the many clients she worked for over the years.

Judy made a significant contribution to planning in Victoria and will be greatly missed by all her industry colleagues and friends.

Vale – Judy Nicholson Deb Butcher of EMM Consulting kindly prepared this Tribute

VPELA Revue October 2023 / 7

People

was informed by consultancies with Professor George Seddon who was appointed to investigate and analyse the landscape qualities of the rural areas of the Mornington, Hastings and Flinders municipalities.

The resulting “Landscape Assessment of the Southern Mornington Peninsula 1974”, coupled with “A Natural Systems Study” by ERA led the WPRPA staff to the concept of overlays to manage the influences of natural systems and cultural influences. It was a revolution in the structure and nature of planning controls at a seminal time in the evolution of metropolitan and regional planning.

A word about…

You think you know a lot about someone, until you realise you don’t. Thank you to Catherine Heggen, at Ratio, and others for compiling this terrific recollection of an enduring and stellar career as Tim Biles announced his retirement from corporate practice. – Eds

Tim Biles BA (Flinders University), Dip Town and Regional Planning (Melbourne University) FPIA FVPLEA

The Western Port Regional Planning Authority was grappling with development pressures and the nascent environmental and conservation movements. The rural areas of the Southern Mornington Peninsula were seen to have landscape qualities of special value. The WPRPA launched the “Conservation Plan for the Southern Mornington Peninsula” in 1975 and applied it to the rural areas in the planning schemes of peninsula municipalities. At the time, it was a controversial plan, the aspirations for which were hard fought. However, today, the success of the Conservation Plan is demonstrated by the enduring value of these landscapes supported by the statutory protection of roadside vegetation – a first in Victoria’s planning schemes.

Tim continued his work in development management in sensitive areas when in 1977 he was appointed Town Planner at the Shire of Sherbrooke. By now the environmental and conservation movements had become more sophisticated and citizen action moved to Councillor representation.

Recipient of the 2017 Richard J Evans award Tim Biles has worked at the highest levels of professional practice, as a geographer, planner, educator, urban design consultant and interpreter of landscape impacts for over 50 years. Tim’s contribution to the discipline of town planning, its breadth and possibilities has been, and continues to be immense. He has recently retired from Ratio where, over the last three years, along with others, he developed the urban design capabilities of the firm.

The backdrop to Tim’s early life, growing up surrounded by the drama of Tasmania’s green mountains and wild coasts and, later, in Woomera with its wide horizons and red desert plains and rockets, had a profound impact on his appreciation for the role of landscape in urban and regional futures.

Following an early career in network development for Shell, Tim saw the potential to pursue his professional interests that lie at the intersection of physical geography, town planning and landscape appreciation when he joined the Western Port Regional Planning Authority in 1972 (WPRPA) under the leadership of Brian Harper.

Here, Tim worked with a small team required by the State to prepare a Conservation Plan for the Southern Mornington Peninsula. This work

During Tim’s tenure at Sherbrooke, the clash of development aspirations with conservation efforts attracted Shire Councillors who would also go on to make significant contributions to the practice of town planning in their own fields of professional endeavour. These included Stuart Morris KC and Emeritus Professor Michael Buxton, both of whom would be appointed Shire Presidents.

By 1980 Tim decided to re-engage with the academic world as an educator of planners and joined RMIT as a lecturer. Many of his students, now practising planners for many years, regularly crossed paths with Tim in various forums. Whilst Tim enjoyed his return to the foundation principles of planning and the enquiring enthusiasm of students, the opportunity to join Tract Consultants in 1982 presented at a decisive moment in the evolution of the practice of planning and landscape architecture in Australia. They were halcyon days for Tim as he saw the power of landscape architecture practiced with skill and energetic endeavour.

Tract emerged as an independent landscape architecture consultancy from Merchant Builders Pty Ltd and was at the forefront of site analysis, site planning and design response principles – techniques

Ratio is proud to foster emerging talent alongside our established experts.

Reach out to our extensive lineup of experts to talk planning, transport and urban design.

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Mathew Furness

Edelene Loke

David Crowder We are excited to watch our Director: Planning outstanding team further their expert evidence careers under the mentorship of industry-leading professionals.

Associate: Planning

Melbourne 8 Gwynne St, Cremorne, VIC 3121 Phone (03) 9429 3111

Geelong Suite 2, 12-14 Union St, Geelong VIC 3220 Phone (03) 4224 0240

Sydney Level 11/10 Carrington St, Sydney, NSW 2000 Phone (02) 9696 1225

Director: Urban Design /Planning

Brisbane City Level 6/200 Adelaide St, Brisbane, QLD 4000 Phone (07) 3724 9277

today that are commonplace in the arenas of planning and design but, at the time, were revolutionary in how these skills could influence planning considerations that went beyond statutory compliance to achieve superior qualitative, performance-based outcomes.

At Tract, Tim was the first practicing planner, alongside Howard McCorkell, to join the business and, working with landscape architects, led projects including the preparation of Building Design and Siting Guidelines for development in sensitive areas, the establishment of a new environmental campus for St Leonards College at Patterson River, townscape projects and the restoration of Fawthrop Lagoon at Portland into a much-valued community recreation attraction.

During this time, Tim contributed to the ongoing professional development of planners through his work with the then Royal Australian Planning Institute (RAPI) by devising and then coordinating monthly meeting discussion issues and the schedule of speakers. He was a member of the editorial board of the then Planning Appeals Board Reports and was one of the inaugural editors of Planning News along with Frank Dawson.

and the texts of Jan Gehl and Charles Landry remain enduring references and the ideas and principles contained in these books continue to inform Tim’s analysis of design problems.

The benefits of collaboration across disciplines, particularly with design professionals, led Tim to Message Consultants in 2005 and with business partner Catherine Heggen, a former Tract colleague, and Mat Furness and Gokhan Karpat, he developed the practice as a collaborative urban design and planning firm. At Message, projects always commenced with a comprehensive analysis of the issues and influences, a crisp synthesis of those elements that matter and a considered response to the problem. Grounded in the planning scheme directions, built form analysis, urban design critiques and visual impact assessments were what propelled the success of the practice.

In 2020 Message Consultants merged with Ratio and this event brings this citation full circle. The urban design practice at Ratio continues to develop and evolve today.

By the early 1990s times were changing and so, too, did Tim’s focus when he left Tract to establish Contour Consultants, a successful planning and project facilitation practice that continues today.

Tim was awarded the Richard J Evans award in 2017, VPELA’s highest award for professional excellence. Tim has made an outstanding contribution to the practice of planning and urban design interpretation over a long and successful career.

At Tract and Contour, Tim honed his expertise as a much in demand planning and design expert witness. The influential publications of Kevin Lynch “The Image of the City”, Lawrence Halpern “Sea Ranch”

Although Tim has stepped away from Ratio, he continues to pursue his interests in collaboration on selected projects and can be reached at tim@timbiles.com.au

Providing award-winning designs and innovative solutions to complex projects.

DALTON CONSULTING ENGINEERS

melbourne . geelong . brisbane

Civil Engineers & Project Managers dceng.com.au VPELA Revue October 2023 / 9

People

The Paul Jerome Award – Citation for Kate Stapleton Kate is an energetic and passionate planner with over 25 years experience in State and local government in Melbourne, and including 12 months in the UK. Early in her career she gained experience at Brimbank City Council before moving to the then Department of Sustainability and Environment (from 2002 to 2005 and 2006 until 2014). This time included a role in the Office of the Minister for Planning, Mary Delahunty MP. Kate has a passion for people-focussed planning and program efficiency. Between 2015 and 2018 she held a role in the Development Facilitation team, largely designing and co-ordinating the Fast Track Government Land Advisory Service (now known as Government Land Planning Service) and the associated Advisory Committee. The Service helped to realise the potential of surplus government land for divestment and inter-governmental department transactions. In this role, Kate implemented a streamlined service and developed and implemented guidelines to realise these outcomes in a timely and practical manner.

In 2018, Kate moved to VicRoads to better integrate the worlds of traffic engineering and planning for all modes of transport. This role

Christina McRae, Director, Urbis

has included establishing a new planning practice function with new processes and skills development for VicRoads. She relished the opportunity to bring a more holistic focus to transport planning and improving cities. Her current role with the Department of Transport and Planning is as the Director, Planning and Heritage Practice.

In 2023, Kate was part of the team awarded the PIA National Award for Planning Excellence for the Transport Planning Reform.

Throughout her career Kate has continued to engage in education to build and consolidate her skills and practice. She recently graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she was awarded a Master of Science in Cities (with a Distinction).

Kate brings a rare mix of sunny delight, passion and strength to her roles that cuts through processes aimed at improving cities and environments for the Victorian community. Kate is a regular contributor to professional forums sharing her experience with VPELA and PIA and encouraging others in the industry to share her passion.

This citation was prepared by Christina McRae, Director, Urbis

Award Nominations Open VPELA is pleased to invite applications for this new award which recognises excellence in a young or new professional working in the Victorian Public Sector. It is awarded to a young person, or mid/late career person following a career change, who goes above and beyond and demonstrates exceptional initiative and endeavour.

The aim of the award is to reward outstanding contributions, foster a culture of excellence in the public sector, and contribute to public sector staff retention.

The Inaugural Kathy Mitchell Award 2024

Nominations are especially encouraged from Managers and Directors to recognise excellence in their teams. Self-nominations are also welcomed.

The winner will be awarded unlimited attendance at VPELA seminars and events for a whole year, and the opportunity to prepare an article in the Revue magazine and possible presentation at a dedicated seminar on public sector excellence. The Award will be presented at our Summer drinks in February 2024.

You can download the criteria and application forms https://www.vpela.org.au/about-vpela/awards/the-kathy-mitchell-award

Applications close on Friday 24 November.

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People

VPELA’s inaugural Mentoring Program A look at how the program is going Rob McGauran, MGS & Campbell Gullock, Blades Studio

It is an opportunity to share experience, workshop one-on-one challenges you are having, problem-solve difficult issues with someone who is removed from the emotions of the issue and reflect on things you could have done better to learn for next time. It can also be an opportunity to celebrate small wins that may not be appropriate in the workplace.

Being a mentor or mentee should also be fun and, at its best, is a couple of people catching up professionally and having a laugh about the strange and wonderful ways of the working world.

Rob McGauran and Campbell Gullock.

Rob and Campbell comprise a unique pair within the VPELA mentorship program and each offers the other differing perspectives from within urban design. Where Campbell’s experience primarily lies in ‘statutory’ urban design (i.e. the review of individual developments, often within the statutory planning process), Rob provides an interesting counterpoint with his extensive knowledge of ‘strategic’ urban design and the development of large scale precinct plans and urban design frameworks.

A key focus of the pairing so far has been reflecting on passions (or what gets you out of bed in the morning) and using this as a career guide. It’s been clear from the sessions that being passionate is essential to forging your own career path; one that is both fulfilling and sustainable in the long term. Another key focus of the pairing has been reflecting on skill sets and identifying ways these skills can contribute to the design of our cities and provide unique value to others in the planning industry.

Aside from career advice, time has also been spent discussing ‘hot topics’ within urban design, and the planning industry more broadly – including affordable housing and environmentally sustainable design.

Rob is an advocate of lifelong learning and broadening horizons to ensure you remain well informed, whereas Campbell is continuing to explore a broad range of topics to become a well-rounded urban designer.

Rob and Campbell have found catching up for a morning coffee works best for them, and are looking forward to more sessions to come.

We have both been mentors and mentees, and that is the essence of our successful mentor–mentee relationship. In our experience, it is not a one-way flow of information between the experienced and the inexperienced; as a mentor, you can learn as much as you teach, if not more. As a mentee, you will bring your own perspectives to the relationship, and challenge the mentor to ‘think outside the box’.

Our mentoring experience is very much a peer relationship and, in our circumstances, on any day either one could be the mentor or mentee.

We have known each other for a long time and still appreciate the opportunity to discuss the issues of the day, future directions and mid to late career advice.

We have been meeting every few months over coffee, or lunch. We usually catch up in the city, as one of us lives on the beautiful Bass Coast and is often up for meetings. Having said that, a meeting down on the coast is overdue!

Would we do it again? YES! Being a mentor or mentee is one of the most rewarding and enjoyable aspects of working life and is highly recommended for everyone.

Valentine Gnanakone, onemilegrid & Joanna Jellie, Arup Val: I’ve really enjoyed being able to mentor Jo and provide my advice on aspects of her career and role that she needed guidance on. It’s great to have someone that is eager to listen and learn from my experience (I think my team are sick of listening to me!) and is, importantly, committed to put it into practice. The only negative is not having all the answers – I wish I could provide solutions to all of Jo’s questions!

As you may know, the term mentor derives from Mentor who was a friend of Odysseus and looked after Odysseus’ son Telemachus in Homer’s Odyssey. The expression has come to be used today in terms of being a ‘wise adviser’.

Jo: It’s great to learn from someone who has more professional experience and a different perspective. The ability to receive personalised feedback from someone who sits outside my organisation has been very valuable as there is less bias in the advice compared to receiving mentoring from someone within my organisation. A challenge has been dedicating the time to prepare and follow up on our meetings – usually in a café, every two months. Val encourages me to reflect on what we have discussed, and we have started looking at what my forward career path will be and how to chart it out.

Everyone, no matter what stage in their career, should be a mentee and be a mentor. You are never too old (experienced!) to be a mentee and never too young to be a mentor, as there is always someone less experienced than you who might need that wise advice.

Val: Having been my own boss for the last 9 years, gaining a firsthand perspective on the hurdles employees encounter while interacting with their higher-ups has proven invaluable. Such insights aren’t readily accessible from my own staff due to our close working relationship.

Nick Wimbush & Jodi Kennedy, Bass Coast Shire Council

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So, hearing about Jo’s experiences has given me an opportunity to enhance my managerial and leadership skills and hopefully become a better leader!

Jo: I have learnt techniques for dealing with difficult situations and conversations at work and how to build my leadership skills. I have also been able to learn about the positives and challenges of running a consulting business.

Val and Jo: We’d do it again and recommend the program to others.

Mentors and mentees each offer the other a unique perspective and knowledge.

Natasha Swan, Banyule City Council & Louie Chen, Merri-bek City Council

The mentoring program came at a great time. Louie was returning to Council and was after specific guidance on developing his leadership skills. This aligned perfectly with Natasha, who is always keen to support the growth of planners in the sector as a passionate local government tragic. It was appreciated that this pairing was not a case of direct reporting. Instead, the pair has been able to benefit from third-party perspective and offer objective problem-solving and advice. It was also a great opportunity for Natasha to share her career learnings.

Both are big on setting defined goals that are measurable and this pair’s mentoring agreement contains specific goals set within the mentoring timeline for Louie to work towards and achieve, ranging from small quick wins to bigger picture (2-5 years) ambitions to strive for.

They highly encourage anyone sitting on the fence to ‘just do it’. Whilst Tash and Louis would have likely met in another forum, the program has given them time to establish a new relationship on a deeper professional level.

Sometimes the opportunity to simply sit and chat is invaluable of itself. The biggest takeaway from their time in the program so far is that circumstances are always changing so you need to be flexible about what to focus on.

Natasha Swan and Louie Chen.

After their first meeting, a routine was established. Natasha and Louis meet every 6-8 weeks, on a WFH day, with an excuse to go for brunch!

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Tash and Louis are both looking forward to continuing this specific professional relationship, sharing ideas and learnings with each other and, most importantly, searching for Melbourne’s best brunch spots.

People

2023 YPG Masterclass series ‘Realism vs Utopia’ VPELA’s Young Professionals Group (YPG) was proud to again host its annual Masterclass series. This year’s sessions were driven by a theme which will be familiar to VPELA’s members – ‘Realism vs Utopia’.

Charlie Wurm, Associate, Maddocks modes of living, all the way through to the seismic shifts required in respect of policymaking and within our economy.

The YPG Committee was attracted to this theme as a means of testing whether the aspirations of Victoria’s planning system can deliver on three key matters which regularly feature in Parliamentary debates and nightly news bulletins, and which affect all corners of society – housing, sustainability and inclusion. The events were generously hosted on three separate nights at the offices of Urbis.

Masterclass #1 The Masterclass series commenced with a discussion on ‘Housing’ by a panel made up of Jo Cannington (Director of Homes Melbourne, City of Melbourne), Richard Temlett (Head of Research, Charter Keck Cramer) and Briana Eastaugh (Partner, Maddocks). It was chaired by VPELA Board Member, Marjorie Kennedy (Head of Statutory Planning, City of Melbourne). The panel tackled the complex, yet ever-present issues and challenges around of the build-to-rent model, affordable housing and social housing; each member offering their own unique take on the status-quo and what we should be doing as practitioners to manage the supply and quality of housing in line with our growing, and changing, population.

L>R Allison Hawke, Atmos Renewables, Toby Kent, Pwc Australia, Ronch Willner, Blue Power Partners, Alexandra Faure, Hip V. Hype and Lucy Eastoe, Arnold Bloch Leibler.

Masterclass #3 The third and final Masterclass delved into the topic of ‘Inclusion in Design’. Again, the session had the benefit of a panel of industry experts including Sophie Jordan (Director, Contour Consultants), Peter Malley (Senior Associate, Transport, Ratio Consultants), and Rob McGauran (Director, MGS Architects and Adjunct Professor, Depart-ment of Architecture, Monash University). Chaired by VPELA Board member Grant Logan (Manager of Development Approvals and Design, Department of Transport and Planning), the panel guided attendees through the myriad ways in which inclusion can (and should) be facilitated in design, and how our planning framework must adapt to ensure not only its integration, but a higher priority in decision-making. Those in attendance were left inspired to facilitate change and – whether a planner, an engineer or a lawyer – ensure that inclusion and accessibility remain front-of-mind in the consideration of all planning proposals.

Backrow L>R Tom Morrison, Planning & Property Partners, Marji Kennedy, City of Melbourne, Jo Cannington, City of Melbourne, Briana Eastaugh, Maddocks, Richard Temlett, Charter Keck Cramer and Charlie Wurm, Maddocks.

Frontrow L>R Briony Oddey, Hall & Wilcox and Isobell Vescovi, UPco.

Masterclass #2 The second session tackled the tricky topic of ‘Sustainability’. The Masterclass panel of industry experts included Alexandra Faure (Associate, HIP V HYPE), Ronch Willner (Head of Land, Planning and Environment, Blue Power Partners), Allison Hawke (General Manager Development, Atmos Renewables) and Toby Kent (Partner, Energy Transition, PWC Australia). The session was expertly chaired by VPELA Board member Lucy Eastoe (Senior Associate, Arnold Bloch Leibler), who guided the panel through what is a challenging topic.

Attendees were treated to an exploration of how sustainability can be achieved through minor but meaningful changes in our homes and

L>R Grant Logan, DoTP, Rob McGauran, MGS Architects, Sophie Jordan, Contour Consultants and Peter Malley, Ratio.

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Closing thoughts

change than at the start of one’s career, and there is little doubt that the insights explored during these sessions will be manifested in the principles and actions of those who attended.

The YPG Committee and, I’m sure, all attendees at this year’s series are incredibly appreciative of our distinguished panellists and chairs volunteering their time and wisdom to the industry’s young professionals. There is no better time to germinate the seeds of

Charlie Wurm is an Associate in the Planning & Environment team at Maddocks, and is a Co-Convenor of VPELA’s Young Professionals Group (YPG)

Thank you to our YPG sponsors

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Hatch RobertsDay JBS&G Australia SongBowden Planning Plan2Place Consulting City of Greater Geelong Victorian Bar Urbaniste Town Planning Consultants JBS&G Australia Hume City Council South Gippsland Shire Council Surf Coast Shire Council Hatch RobertsDay Urbis Urbis Department of Transport and Planning Hellier McFarland onemilegrid UPco - Urban Planning Collective Dennis Family Corporation Student Hansen Partnership Student Urbis

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Melbourne Water Corporation Urbis Niche Planning Studio Resonate Consultants Lovegrove and Cotton City of Stonnington AURECON Planning & Property Partners Pty Ltd Urbis Victorian Bar HWLE Niche Planning Studio JBS&G Australia Victorian Bar Three Thirds Group Marshall Day Acoustics Student Urbis JCA Land Consultants Beveridge Williams City of Greater Dandenong

Conference

Access all areas Ramping up our approach to accessibility

Emily Mignot, Senior Town Planner, Tract

Caroline Graham, Associate, Tract

When we think about accessibility, more than likely the image of a wheelchair and a ramp at 1:14 come to mind. Maybe the ramp has a gleaming steel handrail, and some tactiles at either end.

Nick reiterated the purpose of functionality, requiring us to go above and beyond current standards and regulations, and the growing need to cater for everyone.

But what if you were to challenge yourself to expand on that, and really think: who uses the spaces that we create, and can they get around them? Even more so, can they navigate these spaces with dignity?

Peter spoke of his personal experience of the built environment and the shortfalls of our current system, reinforcing the importance of understanding who you are designing for.

This is the question asked of and explored by an experienced panel of experts: Nick Morris, Peter Malley, Mary Ann Jackson. Moderated by Kate Stapleton, this engaging session at the recent VPELA Conference addressed the conference’s theme of ‘Diversity and Inclusion’.

As practitioners, it can feel like accessibility is just another item on the checklist we need to give some thought to alongside a litany of other considerations. For many of us who perhaps don’t have an immediate personal connection with the need for accessibility, it can be easy to feel that accessibility is something we do for “other people”, whoever they may be.

To answer the question, we have to think about the many and diverse faces of accessibility: maybe it’s your nanna going to the shops, a friend who needs a pretty strong prescription and forgot their glasses that day, a mate who sprained their ankle at footy last week and they’re currently in a moon boot and/or using crutches…or maybe you’re a parent with a toddler, lugging a pram around.

Chances are, we are all going to come up against mobility challenges at some point in our lives that make it that bit harder to get around; whether ourselves or helping loved ones.

The panel kicked-off with a summary of the models of disability from Mary Ann. That is, the various ways disability has been constructed over history and in the built environment. This provided perspective of where we’ve come from, and where we might go in the future.

As it turns out, those “other people” contributed $13 billion towards accessible tourism in 2021 alone. Because accessible tourism is really just tourism, but for everyone.

The point is, we all need to be able to get to the front door – so why make it harder than it needs to be? Designing the front door so everyone can access it is a sign of welcome, and should be integrated as part of the design, rather than an afterthought.

In the built environment, we often draw upon examples to help us recognise what a better outcome looks like and shift the dial towards continuous improvement. One example that Nick shared was the new

Tract delegates, Mia Zar and Marji Kennedy (VPELA Board Members) and our panel Nick Morris, Mary Ann Jackson, Peter Malley and Kate Stapleton.

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Footscray Hospital. Alongside the Landscape team at Tract, Nick and the team have developed a landscape design that both integrates seamlessly with the built form while providing all the functionality to get around comfortably and easily. The design intent includes an accessible pathway that perambulates the perimeter of the building, with regular seating areas to allow people to rest as needed. “Simple stuff” as Nick describes it, that allows people to get out and interact with their environment.

As practitioners in the planning space, one of the key guiding documents that helps to tell us what’s important, is the planning scheme.

The importance given to considerations such as “neighbourhood character”, “flooding” and “bushfire” outnumber and often trump accessibility within the Victoria Planning Provisions. This prioritisation inhibits the planning for, and delivery of, accessible development.

Back in July, the Young Professionals Group held a masterclass series which included a panel focussed on Inclusion in Design. Peter Malley again lent his passion and personal insights to this panel, alongside Rob McGauran and Sophie Jordan. The issue of priority for accessibility reverberated in that session too.

What if we elevated accessibility to a similar level of importance as neighbourhood character, bushfires or flooding? Could dwellings that achieved high levels of accessibility be prioritised over minor variations to neighbourhood character, for example?

Our panel posed the question of how many times you need to access the building versus that of the predicted frequecy of flood events.

One message resonated unequivocally, we need to treat accessibility with the due and genuine consideration it requires. Imagine not being

able to get in and out of your car because there is no accessible parking space. Consider your housing choice being limited because you can’t get to the front door because of steps, or the ramp provided isn’t fit for purpose. And, imagine the frustration of not being able to use the bathroom in your own home, even if you have a BADS compliant bathroom.

So perhaps next time your client asks whether it’s possible to reduce the width of a corridor, or seek a waiver of all disabled car parking, consider who those features are intended for, and what a difference they make to someone’s daily life.

While giving the Barber Lecture late last year, tennis great and disability advocate Dylan Alcott AO reminded us that what makes our lives easier, makes his life possible.

On reflection, isn’t accessibility really a question about dignity? About whether we should all have the independence, the autonomy and agency in our own life, and how we get around; the right to be treated and participate in our cities just like everyone else? Isn’t it part of our role as practitioners, within the realm of our democratic system, to deliver on a vision of an Australia in which everyone can be included?

With these questions now at the front of your mind, we leave you with a challenge: no matter what part of the built environment industry you are involved in, can your work make the lives of ‘other people’ possible?

Emily Mignot is a Senior Town Planner with Tract and Caroline Graham is an Associate with Tract

To Engage a Foley’s List Environmental & Planning Law Barrister call 03 9225 7777

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or email foleys@foleys.com.au

Conference

Integrity in the Planning System Lessons from Sandon The Operation Sandon Special Report (Sandon), released in July by the Indepen-dent Broad-Based Anti-Corruption Commission, is vital reading for all Victorian planners and allied professionals. This is not so much for its findings about the matters at Casey that prompted the investigation, but instead for its timely centring of the issue of integrity in the discussion of planning system reform.

Planning system reform is frequently framed primarily through a lens of red-tape reduction that sees increased system efficiency as its primary goal. However, more balanced system reviews have also recognised that it is vital to maintain system effectiveness – after all, no level of regulatory burden is warranted if the planning system is not achieving the policy outcomes it is there to achieve.

The Sandon report is an important reminder of the third key pillar of any balanced system reform package: transparency and integrity.

While some system reviews have commendably highlighted this as a key focus – notably 2003’s Better Decisions Faster and the 2017 review of the Victorian Planning system by the Auditor-General – too often this aspect of system design has passed unremarked.

This likely reflects a wider complacency about integrity issues with roots in the design of our system. Victoria’s extensive third-party notice and appeal rights, combined with the interplay through the decision-making process between council planning officers, elected councillors, VCAT, and (occasionally) the Minister, have done much to keep the planning system clean.

This has meant Victoria has, until now, not had the moment of truth that the NSW planning profession faced nearly 15 years ago following investigations into the Wollongong council. Writing about those findings in Planning News in 2011, The Hon Jerrold Cripps (then Commissioner of the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption) highlighted key system design features that can create corruption risks: routinised exercise of discretion (where, for example, standards such as height limits were routinely varied, and where insufficient guidance existed about such variation); out-of-date planning instruments (which further encourage variations to planning standards); and lack of clear justification for decisions.

Stephen Rowley, Senior Associate, SGS Economics and Planning This list of system traits should, I think, prompt concern for Victorian planners. The architecture of the Victorian system – built on highly discretionary controls and frequently vague principle-based guidance – has fundamental vulnerabilities from an integrity perspective. If the Victorian system has indeed been kept (mostly) clean by third-party rights and the interplay between different decision-makers, we should be alert to the implications of system reforms that wind back those rights or centralise decision-making.

The Sandon investigation’s focus was particularly upon the behaviour of councillors and, in response to the report, Premier Daniel Andrews commented that it was the government’s view that “the role of local councils in significant planning decisions should be reduced.” This foreshadowed subsequent reforms that have diverted responsibility for various categories of significant proposal from councils to the Minister.

Yet the Sandon report offers no basis for preferring Ministerial decision-making over that of councils. It notes (at pages 184 and 185) that “the corruption risk that applies to a councillor may also apply to a minister” and that the corruption risks of elected officials undertaking decision-making “[cannot] be resolved by transferring responsibility from elected councillors to a minister.” The report goes on to note various examples of dubious Ministerial decisions. This echoes the Auditor-General’s report of 2017, which was highly critical of the governance and transparency surrounding Ministerial decisionmaking.

Neither the Sandon report, nor integrity concerns more generally, should be used to justify shifting powers from councils to the Minister.

What Sandon did recommend, however, is shifting planning permit decisions from elected councillors to independent decision-making panels – a model used, with some variations, in NSW, South Australia, and Western Australia. The report insists that such a change would not be anti-democratic, arguing that “the Planning Act makes clear that the planning permit process is an administrative process of evaluating a proposal against the relevant criteria.”

An obvious rebuttal is that under the Act permit decision-making has in fact generally been vested with political decision-makers, with unelected decision-makers taking over only on appeal, or when elected decision-makers choose to delegate their power. Nonetheless, this model is attractive at a theoretical level. It can be analogised to models of branches of government: in this model, plan-making is seen as a democratic / legislative function, and the business of making decisions against that plan is an administrative / executive function requiring only limited further democratic input.

This leads to my only criticism of what is otherwise an excellent report, which is that this conception of the role of democracy in decisionmaking sits uneasily alongside its own observations about how policy is written in the Victorian system. Echoing previous reviews of the Victorian system, the report notes that the way policy is framed in Victoria creates a “broad scope of plausibly ‘correct’ decisions.”

L>R Mark Sheppard, Stephen Rowley, Damian Iles and Michael Deidun.

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This creates an integrity challenge. As the Sandon report puts it: The scope for disagreement on the same facts poses a problem for oversight; it is harder to identify self-interested or corrupt decision-making if such decisions can be easily said to satisfy plausible planning motives and cannot readily be discerned from good-faith decision-making.

I would add, however, that the lack of policy resolution also complicates the report’s suggestion that permit decision-making is a purely administrative role. If policy remains unresolved at the strategic level, we cannot blithely dismiss the role of democratic engagement at the planning permit stage.

The issue of policy resolution returns us to the importance of centring integrity and transparency issues in discussions of system design.

If we conceive of integrity risks as flowing from obvious ethical transgressions such as bribery or undeclared conflicts of interest, then the solutions are conceptually straightforward. It is for these actions that checks and balances such as review rights and appeal bodies provide clearest value.

It is not that simple. There are many shades of grey between the extremes of a conceptually ideal decision (made in the public interest, well-reasoned, and not subject to any conflicts) and a corrupt decision.

These include not just more ambiguous or marginal forms of conflict of interest, but also a dizzying array of factors that can undermine the rigour of decision-making. Examples include ideological preconceptions and biases; poor or boilerplate explanations; selective or purposive reading of the scheme; lack of attention to the replicability of decisions; substitution of heuristics for bespoke assessment; and so on.

Individual decision-makers – and others should be assessing matters as a decision-maker, such as expert witnesses – are also subject to countless subtle pressures that can drag them away from ideal decision-making. These most prominently include time pressures and (for expert witnesses) the insidious financial pressure to justify proposals for those who hire them.

This is partly a challenge for individual planning professionals. We should not conceive of integrity as defined by a clear ethical “cliff” over which we can fall into corrupt behaviour. Rather, we each stand on

the top of a dome, with no clear line between us and the slide off the edge into poor or improper decisions. Our responsibility as planning professionals is to continually audit our own decision-making and professional practice to keep ourselves centred on the top of that dome.

The planning system should help us in those efforts by, as much as possible, providing clarity about the edges of acceptable decisionmaking. The Sandon findings about the broad scope of plausibly correct decisions are a reminder that, too often, the Victorian system fosters a lack of clarity that leaves too much scope for garden-variety, poor decision-making that can then blur into, and help conceal, genuinely improper decisions.

Crucially, improvements in this regard can help improve all aspects of system design. When considering system reforms in terms of the pillars of efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency/integrity, it is often the case that these imperatives are in tension. Third-party appeal rights, for example, have an efficiency cost for a transparency/ integrity dividend (and, I would argue, an effectiveness bonus as well through improved outcomes). An efficiency-focussed reform that winds these back is therefore likely to have an effectiveness and integrity cost. This may be justified, but the trade-off should be weighed carefully. Improving the clarity of schemes, however, has the potential to improve efficiency, effectiveness and transparency simultaneously.

The opportunity for genuine system improvement will be missed, however, if there is not a rigorous and careful response to the Sandon report. Previous system reviews (such as the 2017 Auditor-General report) were allowed to pass without this occurring. Instead, these reviews were swept aside as reform packages that did not properly align with those findings. This allowed problems to fester and has contributed to the current difficulties with the planning system. It is vital that this not be allowed to occur with the Sandon findings.

Stephen Rowley is a Senior Associate at SGS Economics and Planning, Adjunct Senior Lecturer at Monash University, and author of The Victorian Planning System: Practice, Problems, and Prospects. He gave expert evidence regarding planning system design to the Sandon enquiry. This article is based on his presentation at the 2023 VPELA conference.

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VPELA STATE PLANNING CONFERENCE Our conference held at Lorne on 31 August and 1 September “Celebrating the Future with Diversity & Inclusion” was a huge success and we would like to thank the Organising Committee for the quality and range of speakers and the enormous amount of their time that goes into making this a not to be missed VPELA event.

We extend special thanks and deep gratitude to Michael Deidun, who has stepped down from the Conference Committee after 17 years of dedicated service, including 13 years as Convenor or Co-Convenor.

The conference concluded with the Gala Dinner where we honoured Kate Stapleton, Department of Transport and Planning with the Paul Jerome Award. Special thanks to Foley’s List who sponsored the Dinner and embraced the theme, with Andrew Turner steering our pirate ship through high seas and a very crowded dance floor!

Our individual costume winners were Katherine Navarro, PEPRlegal who committed to a costume her phone face ID (or anyone) couldn’t recognise on the night. She is joined by Oska Rego, HWL Ebsworth who also impressed with his pirate look.

Michael Deidun, Katherine Navarro and Meg Lee.

VPELA would like to thank our amazing sponsors!

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Conference

Melbourne Water’s pivotal role in ensuring environmental resilience

Dr Kirsten Shelly, Executive General Manager, Services Future

Rachel Lunn, General Manager, Urban Planning & Development

Insights from VPELA Conference 2023 in Lorne Melbourne Water sponsored the Environmental Resilience Panel at the 2023 VPELA conference and traversed the topic of Climate-Change Flood and Sea Level Rise Urban Planning challenges.

The panel delved into the intricate dilemma of the impact of climate change on sea level rise, storm surges, riverine and flash flooding, asking the pivotal question: “Is it time to retreat or adapt?” With projections of a staggering $442 billion economic loss and vast expanses of land and wetlands at risk, the panel explored the options of retreating from environmental hazards or investing in climateresilient architecture.

This article unravels the insights from the conference and underscores Melbourne Water’s essential role, working alongside other stakeholders, to tackle this challenge that affects our community, our cities, and the environment.

Guiding the panel’s discussion was Dr Anthony Boxshall, representing the Marine and Coastal Council. His adept facilitation set the stage for a symphony of ideas and expertise to unfold against the backdrop of Lorne’s coastal beauty. Joining him were notable experts: • Dr Mittul Vahanvati, an academic luminary from RMIT, who emphasised the importance of research and working with the community on environmental resilience.

• Dr James Davidson, the architectural maestro from JDA Co Architects, who wove a tapestry of ideas around climateresilient architecture.

• Amanda Leck, Deputy Commissioner, Capability and Risk at Emergency Management Victoria, provided invaluable insights into risk assessment and management.

• Dr Kirsten Shelly, Executive General Manager, Service Futures at Melbourne Water, connected the dots between the various aspects of environmental resilience discussed during the panel.

The panel explored the dilemma of whether Victoria should settle in new areas or intensify development in safer places to manage risks.

They presented two key approaches: 1. Managed Retreat: Advocating strategic relocation from highrisk areas to preserve ecosystems and protect lives and property.

2. Climate-Resilient Architecture: Focusing on constructing structures capable of withstanding environmental challenges, fortifying existing infrastructure, and promoting sustainable development in vulnerable regions.

Robust risk assessment and management strategies tailored to region-specific risks were emphasised, striking a balance between adaptation and retreat while minimising economic and environmental losses. Collaboration and integration among stakeholders were highlighted as vital.

L>R Melbourne Water delegates Tara Wilson, Rachel Lunn, Kirsten Costner, Vicki Bryce, David Reginato and Kate Kinsella.

Integral to meeting this challenge is understanding the impacts of flooding and Melbourne Water’s Urban Planning and Development General Manager, Rachel Lunn, spoke with Glossop Town Planning in the Conference’s afternoon session. The presentation outlined that new Flood Information being produced across the Melbourne Region is taking into account contemporary Flood Modelling techniques from Federal Standards (Australian Rainfall and Run-off 2019 edition – ARR) and including modelling factors to account for urbanisation and climate change. These factors include modelling river catchments for increased rainfall in future storm events, and increased water run-off rates in urban and rural settings caused by more hard, less pervious surfaces, and soft surfaces becoming more waterlogged due to frequent rain events. The Port Phillip and Westernport Bays will have higher permanent water levels in the future due to melting ice caps.

On a strategic planning level, this new water information means that lower-lying areas next to our rivers and coasts are likely to experience more frequent flood events that are deeper, wider, faster and last for a longer time period than today. Some areas of our coast will be permanently inundated by the ocean, and adjacent areas will have ocean ‘flood’ storm surges. Some areas that are currently places we live, work and enjoy along rivers and coasts may become uninhabitable in the future, and wider areas will have to have new building techniques and non-engineering solutions to stay safe. On a development control level, some sites in Melbourne where we have new climate change information are requiring vastly different design responses to meet the stated flood safety criteria from ARR2019, the Australian Disaster Management Handbooks and the State Guidelines for Development in Flood Prone areas (DELWP 2019). Some sites have been unable, currently, to satisfy these criteria with any design responses. VCAT and the Supreme Court are increasingly dealing with these issues including, for example, in the recently released Red Dot matter Tivoli House SY Pty Ltd v Stonnington CC [2023] VCAT 798 (27 July 2023).

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Looking ahead, the future presents sea level rise and storm surges threatening significant economic losses, residential, commercial, and industrial properties, and vast areas of coastal reserves and wetlands.

The critical question of retreating from environmental hazards or investing in climate-resilient architecture is really going to take a multifaceted approach that includes managed retreat, climateresilient architecture, risk assessment, and stakeholder collaboration.

Community engagement and education were highlighted as key for meaningful change. Melbourne Water looks forward to continued dialogue with the urban planning and development community to shape the future of our city together.

Dr Kirsten Shelly is responsible for the Service Futures portfolio, which holds the medium to long-term planning horizon and how our business adapts to coming challenges. Service Futures encompasses enterprise strategy, evaluation, monitoring and reporting functions, as well as modelling and research. In addition, the portfolio manages the end-to-end delivery of urban planning functions, strategic goals and our approach to critical adaptation issues.

Rachel Lunn is General Manager – Urban Planning & Development.

An experienced leader of urban planning, land and infrastructure strategy, programs and reform in service of Melbourne today and tomorrow. At Melbourne Water she leads a team in strategic and statutory planning, flood modelling and environmental and land engineering.

VPELA SBC (Small Business Collective) Did you know VPELA’s SBC meet quarterly. The VPELA SBC aims to bring small business members together to broaden their networks within the VPELA community and stay connected throughout the year and at VPELA events.

Agendas for these sessions will include industry updates, small business issues and initiatives, and informal discussion and support for these matters.

If you would like to be part of this group and receive an invitation to the next informal catch up please email admin@vpela.org.au

SAY HELLO TO OUR TEAM OF DESIGN EXPERTS. Urban Design

Gerhana Waty

Andrew Partos

Leanne Dowey

Landscape Architecture

Craig Czarny

Alastair Campbell

Pat Iwanyshyn

Photomontage

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Steve Schutt

Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment

Conference

Reflections on the State Planning Conference

Dianne King, Director, King Town Planning

Having been ‘out of the game’ for some years having and raising children, finding my feet as a solo planning consultant and just generally hiding under my covers during the pandemic, I had great anticipation for the 2023 VPELA Conference. It was a chance to reconnect with industry peers and old friends, get my finger back on the pulse of Victorian planning challenges and let my hair down without having to worry about a 6.00am wake up the next morning (I chose to opt out of the cycling, running and swimming invitations!).

What struck me as I arrived in Lorne was how nice it was to reconnect with old friends. I hadn’t been forgotten, having barely left my little community in the inner west for five years, and there were also so many new faces who fit right into the fold. Right off the bat, VPELA demonstrated the inclusivity that this year’s conference was espousing.

My last conference was about 10 years ago, and it filled my heart to see how far we’ve come as a society. That Welcome to Country was (rightly so) the first order of the day – all participants recognised Traditional Owners and the question of The Voice was the first item on the agenda. These practices may seem obvious, but it struck me how big a change there has been over the course of my career to date. And, yet, it’s impossible not to recognise that the challenges and inequalities that Indigenous Australians face remain relatively unchanged. Something has to change. It seems we, as a society, have taken a step forward in a marathon for equality for all Australians. I’d like to thank Ian Hamm for his inspiring and informative speech, which I hope had an effect on everyone, as much as it did on me. I’ve never seen a room quite so engaged.

The first day focus on climate resilience was particularly apposite, as I had spent the previous week debating with Council whether a warehouse needed to be raised for sea level rise, given there were no determining referral authorities making that call. While the reality of climate change begins to have a lasting impact on our built environment, planning reform is limping along to catch up. This results in a burden on decision makers to be an expert in yet another field they haven’t studied, relying on limited and generalised support within policy.

Grace Tame, Australia of the Year 2021.

Inclusivity and equity were also a focus for the conference, and the panel discussion chaired by Kate Stapleton with panellists Mary Ann Jackson, Nick Morris and VPELA’s own Peter Malley made evident to the ableists amongst us that whilst there is a very real demand for greater accessibility both in our public places and private homes, we clearly cannot rely on the market to deliver the goods. It isn’t until a disability affects someone you know that you really stop and reflect on the implications and challenges they face, and how you might assist.

As Nick pointed out, it doesn’t hurt to ask how you can help.

I was reminded when, as a graduate planner, a wheelchair-using high school student approached me on the streets of Melbourne to survey me on whether I felt “we” did enough to provide access for people with a disability. I naively pointed out the new tram stops as an example of improvements occurring and while we clearly had a long way to go, I was hopeful that building regulations would address what had been historically ignored.

From a very simplistic view, there were places I didn’t go when pregnant, with a pram or with my young child that needed changing, but I always knew that would be a temporary barrier for me. The

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reality is, as an able-bodied individual, I can’t know what hurdles (literally and figuratively) our peers face daily, and I don’t want to live in a world where our built environment prevents us from being a truly inclusive society.

The reality of both climate resilience and inclusivity in the built environment is that we know what needs to be done. There are obvious solutions that can be implemented through policy reform.

However, the way we go about this is slow, often politicised and lacks priority, given those making the decisions are often the least affected by the outcomes.

We as policy makers, advocates, designers and decision makers must all contribute to a more accessible built environment.

The second day, at the Young Professionals Debate, saw three of our brightest minds go head-to-head with three of the (arguably) old guard to determine whether AI will take over the development industry. The debate was a barrel of laughs. Tamara took us to places we never thought we needed to go. Each debater tried to one-up the other, with questionable logic, props-a-plenty, and a stinging closing argument by the negative. So convincing was the Young Professionals’ argument that I must admit, I attempted to use ChatGPT to write this article, only to discover that whilst it may write a quality Bayside DDO, it still has some way to go before we’re all out of a job. Thank goodness for the ‘grey area’ in work, and in life.

We were also privileged to hear from Mariam Issa. Mariam is a refugee from Somalia who arrived in Australia with her husband and children, to be settled into Brighton. Mariam’s struggles with fitting into a new

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culture and community, and the steps she took to contribute to her new community are nothing short of inspiring. We’ve all been a new person trying to find our place, but to come from trauma and upheaval and recognise the contribution she could make to a community of privilege had me reflecting on what contributions I can make to our community.

This question was asked time and again throughout the conference.

What should you do? What can you do? Do we all write to the Minister insisting on accessibility reform, as one attendee suggested? Can we do more than just vote ‘yes’?

Will Young and Kelley Mackay of finding infinity demonstrated that we don’t need to sit back and wait for the ‘powers that be’ to take action. Mariam Issa built the community that she wanted to be a part of through cooking lessons and community gardens. Nick Morris embraced paralympic sport, achieving gold at the Atlanta Olympics and being pivotal in developing Australian Accessibility Standards.

Grace Tame did not remain silent. She spoke up and spoke loudly as a survivor of sexual assault. She continues to advocate for change to legislation regarding sexual assault in Australia.

Each of the speakers I heard from did not sit and wait for change, they advocated and exacted change with a passion and drive to all our benefit. The conference focussed on the challenges of diversity, social equity, inclusion and climate change. And I came away from it asking, what can I do?

Dianne King is a Director of King Town Planning

Conference

A VPELA scholarship recipient’s reflections on the State Planning Conference

Josh Broberg, Senior Statutory Planner, City of Stonnington

This year, I was one of 10 members awarded a VPELA State Planning Conference scholarship. The scholarship covered two full days of attendance at the conference, all meals and single accommodation on the Thursday and Friday, all for the low price of an article in the October Revue. A very fair deal I’d say.

I had never attended the VPELA Conference before (or any other conference for that matter) but applied for the scholarship after being drawn to this year’s theme of Celebrating the future with diversity and inclusion. The conference programme featured a wide range of voices that explored the many challenges and opportunities in our industry, in particular, how we can plan and grow our communities to celebrate all people. The timing of the conference was also prescient as we eagerly awaited the Government’s Housing Statement and The Voice to Parliament referendum.

I set my alarm early on Thursday morning and drove down to Lorne from Melbourne. I’m normally not a fan of driving but the roads were clear, the sunrise spectacular, and PBS was delivering on the tunes.

As I sipped my coffee, I pondered what lay ahead of me. The theme of the conference promised to challenge the status quo and chart a more inclusive path forward. This resonated. As a local government statutory planner, I somewhat facetiously like to describe my role as being at the coal face of town planning. However, whilst we deal directly with the public on a day-to-day basis, I find that, at times, it’s easy to get trapped in a narrow view of our planning system and not consider its broader implications.

The conference’s opening day began with Ian Hamm’s riveting keynote address. Ian, Chairperson of the First Nations Foundation, delivered a speech on Indigenous Recognition that was powerful and candid.

He skilfully framed the significance of the The Voice to Parliament Referendum within its historical context, challenging each one of us to reflect on its profound implications. Ian implored us to advocate for change and inclusivity, and to look within our hearts come October 14 and vote ‘yes’. This was a call to action that would set the tone for the entire conference.

Following Ian’s address, we were treated to a panel of environmental experts discussing environmental resilience and climate adaptation, led by Dr Anthony Boxshall. A broad range of topics was covered but, for me, it was fascinating to hear alternative perspectives on how we might better respond to flooding which, under current planning conventions, is generally limited to raising floor levels. We learned of more adaptive buildings designed to be washed through, which would require residents to evacuate but allow for greater resilience in an increasingly unpredictable climate.

After lunch, we heard from a panel comprising accessibility advocates, Peter Malley, Nick Morris, and Mary Ann Jackson. Led by Kate Stapleton, the panel delved into the realm of accessibility within the planning system. From toilets to fire exits, Peter Malley and Nick Morris both shared their lived experience in navigating our built environment. Peter highlighted the difficulty that he and his family faced in finding suitable housing after an accident left him requiring

L>R Lexie Branda-Pawlaczyk, Oona Nicolson and Andrew Hill, Ecology and Heritage Partners pictured with Mariam Issa.

a wheelchair. The panellists emphasised that accessibility is a fundamental requirement for preserving the wellbeing and dignity of every individual, and something that many of us will require at some stage of our lives.

For the final session of the first day, conference delegates were split into one of three focus rooms. I attended a focus session where four PhD Candidates from the RMIT Centre for Urban Research presented their theses. In light of our current housing affordability crisis, Liam Davies’ presentation of his research into the past 40 years of local government provision of affordable housing in Victoria felt particularly pertinent. Spoiler alert: the situation isn’t great.

In the evening, we gathered for dinner and drinks at the Lorne Hotel.

It was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with old colleagues and friends, and also engage in some valuable networking. Given our occasional skirmishes, it’s always refreshing when consultants and local government planners can get together in a ceasefire (however brief).

I woke the next morning and shook off the throes that follow a late night to join the running group for an up-and-back to the Lorne Pier. Lorne certainly provided a picturesque backdrop to the conference. Standing at the end of the pier, I was struck by the beauty of the landscape – a town where the ocean embraced the temperate rainforest, nestled in the lands of the Eastern Maar People.

The second day of the conference picked up right where the previous day had left off. We heard from Will Young and Kelley Mackay from finding infinity on a vision of transforming Melbourne from an energy consumer to energy producer. Mariam Issa of the Refugee Council of Australia recounted her incredible journey from fleeing civil war in Somalia to arriving in the affluent suburb of Brighton. I was inspired

by Issa’s resilience and optimism in the face of unimaginable hardship, as well as her wholehearted integration into her local community, despite her own hesitations and having encountered racism.

After lunch, Stephen Rowley provided insightful and often witty analysis of the integrity of our planning system in the context of

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Congratulations to John Cicero

L>R Prof. Rob Adams AM, Christine Kotur, Jane Monk, Stuart Morris KC and Sally Macindoe.

the Operation Sandon Report and impending planning reforms. We were treated to a ‘Graham Norton’ style panel of industry doyens and shared a good laugh during the spirited Great YPG debate.

The conference reached its emotional peak during Grace Tame’s speech. A former Australian of the Year, her address was raw, confronting and deeply moving. Grace courageously shared her personal journey as a survivor of child sexual abuse and her extraordinary path toward becoming a leader for positive change. Her words had a profound impact; her speech ending with a standing ovation and not a dry eye in the room.

PROPERTY LAW AND TRANSACTIONS

Grace Tame’s presence at the conference was a stark reminder of the resilience of the human spirit and the potential for positive change.

Her advocacy for survivors of child sexual abuse inspired us all to use our platforms to drive meaningful transformation. As planners, we were reminded that our work can contribute to creating safe and supportive environments for survivors and all members of our communities.

LAND DEVELOPMENT AND COMPULSORY ACQUISITION

We enjoyed a welcome break in the late afternoon. I returned to my suite, processing the many voices we had heard from across the two days. It was a lot to absorb. A couple of hours rolled past, and we all joined one another for a pirate-themed gala dinner. A colleague had graciously shouted me my pirate costume, a $2.50 eye patch and bandana, which did the job. It was a fun way to end the conference; a few drinks, a few more speeches, dancing and a live band.

PLANNING

As I drove out of Lorne on Saturday morning, I’ll admit that I left the State Planning Conference with a mix of emotions. A part of me felt daunted by the many complex challenges that lie before us as a society. At the same time, though, I also felt optimistic and energised by the strength and capacity of our community.

For those considering applying for the Conference Scholarship in 2024, I’d highly recommend it. The 2023 conference was a catalyst for change, reminding us that we are not just planners; we are architects of a more equitable and inclusive future. As I return to my role at the City of Stonnington, I carry with me a renewed sense of purpose and commitment, and a far broader perspective. And to receive all of that for the price of writing this article, I’d say that’s a very fair deal indeed.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION

Victoria’s Property, Planning & Land Development Advisory Law Firm First-Tier Town Planning and Land Development in Doyle’s Guide and other leading recognitions in the APAC Business Awards, Best Lawyers and Global Law Experts Annual Awards.

Josh Broberg is an Acting Senior Statutory Planner with the City of Stonnington.

T 03 9670 8951 | E mail@besthooper.com.au besthooper.com.au

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Seminar

The elusive “social license” and how to build it for transmission and renewables in the race to Net Zero Renewable generation capacity in the National Electricity Market (NEM) is forecast to triple by 2030, before doubling again in each of the following two decades, as part of the energy transition to net zero by 2050. Such is the challenge before us, clearly presented by Nicola Falcon, the General Manager of Victorian Planning at the network planner, Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) at the VPELA hybrid seminar hosted at Hall & Wilcox in July.

Most of the renewable generation will be built in rural and regional areas and that energy needs to then be transmitted at high voltage to the energy market and to end consumers. This means that significant amounts of new transmission lines need to be built, across our rural landscapes, in areas that have not previously been subject to such structures. The scale of the task is enormous, and time is limited. Add to this that, since the last transmission lines were built in Victorian in the 1970s, community, landowner and Traditional Owner expectations of energy developers have increased and become much more sophisticated, and rightly so.

Across the board all players and impacted parties from regulators, EMO, energy developers, landowners, Local Councils and First Nations groups are seeking to establish new ground rules and better practice in community engagement, route planning, community benefit sharing and compensation.

AEMO is seeking to learn from the controversial VNI West or Western Renewables Link and has commissioned Voconiq to carry out a longitudinal study to measure the trust and acceptance in the communities affected by the proposed transmission link. They have also announced a policy to provide landholders with $10,000 for participation in survey access in recognition of the inconvenience and stress caused at the early stage of a project. AEMO is also developing a new Victorian Transmission Investment Framework which proposes to develop “distributional fairness” through the establishment of a regional benefit framework.

Meg Lee, Partner at Hall & Wilcox

Some of the significant challenges facing the roll out of new transmission networks is that, in the early stages of community engagement and investigation of routes, the developers do not yet have the answers that the communities want – that is, there is no certainty about the exact route until all investigations are done and approvals are obtained. However, what the communities are seeking is for the companies to listen to their feedback about the way they use their land, including for agriculture, important locations and views to protect, environmental impacts and importantly, the types of local benefits they would like to see arising from the projects.

Bridget Ryan from Re-Alliance (an independent, not-for-profit) shared the important work that they have been doing to develop resources1 for farmers and communities to help them negotiate with energy developers to ensure their interests are considered, impacts on farming are minimized and benefits shared amongst the rural communities impacted, not just for the landowners of the land on which the projects are located. Bridget shared the useful model from the International Association for Public Participation where the sliding scale from ‘inform – consult – involve – collaborate – empower’, leads to improved public acceptance and social licence.

A great example that Bridget shared of the design of a community benefits program being led by impacted communities included the TasNetworks Community Benefit Sharing Scheme which was led by locally set up Youth Panel that was given agency to craft the program and take it to the Board. The scheme set up eligibility requirements that reflected the community values and areas of need including mental health, skills training and community infrastructure. The ReAlliance Community Benefits Handbook2 provides numerous other case studies and ideas for how to successfully set up and manage community benefit schemes.

The unique local Council role and perspective was eloquently and passionately described by Dr Tim Harrison, CEO of Ararat Rural City Council. The local context for a project is so important. Understanding that communities impacted by the transmission of energy do not share justly in the economic, social and environmental benefits of the energy transition must be acknowledged as the starting point for the discussion. Understanding the specific community that is hosting a project and its needs, problems, skills and hopes can then go a long way to ensuring that meaningful engagement and partnerships can be formed.

Councils play a difficult role – they are the regulators, they are landowners and Councillors live in the communities affected. Councillors and Council officers are required to promote and support economic development in their community, but also are asked to advocate for local concerns. Councils also can often have a vested economic interest in the outcome of a project.

L>R Dr Tim Harrison, Ararat Rural City Council, Bridget Ryan, RE Alliance; Nicola Falcon, AEMO, Meg Lee, Hall & Wilcox and Adam Terrill, Cogency.

Tim issued the challenge for community benefit schemes offered by energy developers to move beyond the “footy jumper model” of sponsoring the footy or netball team to moving towards longer term

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transformative approaches such as the provision of free energy to communities, broader based donations to meet the specific needs of the communities and that are co-designed by the communities, jobs and training, delivery of affordable housing and more generous longitudinal compensation to landowners. That is the true price of the social licence. It cannot be an imposed outcome, it must be earned with mutual trust and understanding and must be continually earned throughout the life of a project. Only then can we start to move from mere social acceptance to social approval and a social licence for the energy transition.

One aspect that was not addressed at the seminar of the just transition was that of the role of Traditional Owners. This perhaps deserves its own VPELA workshop, particularly in the aftermath of the Referendum on The Voice. It is great to see that a First Nations Clean Energy Network has been established by a group of First Nations people, land councils, unions, academics, technical advisors, renewables companies and others to work in partnership with communities to help First Nations people share in the benefits of the clean energy boom. They have established some great tool kits to help ensure projects provide economic and social benefits, mutual respect and consider cultural matters and importantly provide prior

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and informed consent for projects on traditional lands. The Network is keen to establish industry partnerships. It is also involved in lobbying and advocacy to strengthen laws protecting cultural heritage and to require prior consent, particularly in relation to sea country for offshore wind projects3.

The energy transition in Australia is moving at a rapid pace with significant momentum. The challenge is to ensure that it is a ‘just’ transition which ensures the change to a renewable energy economy empowers and allows benefits to be shared by the impacted communities and Traditional Owners. I, for one, am hopeful.

Meg Lee is a Partner at Hall & Wilcox Footnotes 1 https://www.re-alliance.org.au/reports 2 https://assets.nationbuilder.com/vicwind/pages/2631/attachments/ original/1630471142/RE-Alliance_Community_Benefits_Handbook_ WEB_01v1_%281%29.pdf?1630471142 3 https://www.firstnationscleanenergy.org.au/pretending_the_water_is_ empty_may_hurt_offshore_wind_investors

The Business

Good, better… excellent?

The challenges of navigating design quality through planning policy and assessment Excellence in the Planning Scheme Requirements for design quality, excellence, exemplary and outstanding design are increasingly prominent in Victorian planning policies, reflecting the growing awareness of design as a pivotal success factor in built environment interventions.

In Port Phillip’s new format Planning Scheme, Clause 15 promotes excellence in the built environment, DDO23 (1-7 Waterfront Place) aims to achieve architectural design excellence; and DPO2 (St Kilda Marina) seeks to ensure that redevelopment achieves innovative and sustainable design excellence and high-quality architecture, public realm and landscaping outcomes. Requirements include for built form to achieve design excellence, and even car parking should demonstrate design excellence. DDO26 objectives state that new developments should achieve urban design and architectural excellence.

Clause 02.03 (Strategic Directions) envisages Fishermans Bend as a place of design excellence, supported by design excellence strategies at Clause 11.03-6L-04, including varied built form typologies; fine grain, pedestrian scale environments; buildings (that) contribute to a high quality public realm; spaces for people to meet, gather, socialise, exercise and relax; and variation in massing, building height, and roof forms. Clause 11.03-1L-04 seeks to create an attractive boulevard (along Kings Way) by ensuring excellence in the design of new buildings and the public realm.

Yarra Planning Scheme Clause 21.05-2 (Urban Design), Strategy 17.2 lists architectural design excellence as a criterion for potential additional height, alongside others such as ESD, public realm enhancement and high quality adaptive re-use. DDO26 in the Merribek Planning Scheme states that built form over 8 storeys must be of exemplary design quality (ie. substantially superior to an acceptable design). DDO9 in the Knox Planning Scheme supports design objectives for high quality, innovative architectural design, stating that any building over 4 storeys must demonstrate that the design is of exceptional quality and would exceed the high design quality already expected within the centre. The recent Bellarine Peninsula Statement of Planning Policy states that in Activity Centres, built form will achieve outstanding urban design outcomes.

Simon McPherson, Director, Global South

The first challenge: How do we know if a design proposal is excellent, outstanding, or high quality?

Excellent, good or better?

The OVGA leads the discourse on design quality in Victoria’s built environment. Its publications raise awareness of ‘good design’ (rather than focussing on ‘excellence’), its benefits, its value and how to achieve it. It states that good design comes in many forms and is defined by much more than how something looks. It improves how it works, creates additional benefits and elevates how people feel, creates inspiring places and greater lasting financial value – and looks and feels good 2.

The OVGA facilitates processes that achieve better design outcomes, towards ensuring a better quality environment and a more liveable Victoria. It informs better designed and performing buildings, better spaces, and cities and towns that are better to live in.

So, the emphasis is on ‘better’, ‘improving’, and ‘good’ outcomes – and processes which support these, rather than ‘excellence’ or achieving certain standards. There is no fixed, definitive standard for good design or design excellence, and the assessment of design is at least partially subjective. In Design Review processes, panellists often have differing views on the same design.

The NSW Integrated Design Policy Better Placed also focuses on ‘good design’, which is not just how a place looks, but how it works and feels for people. Good design creates better places that maximise public value and contribute to the well-being of individuals and the community.

Better Placed is broad-ranging and integrated, encompassing context, functionality, performance, social outcomes and value, and it focuses on better outcomes. It refers to ‘Design Excellence’ for projects that have progressed through a formalised Design Excellence process, to achieve that status – rather than as a general objective or requirement.

The Macquarie Dictionary1 defines “excellence” as the fact or state of excelling; superiority; eminence and an excellent quality or feature, implying a certain level or benchmark to be achieved and demonstrated. ‘Exemplary’ includes worth of imitation; commendable; serving as a model or pattern (also reflecting benchmark status).

‘Quality’ is character or nature; as belonging to or distinguishing a thing; while ‘outstanding’ and ‘improving’ also suggest comparative assessment.

Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, designed by Frank Gehry Associates (image source: Dezeen).

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The second challenge: Should policy be requiring design excellence, or focussing on good design, or improving outcomes?

What does excellence look like?

The Sydney Opera House is an outstanding, excellent design outcome (but compromised in its implementation). The Guggenheim, Bilbao is another internationally recognised design triumph, but is criticised for its visual dominance and functionality3. Federation Square’s design was a major international competition winner, and has been highly successful, but is not without its critics. Design excellence is not definitive or absolute, and individual projects may encompass varying degrees of design quality.

While they reflect design excellence or ‘outstanding’ design, these landmark, civic buildings are not relevant as benchmarks for most development proposals.

The Victorian Architecture Awards provide a valuable picture of design excellence across multiple building types. Awarded multi-unit housing projects in 2023 are described as austere and robust externally, but with considered detail and materiality. The citations span responses to context, internal amenity, ESD, communal space, social interaction, and financial sustainability, while the main award winner challenged the Council, (by) rejecting the default setback of new additions from the existing street wall.4 Good design sometimes challenges other planning policies or standards.

Guiding good design VCAT has found that high quality or architectural excellence means high quality having regard to what planning policy seeks to achieve in an area, and that the consideration of design excellence must be focused entirely on those matters encompassed within the planning scheme, and that issues of individual taste or preference for architectural styles are irrelevant.5 The Planning Scheme, reasonably, provides limited guidance for producing or evaluating design quality. For example, the design excellence strategies at Port Phillip’s Clause 11.03-6L-04 are relatively basic and very broad, and will not necessarily ensure design excellence.

Design guidance tends to focus on ‘basic’, pragmatic provisions, because design skill, craft, experience, intelligence and innovation, and the variability of context and project types, cannot be captured in a ‘how to’ manual. The Urban Design Guidelines for Victoria focus on functional and configurational aspects, and do not mention excellence.

Design Excellence publications by Casey and Darebin, for example, are high-level and integrated, like Better Placed, or focus in on specific building types to allow more targeted, pragmatic guidance.

Federation Square, Melbourne, designed by LAB Architecture Studio (image source: ArchitectureAU).

The third challenge: If we are seeking better, or even excellent development outcomes, what are we comparing to, and what should the benchmark be?

Should design quality be evaluated against other projects of the same type, in a similar context? But even then, project conditions vary widely, and good design responds well to project constraints.

Kerr Street Residences, designed by Kerstin Thompson Architects – Winner, Best Overend Award for Residential Architecture – Multiple Housing, Victorian Architecture Awards 2023 (Photography: Derek Swalwell / Source: Australian Institute of Architects).

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The fourth challenge: How can we provide a reliable, consistent and meaningful framework for evaluating good design?

Excellent vs acceptable Responsible authorities must decide whether a proposal will produce acceptable outcomes in line with the Planning Policy Framework6, in the interests of net community benefit and sustainable development 7.

This articulates a tension, between increasing requirements to deliver and demonstrate excellence (sometimes in comparison to ‘high

38 Albermarle Street, Kensington, designed by Fieldwork – Winner, Award for Residential Architecture – Multiple Housing, Victorian Architecture Awards 2023 (Photography: Tom Ross / Source: Australian Institute of Architects).

quality’ or ‘good quality’), within a planning framework that facilitates ‘acceptable’ outcomes which provide a net community benefit; and between an ‘excellence’ standard to be achieved, and processes of design improvement or betterment.

The fifth challenge: How do we resolve the tension between ‘acceptable’ and ‘excellent’?

Advancing design through policy We can work to address these challenges through: • Framework A state-wide, comprehensive framework which defines good or excellent design, articulates how these can be achieved in different contexts, explains the community benefits they provide, and provides effective tools for guiding and evaluating design quality.

• Policy Embedding this Framework in a consistent, integrated design policy which is embedded in the Planning Scheme, utilising consistent terminology and clear articulation of expectations.

• Evaluation method

appropriately broad-ranging and consistent parameters for considering and assessing design, in line with policy settings.

• Discourse and design advocacy Ongoing promotion of good design to reinforce its value and benefits, while communicating how better design looks, functions and performs.

Our collective handling of design in planning processes requires more discourse, debate, testing and analysis – let’s continue this essential discussion on good design in the built environment.

Simon McPherson is a Director of Global South – a socially focussed, collaborative urban consultancy combining research, leadership and action in urban strategy, design and implementation.

Footnotes 1 Ninth Edition 2 Office of the Victorian Government Architect, Good Design, https://www. ovga.vic.gov.au/good-design 3 Alyn Griffiths, Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is “the greatest building of our time”, Dezeen, 18 May 2022.

4 Australian Institute of Architects, 2023 Victorian Architecture Awards – Results, https://www.architecture.com.au/awards/2023-awards/2023vic-architecture-award-winners?utm_campaign=skedlink&utm_medium=button&utm_source=skedlink

A design evaluation framework, as NSW has developed8, providing a comprehensive set of indicators, which support a rigorous process of design assessment, as well as a policy monitoring tool.

5 VCAT Order, Zak Group Pty Ltd vs Yarra City Council, VCAT Reference P196/2017, 27 July 2017.

Quantifying design quality is fraught with uncertainty and subjectivity, and runs counter to the elusive, creative nature of the design process and outcomes. Design evaluation depends on expertise, debate and discourse. However, an evaluation method would provide

7 Yarra Planning Scheme, Clause 71.02 Operation of the Planning Policy Framework.

6 Victorian State Government (DELWP), Using Victoria’s Planning System, October 2022.

8 Government Architect NSW, Evaluating Good Design, https://www. governmentarchitect.nsw.gov.au/guidance/evaluating-good-design

A Resilient Career Program Expressions of Interest Invited VPELA will be running our highly rated Resilient Career program again in February 2024. The program is exclusive to VPELA members and is designed to support and assist both women and men who are in their mid-career period and looking to re-establish their career after parental leave or other break or who are seeking to redefine their next steps towards their career objectives by re-assessing, rebooting and re-launching.

The program to be run by experienced external coaches Lisa Williams and Annie Healy, Thrive Leadership Group and will include:

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Pre-session skills assessment survey and preparation Facilitated group sessions and workshops Individual coaching sessions following each workshop Peer coaching circles Participants from previous years gave resoundingly positive feedback including: “The program provided me with clarity, focus and direction. It greatly assisted in mapping out the next and possibly final stage of my career.”

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By exploring my passion and differentiating between the skills I enjoyed using and those that I did not allowed me to learn what was my unique x-factor” “I finished this program with greater clarity, confidence and a set of actions for my career path forward.

This is a great program that provides access to executive level career coaches and an opportunity to meet and share with colleagues facing similar career wonderings”.

To apply, please describe the benefit/s that you think this program could have for you (500 words max).

VPELA will provide for up to 15 participants to join the program annually. Participants will be asked to pay a small contribution of $100 upon acceptance into the program. Please submit your application by the end of October admin@vpela.org.au

VPELA Revue October 2023 / 33

The Business

Could Tasmania become Australia’s Finland and end homelessness?

I am a capitalist! But it does not mean I do not care about vulnerable people.

In fact, there are many businesspeople in Australia that share the same value. This is why Housing All Australians was established as a private sector voice, looking at housing and homelessness through an economic and business lens.

Homelessness is the canary in the coal mine to a much more substantial issue throughout the housing continuum and which is currently playing out with unaffordable rentals and escalating house prices. This was again confirmed in the Victorian Government’s recently released Housing Statement.

In July 2022, Housing All Australians published a report called ‘Give me Shelter’, which quantified the long-term costs of undersupplying public, social and affordable housing in Australia, reaching an additional $25 billion per annum by 2032, and growing.

The size of the housing problem confronting Australia was calculated

by Federal Government actuaries as $290 billion and was presented in Chris Leptos’ 2021 review of the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC).

So, why haven’t we used this number to develop a long-term housing strategy that would create the essential housing infrastructure needed for a prosperous Australia? Why are governments so averse to setting meaningful and ambitious goals like this? The sheer magnitude of the problem, and the realistic solutions, intimidates politicians from all sides, making it seem too daunting and unattainable. As a result, we never take the first step. The can just gets kicked down the road, and the problem gets worse, leaving an economic and social time bomb for future generations to face.

Governments at all levels are now realising, and accepting, we need to increase housing supply. But even if everyone agrees to do this today, it will take several years to bring new supply to the market, and decades for it to have real impact. That is why we need a national housing strategy with short, medium and long term goals.

At Housing All Australians, we do not have all the solutions, however, together with our growing list of value aligned corporate partners, we are taking action in the following ways: Short term – let’s make use of the vacant buildings that are waiting for their development approvals. This is not a long term solution, but an immediate way to use “existing infrastructure” while we build the homes our country needs. Currently, Housing All Australians has close to 150 rooms in several empty buildings in both Melbourne and Perth, either completed or under refurbishment. There are 1000s of empty buildings lying vacant across Australia that can be used as a short term solution, let alone some of the 13 million spare bedrooms rooms across Australia that can also be used for short term shelter, while we build the new homes our country needs. We need some sort of pressure relief value in the short term, while we build the additional homes. Having access to and using existing and “fit for purpose” “infrastructure” just makes sense.

34 / VPELA Revue October 2023

Robert Pradolin, Founder and Director, Housing All Australians

Medium term – We have created our own affordable housing model that uses the NRAS governance principles to allow qualified people to apply for below-market rents. As part of this model, we are developing a digital Affordable Housing Register with one of our value aligned corporate partners, PEXA, that will allow local government to monitor compliance of all stakeholders. The creation of this Register will unlock private sector capital to drive affordable housing.

Long term – If the figure of $290 billion seems overwhelming, and we can put aside our parochial sentiment, perhaps we can be bold and target to end homelessness in one state, using that as a pilot for Australia and measuring the resulting benefits to help shape future housing policy. It is not impossible. What about Tasmania?

Tasmania is the only state that is about to have a Housing Strategy that acknowledges the solution rests in addressing the entire housing continuum. Tasmania is already in a unique position as the Government has committed to constructing 10,000 homes by 2032 while the public housing waiting list stands at around 4,500. No other state is in this position.

With the assistance of the federal government, ending homelessness in Tasmania is possible and could pave the way to examine and measure the economic and social benefits of ending homelessness.

Tasmania already serves as a testing ground for various products in the business world, so why not test housing policies there?

However, it’s crucial to understand that there are no quick fixes.

Finland declared its ambitious goal of eradicating homelessness back in 2008 and is now well on its way to achieving it by 2027.

Australians are growing tired of the political machinations in Canberra and are yearning for real action on homelessness. Let’s be bold. Let’s step outside our comfort zones. Let’s establish an audacious goal that we can all support and give it our best shot. The only thing we have to lose is the future we want for our grandchildren.

Robert Pradolin is the Founder and Director, Housing All Australians, and a Board member of both Summer Housing Limited and Homes Tasmania.

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Window decals and clear glazing On 17 May, VCAT issued its order in Endeavour Drinks Group Pty Ltd v Colac Otway SC [2023] VCAT 539. This matter principally involved the use of land for the sale of packaged liquor, however also involved the display of various signage including the fixing of decals onto what would otherwise have been clear glazing.

The question arose as to whether the fixing of these decals to the otherwise clear glazing meant permission under the C1Z and the applicable DDO was required on the basis that less than 80% of the building façade was maintained as clear glazing?

The Tribunal’s decision makes clear that MICLUP and revised policy around State significant industrial land shifts the balance of Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning considerations firmly towards industrial land use and employment.

Hew Gerrard is a Senior Associate Melbourne Industrialatand Commercial Land Use Plan Glossop Town Planning

Map 12: Southern Region Industrial Land Map 12: Southern Region - industrial land

Monash NEIC

The Tribunal found that: The use of decals on the clear glazing is, in my mind, equivalent to the use of a poster or similar window dressing. It does not change the composition of the façade, which remains a façade at ground floor level that is maintained as an entry or window with clear glazing.

Moorabbin Airport

Dandenong NEIC

Lyndhurst

The counter argument put is that the glazing is not ‘clear’ because it is not visually permeable when the decals are placed on the clear glazing. If this were correct, then whenever an occupant of the ground floor shop sought to put something in the window or on the door that obscured views and resulted in less than 80% of the façade being visually permeable, it might lead to a situation where a permit was required for buildings and works. This cannot be correct.

South East Airport

Port of Hastings NOTE: The Port of Hastings Facilities include: • Stony Point jetty and depot • Crib Point liquid berths • Long Island Point liquid berth • BlueScope Steel Wharves

Whether this defeats the purpose of the common 80% clear glazing requirement is another question.

Non-industrial uses within State significant industrial land On 13 July, VCAT issued its order in Parmesvaran Family Pty Ltd v Cardinia SC [2023] VCAT 764. This matter involved a proposed place of worship in the Officer–Pakenham State significant industrial precinct (SSIP).

This was the first decision of the Tribunal since the gazettal of Amendment VC215 in March and the introduction of Melbourne Industrial and Commercial Land Use Plan (MICLUP). The Council argued a principles case that it was inappropriate for identified State significant land to be used for entirely non-industrial purposes, being otherwise satisfied with the details of the proposal.

Much was made of the term ‘incompatible’ within Clause 17.03-3S, with the permit applicant arguing that the proposal was compatible as there were no amenity or land use conflicts raised.

The Tribunal refused the application stating: I find there is no support in the Scheme for the establishment of a place of worship on this land based on the current planning framework. The land’s designation within a SSIP elevates its significance as an industrial and employment cluster. The proposal is not an industrial land use and will not generate meaningful employment opportunities.

Northern Inner Western Inner South East

0

9

Eastern

Southern

18

Kilometres

State Significant Industrial Land - Existing

National Employment & Innovation Cluster

Airport - Existing

Freeway

State Significant Industrial Land - Future

Extractive Industries Work Authorities - Approved

Airport - Possible (indicative)

Highway

Regionally Significant Industrial Land - Existing

Seaport - Existing

Regionally Significant Industrial Land - Future

Other Intermodal Freight Terminal (Existing and Potential)

Local Industrial Land Existing

Principal Freight Network Road

National Park/State Park/Public Open Space

Arterial

Plan Melbourne Region Boundary

Rail Line

Urban Growth Boundary

Waterway

Local Government Area

Waterbody

Urban Area

Principal Freight Network Rail

NOTE: The Principal Freight Network reflects the version published in 2013 (Victoria the Freight State – the Victorian Freight and Logistics Plan, August 2013) in addition to Mordialloc Highway and West Gate Tunnel.

East West Link has been removed. The Department of Transport are currently undertaking a review of the Principal Freight Network and will publish an updated one later in 2020.

Green Wedge Conservation and Biodiversity Areas

Source: Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning

Southern Region – industrial land (MICLUP).

Melbourne Industrial and Commercial Land Use Plan

95

Strategy Plan for the World Heritage Environs Area Sometimes, draft amendments to planning schemes fly under the radar, often because they are not allocated a number until they approved. This may well be the case with an amendment relating to the new World Heritage Strategy Plan (WHSP) for the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens World Heritage Area (REB&CGWHEA).

A review of the 2009 Strategy Plan (that is currently referenced in the Melbourne and Yarra Planning Schemes) has been underway since 2020, with the Victorian Heritage Council finally completing its deliberations on the 2021 Strategy Plan and preferred new planning controls for the area earlier this year.

VPELA Revue October 2023 / 35

A Committee of Heritage Council report is now with the Minister for Planning and a draft Amendment to the Melbourne and Yarra Planning Schemes is under consideration. The amendment proposed to implement new and updated planning policies and controls to improve the protection and maintenance of the prominence of the World Heritage Listed REB&CG. Keep an eye out for it in the coming months.

Kellie Burns is an Associate Director at UPco

The decision adds to a body of case law concerning compensation claims made under Part 5 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 (Vic).

Kajag made a claim for compensation under s98(1) of the P&E Act for ‘financial loss suffered as the natural, direct and reasonable consequence’ of part of the land being reserved for a public purpose under a planning scheme.

Kajag claimed compensation when it sold the property for a lower price than it might reasonably have expected to get if part of the land had not been reserved for the OMR— that is, when it suffered actual loss as a result of the reservation.

Previous decisions determined that the date of valuation with regards to loss on sale claims was the date of settlement of the contract.

Kajag is authority for the proposition that the date of valuation is the contract date.

This has significant consequences for claimants, town planners, valuers and lawyers when assessing loss on sale compensation claims and entitlements.

Sebastian Greenway is Principal Lawyer with Best Hooper Lawyers

Yarra City Council Public Open Space Contributions (Amendments C286yara and C306yara) Yarra Planning Scheme Amendment C286 seeks to increase the municipal Public Open Space Contribution (POSC) from 4.5% to 10.1% and to apply the POSC to all subdivisions.

The Amendment was exhibited in late 2021 and submissions were considered by a Panel in December 2021 and February 2022.

The Panel issued the Council an Interim Report in April 2022 expressing the view that a rate of 10.1% was excessive. While the Panel endorsed the Yarra Open Space Strategy, 2020 and acknowledged the need for an increased POSC rate more broadly, it took issue with:

Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens (WHSP).

Loss on sale compensation On 7 July 2023, the Supreme Court of Victoria handed down its judgement in Kajag Pty Ltd v Head, Transport for Victoria [2023] VSC 392. Kajag concerned the sale of a property affected by a Public Acquisition Overlay for the Outer Metropolitan Ring/E6 Transport Corridor (OMR).

• application of 30% to Capital Improved Value of land for new open space, finding it was excessive and should be 10%; and • apportionment between new resident and worker needs for open space.

Independence. Experience. Respected.

Differentiates our advice and evidence.

Alison Milner +61 478 159 430

alisonm@milnerpa.com.au

Rob Milner + 61 417 113 631

robm@milnerpa.com.au

milnerpa.com.au

36 / VPELA Revue October 2023

The Panel recommended that Council seek approval from the Minister for Planning for an interim POSC increase to 7.4%. Council resolved at its meeting on 31 May 2022 to pursue a separate planning scheme amendment for this interim POSC rate (Amendment C306yara) and seek approval from the Minister for Planning pursuant to s20(4) of the Planning and Environment Act 1987. As at the date of publication, no decision has been made in respect of this Amendment.

Concurrently, Council has been reviewing the POSC rate it proposed as part of Amendment C286. It resolved at its meeting of12 September 2023 to request the Panel to reconvene and consider the further work undertaken, and a revised POSC rate of 8.67%. There’s no word on the Panel’s response or dates for its continued consideration of Amendment C286, but it will be interesting to see where the new, intended, permanent rate lands.

• VCAT’s community-based venues in Frankston, Bundoora and Oakleigh will be used for selected s80 and s82 compulsory conferences and hearings from October 2023.

• VCAT’s Planning and Environment Division held an online seminar on Monday 23 October 2023 concerning common issues with consent orders. It was instructive.

If you have something to contribute to In case you missed it, we'd be delighted to publish it.

Keep it short – Eds.

Sarah Thomas is an Associate Director at UPco

And very, helpfully, some snippets from VCAT’s Registry…

• An amended PNPE2 Table 1 was published on the VCAT website on 1 July 2023. The amended table requires the responsible authority to provide more detailed information about recommending and determining referral authorities for the application. This coincides with changes to the VCAT Rules dealing with statements of grounds from objectors and authorities given s52 notice.

• Objectors (including authorities given s52 notice that objected or provided conditional consent to the permit application) must submit their statement of grounds and pay the prescribed fee by 4.00pm on the date set out in the Tribunal’s initiating order if they wish to participate in any compulsory conference or hearing. If they are late, they are not a party and may have to attend a practice day hearing to consider their request to be a party.

Save the Date International Study Tour 10-24 August 2024 Vancouver, Seattle and Toronto More details coming soon!

Follow us on https://www.instagram.com/vpela_ VPELA Revue October 2023 / 37

Nexus Ball On Friday 6 October VPELA young professional members gathered at The Emerson for a night of networking along with the UDIA and PIA members for the annual Nexus Ball.

This year’s theme was “Back in Time” and the guests dressed in theme from the the 20's to the 90's with double denim the defining look!

Every year the Nexus Ball organising committee chooses a charity relating to property or young people and part of each ticket purchase is donated to the charity. This year we supported Bowel Cancer Australia’s Never2Young initiative.

A big thank you to the main sponsor Dalton Consulting Engineers, all supporting sponsors, the VPELA, UDIA and PIA sub-committee representatives and a special mention to Grace Hamilton who works hard every year to make the night lots of fun for all the young professionals.

The costumes were fantastic and everyone finished the night dancing to music through the decades!

We look forward to seeing you again in 2024.

Chiara De Pellegrin is a Consultant at Urbis and a member of the UDIA Outlook Committee

Thank you to our sponsors and partners

38 / VPELA Revue October 2023

Congratulations to our costume winners Belinda Blythe, Beveridge Williams and Jaymes Day, DCE.

VPELA Revue October 2023 / 39

VPELA Conference “Pirate” Gala Dinner

VPELA – A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION

PO Box 1291 Camberwell 3124, 9813 2801 www.vpela.org au

Established in 1989, the Association holds regular seminars, social events and a conference annually. It also reviews legislation, provides high level advice to Government and makes submissions to all aspects of land use planning. If you have any questions or are interested in joining the Association, contact Anna Aughterson, Executive Officer – admin@vpela.org.au