PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT:

Property developers have welcomed changes to minimum building requirements announced this week by the Brisbane City Council and say more reforms are likely on the way.

Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Adrian Schrinner, this week said the council would no longer require developers in some inner-city suburbs to provide car parks for every high-rise unit they build. (below)

Councillor Schrinner claimed the change would cut building costs for developers and deliver more high-rise apartments at more affordable prices.

Brisbane property developer and chair of the property development interest group the Specialised Local Urban Management Society (SLUMS), Max Yield, (main picture) said he welcomed the change.

“The requirement was really nothing but useless red tape,” Mr Yield said. “The Lord Mayor’s announcement is based on the fact that many people buying inner-city units don’t have a car or plan to buy one.

“If visitors arrive by car or if a unit owner does buy one themselves, then there is plenty of on-street parking for them to use.

“It’s an argument that SLUMS has been putting to the Brisbane City Council and other councils for a long time. So we are very happy that the Lord Mayor and the council have fallen for…. I mean, accepted our argument.

“We are now very optimistic that Cr Schrinner will act on our other proposals to cut even more red tape out of the council’s planning and approval processes.

“For instance, SLUMS doesn’t understand why developers need to provide toilets in every inner-city high-rise unit blocks when there are plenty of public toilet blocks around the place or at a pinch we could provide one big shared in-house dunny.   

“The same goes for baths and showers. What’s wrong with one communal shower block in the foyer?

“Also, why does every unit need to have a kitchen when the inner-city is packed with eateries?” he said.

Mr Yield said once SLUMS achieved those further reforms the group had even more red tape in its sights, but at this stage he would not detail other proposed changes.

“All I will say at the moment is that it’s obvious to SLUMS that fire escapes in high-rise blocks take up a lot of space that sits empty for almost all of the time,” he said.

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