The ACT government has been ordered to retain one of the three Dickson Towers buildings on Northbourne Avenue in a blow for plans to demolish the swathe of public housing along the entranceway to the city.
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The planning directorate approved the demolition of two of the three buildings, which each contain 21 bedsits, let to single men until the last tenant was moved in June. But it baulked at razing the entire block, saying the northernmost building, near the corner of Morphett Street, Dickson, must remain, along with significant trees.
The Property Council blasted the decision, ACT executive director Catherine Carter dismissing the buildings as outmoded and dogged with architectural and aesthetic errors.
"These buildings are more than ugly – they are also unhealthy and unliveable," she said. "Built in the 1950s at a time when little thought was given to energy efficiency or indoor environment quality, these buildings simply don't stand up to contemporary standards for buildings and will now impede the realisation of a dynamic, well-considered precinct for the people of north Canberra."
The Land Development Agency will not appeal the decision on the building, but has asked the directorate to reconsider the protection of five trees.
Chief executive David Dawes said the agency would await the Heritage Council's advice on whether buildings could be "built up to and around the tower" before deciding how to proceed.
But in a move that will further delay the project, the National Trust of the ACT has appealed to the ACT Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal, arguing that all of the units should be retained because the entire site is significant.
The Dickson Towers are part of a precinct of public housing stretching from Morphett Street in Dickson to Wakefield and Macarthur avenues. In all, there are 157 flats, valued in architectural circles as an exemplar of post-war international style, built between 1959 and 1962 for public servants and associated with one of the most important Australian architects of the mid-20th century, Sydney Ancher. Capital Metro Minister Simon Corbell, though, has said that many people find the buildings an eyesore, and Capital Metro project director Emma Thomas has described them as "almost like a slum".
The Dickson Towers were the first cab off the rank in the redevelopment of the precinct and stand as a test case. They were to be demolished to make way for a 160-apartment complex, a plan that might now have to be scaled back.
Across the precinct, the government's masterplan envisaged 1099 apartments and was a cornerstone of its plans to recoup some of the cost of the Gungahlin tram line and help make the tram viable through boosting activity and people in Northbourne Avenue.
The plans for the flats plan ran into early trouble when Mr Corbell was forced to withdraw fast-track planning laws early last year that would have effectively annulled heritage considerations. In September, the Heritage Council gave the buildings provisional heritage status, with a decision on full heritage status now due.
Mr Dawes said the Dickson Towers decision had no bearing on other development in the corridor. But it looks to have forced a rethink, with the Heritage Council now negotiating agreements with the government that will see portions of other flats retained.
Deputy chairperson Dianne Firth said some of the building fabric across the precinct would be integrated with clever architecture into new developments.
The council would register a portion of the precinct, allowing parts of the original to still be "read", she said.
"This process of what happens to the Northbourne housing precinct has been under debate for over a decade and it's not easy. It's about how do we retain values that are held in high regard and how do we enable the city to develop?" she said, describing the heritage agreements now being thrashed out as a "win win".
"If there's something there of significance that meets the threshold that's been established under out Heritage Act then we have to behave in a way that respects that. But we are still highly cognisant of the fact that the city is developing. We're not there to stop development."
Liberal planning spokesman Alistair Coe said the business case for light rail was already shaky and further restrictions on development would make the proposition worse.
