City of Gold Coast Planning and Development Hub

A biennial event celebrating the best of our built environment, the Gold Coast Urban Design Awards have become the city's most prestigious platform for recognition of design, liveability and sustainability.

This year’s winners of the Gold Coast’s leading design awards include two Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games projects that will make their mark on the city for many years to come.

The 2017 Gold Coast Urban Design Award winners are:

Excellence in Urban Design Award 2017 | Helen Josephson Award for Urban Design Leadership

Parklands Project, by AAA – a joint venture between architects Arkhefield, ARM and Archipelago

Urban Design Award

Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre – Cardno, BVN and John Graham

City Village Terrace Homes – Robina Projects Australia and Andrew Halstead Architects

Commendation

Oasis Shopping Centre Redevelopment Broadbeach – The Buchan Group

Griffith University Student Guild Bar and Link Eatery – Push

Special mention

Surfers Riverside Edge Treatment Project – GHD Woodhead and Gold Coast Waterways Authority

Tactical Urbanism Projects – City Place Making, City of Gold Coast

Public consultation on the first major updates to the City Plan is now in its third week. You are invited to have your say on Major Update 1 and 1B, Major Update to City Plan Policies (Sch 6) and the draft Local Government Infrastructure Plan Major Amendment 1 by Wednesday 15 November 2017. The City is holding two consultation sessions next week where City officers will be available to discuss aspects of the updates.

More information

gchaveyoursay.com.au/majorupdate

To improve customer experience, the City of Gold Coast now accepts Generally in Accordance (GIA) applications by email.

To avoid delays assessing applications, please complete and attach the following supporting documentation in PDF format to the email:

• Generally in Accordance request form (please complete the ‘Original approval number (MCU/ROL)’ and ‘The City’s reference file number (PN)’ fields).

• copy of the relevant original approval (including the decision notice, and approved drawings – including any plan of development and any residential design code)

• new plans and/or a detailed summary of proposed changes

• business partner name and number but only if the application fee is to be charged to a Business partner account.

Email applications to: dart@goldcoast.qld.gov.au

Council will check emailed GIA submissions to ensure they have been lodged correctly and then issue online payment requests for application fees. There is a range of payment options available.

Please note: applications will not be processed until Council receives payment in full.

For additional information please contact our friendly Planning Assessment Admin team on: 07 5582 8866.

It is predicted the majority of millennials will spend their adult lives living in apartments. In contrast, many of the older generations believe a family home needs a big backyard and don’t like the idea of apartment living. Evidence indicates that well-planned density can provide significant economic, social and environmental benefits to cities.

Nicki Hutley, Director and Chief Economist, Urbis, will look at the drivers of change in Australia’s cities such as affordability, the changing shape of our economy, access to employment, and the cost of infrastructure. She will discuss how density offers the solution to many of the challenges faced by our cities, and how some of the problems commonly associated with density can be avoided.

After the presentation Dy Currie, Director, Planning and Environment, City of Gold Coast will lead a panel discussion on the future direction of density with Nicki and the following guest speakers:

Cr Cameron Caldwell, Chair City Planning and Division 3 Councillor, City of Gold Coast

Matt Schneider, Director Gold Coast, Urbis

Nicki Hutley is a highly experienced economist in economic, financial market and public policy experience. Prior to joining Urbis in 2013, Nicki held senior positions with Access Economics and then KPMG.

Throughout her consulting career, Nicki has led large and complex economic projects and policy reviews across a wide range of issues, such as housing affordability, energy efficiency and social impact programs. She has worked for all levels of government across Australia and New Zealand, as well as for private and third sector clients.

In 2016, she was appointed as an expert adviser to the NSW Department of Industry on Economic Development issues.

Nicki has a keen interest in the role of infrastructure, technology and social and environmental policies in driving economic growth and shaping cities and communities. She is also a regular commentator in the media on economic and policy issues.

Details

Date: Thursday 2 November 2017

Presentation 4:30-5:15pm

Panel discussion: 5:15-5:45pm

Venue: Broadbeach Mall Stage

Victoria Avenue, Broadbeach

RSVP: oca@goldcoast.qld.gov.au

Office of the City Architect

Nightingale Housing is a not-for-profit social enterprise that exists to support, promote and advocate for high-quality housing that is ecologically, socially and financially sustainable.

Jeremy McLeod will showcase how the Nightingale development model works with architects, project managers, councils and consortiums committed to better, more sustainable urban housing. He will explain how Nightingale links purchasers and architects to make sure new homes are designed for the community with the community. He will also articulate why our communities deserve better urban spaces and advocate for housing that makes a positive neighbourhood contribution with the financial, social and environmental benefits of truly sustainable housing.

After the presentation a panel will be convened to discuss the future direction of affordable medium density residential development with Jeremy and the following guest speakers:

Leah Lang, City Architect, City of Gold Coast

Professor Adrian Carter, Abedian School of Architecture, Bond University

Amy Degenhart, Director, degenhartSHEDD

As the Gold Coast moves to infill development and expands its light rail transit corridor, could this form of development create a valuable new typology for the city?

Jeremy McLeod bio

Jeremy is the founding Director of Breathe Architecture, a team of dedicated architects who have built a reputation for delivering high quality design and sustainable architecture for all scale projects.

Breathe Architecture focuses on sustainable urbanisation and in particular investigating how to deliver more affordable urban housing to Melbournians.

Breathe Architecture instigated The Commons housing project in Brunswick and are collaborating with other Melbourne architects to deliver the Nightingale model. Nightingale is intended to be an architect led open source housing model. Jeremy believes that through collaboration, architects can drive real positive change in this city we call home.

Details

Date: Thursday 26 October 2017

Time: 12pm refreshments | 12:15pm presentation

Venue: Arts Centre Gold Coast, Lakeside Terrace, 135 Bundall Rd, Surfers Paradise

RSVP: oca@goldcoast.qld.gov.au

Mick Moran has been appointed to the role of Manager City Development. Mick has more than 15 years of professional planning experience with the Queensland Government, Sinclair Knight Merz and the City of Gold Coast. The City Development Branch is responsible for development assessment, appeals, development compliance, contributed assets, plumbing and drainage and place making projects.

Council of the City of Gold Coast recently endorsed the first major updates to the City Plan to go out for public consultation. Major Update 1 and 1B, Major Update to City Plan Policies (Schedule 6) and draft Local Government Infrastructure Plan Major Amendment 1 will all be open for public comment from Wednesday 4 October 2017 until Wednesday 15 November 2017. Public consultation will commence with an industry briefing which will be advised under a separate invitation. In addition to the briefing, five city-wide events will be held during the consultation period, details for these events will be released in the coming weeks.

The City granted a transitional period to assist applicants to understand new lodgement requirements for Subdivision of Survey Plans. From 4 September 2017, all submitted applications must now comply with the City’s new requirements. If an application fails to meet the criteria, the City will issue a Subdivision Incomplete Request Notice and the application will not progress until the relevant criteria have been met. For further information please refer to the plan sealing webpage.

In order to improve our customer experience, Council has reviewed and prepared a new suite of development conditions. The suite of development conditions has a new look and feel and will improve efficiency, consistency and ease of understanding.

Along with approved plans and drawings, development conditions are a key mechanism for achieving the built aspirations of the City, as expressed in the City Plan. It is important development conditions are consistently written and applied to convey the broader desired planning outcomes and objectives of the City at a site by site, development by development level.

These new conditions will be applied to Material Change of Use, Reconfiguring a Lot and Operational Work approvals.

These development conditions provide the common elements of the conditions package and would be generally applicable across a variety of circumstances. Additional information (as needed) will be inserted to make them relevant to the proposed development being approved.

In addition, unique “application specific” development conditions could also be imposed. These “application specific” conditions will be crafted as needed and follow the same drafting approach as the development conditions.

Drafting of the new development conditions revolved around the philosophy to improve the customer experience and included the following principles:

• are adaptable and easier to maintain

• are legally sound, aligned to policy and planning instruments

• provide consistency in the way conditions are drafted and applied

• meet the criteria for what constitutes a condition

Council’s suite of development conditions have been prepared with input from a variety of internal and external stakeholders and have been legally reviewed prior to implementation.

The development conditions booklet is available on our website . For enquiries, please contact Planning Assessment on 07 5582 8866.

The City’s 'As-Constructed' Data Capture Guidelines have been updated to Version 1.3. Changes primarily relate to the alignment of water and sewer as-constructed requirements with the SEQ Design and Construction Code. They include notes explaining the differences between the ADAC requirements and the City’s requirements in asset attribution.

All changes have been underlined in the document and a grace period of two months applies for as-constructed information that has previously been submitted or is in the process of being submitted.

The Guidelines are available on the City’s website.