Two independent reports refute Victorian Labor’s position that knocking and down and rebuilding 44 public housing towers across Naarm/Melbourne is the best option to achieve a mix of private, social and affordable housing.
Nigel Bertram, architect and Professor of Architecture at Monash University, and Simon Robinson, from the not-for-profit architecture and research firm OFFICE, conducted in-depth studies of the towers. Both concluded that they could be retrofitted, and it would be considerably cheaper than knocking them down and rebuilding.
Their proposal would also take into account residents’ health and wellbeing, and community connections. Less disruption would allow them to return to their homes after the work had concluded.
“The government has never released a public document showing that it’s unfeasible to refurbish these towers. Our study found that, structurally, it’s possible and cheaper to do so,” Robinson told Green Left.
He said the demolition and rebuild would force residents to relocate, which would have “huge social and health implications for vulnerable tenants”.
“Our study shows that this relocation can be avoided by building new dwellings in and between the towers prior to refurbishment.”
Robinson said retaining and reusing existing structures “saves energy” and, ultimately, reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
“Across 44 buildings, this could also save around $1.5 billion in construction costs,” Bertram told GL.
They found “considerable savings” could be made in capital costs (25–30%), embodied carbon (34–36%) and construction time (15–20%) through retrofitting, compared with constructing an equivalent new building.
“Similar post-war housing precincts overseas have been updated and redeveloped in a more careful, considered way,” Bertram said. “Residents have even been able to stay in place while improvements are made.”
Despite Labor’s demolition plan announcement more than a year ago, it has not detailed costs for the rebuilding. Meanwhile, it signed a $100 million contract with John Holland to knock down the first five towers in Carlton, Flemington and North Melbourne.
John Holland is due to start preparations to demolish Elgin Towers in Carlton next week, with the demolition slated to be completed mid-year.
Inner Melbourne Community Legal service (IMCL) is acting for 479 households in a class action against the first three towers in North Melbourne and Flemington slated for demolition.
IMCL argues that Labor has failed to consider the tenants’ human rights.
The trial is scheduled for February 27 and 28, following the Supreme Court’s ruling on February 10 to grant Homes Victoria “public interest immunity”.
This means Homes Victoria will not have to produce key documents that may shed light on reasons behind the government’s decision to demolish all 44 towers.
“This is the third alternative redevelopment project that Labor has refused to consider to refurbish the old estates,” tenant and member of the Save Public Housing Collective Kerrie Byrne told GL.
“These designs would save the government hundreds of millions of dollars, while still creating the desired housing ‘infill’.
“They are far less disruptive for tenants and less environmentally harmful. For a start you wouldn’t have endless fleets of trucks carrying demolition rubble destined for landfill,” Byrne said.
“As there will only be a 10% increase in housing for low-income tenants, with the rest allocated to market-priced housing, this project is not a solution for the 60,000 households languishing on the waiting list, or for the 30,000 homeless Victorians.
“Rather, as these estates all sit on prime inner-city land, it will create a massive windfall for property developers: they will be the winners, while thousands of tenants who are forced to relocate will have little choice,” Byrne said.
More information can be found at Save Public Housing Collective or Save Public Housing.]
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