Wednesday, May 21, 2008
North Port Quay - Not Simply a Playground for the Rich and Famous.
North Port Quay has been designed to attract the wider community, appealing equally to the owner of a 4m dinghy or a 44m luxury cruiser. There would be those who could sip French champagne from their balcony while others would enjoy a family picnic on one of the three public beaches. Many may choose to catch that evening’s meal by throwing a line into the water from the expansive breakwater. Housing would be a mix of prestige waterfront homes and affordable apartments. Eateries might offer a range of cuisine from five-star to burgers and chips. Late model luxury cars and those a little more ‘experienced’ would be positioned side by side in the ample parking areas created within the development. Nobody would feel out of place at North Port Quay.
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54 comments:
This looks great. Let's hope it doesn't get the usual Perth criticisms from the naysayers and NIMBYs.
What a brilliant, imaginative, ambitious concept!
There are some 'issues' though;
Why the promotion of 'French Champagne' in your promo when the Australian equivalent is much nicer and better for Australian producers, and, where is the provision for the rail link to provide the necessary infrastructure to connect with the rest of Perth and alleviate the transport /parking problems / access for the volumes of people who will be attracted to this facility?
A great idea to be fully thought out.
I wish not to see it moved away.
In my opinion Fremantle is unique because the wharf, however my question is: what's worth the wharf and all the business around it?? are we ready to see it moved away??
I’m under the impression that on every financial status will correspond a different opinion/point of view
i think its a dam good idea. about time perth got somewhere that can rival the rest of australia when it comes to places to go. fremantle needs to be updated and this is a good way to start.
good on the developers for having the balls to firstly imagine something like this, and then to make it real.
From what I can see this looks good. How about some more innovative building designs. I've lived in Melbourne for the past 8 years and would love to see some really cutting edge buildings. The public reaction will always be varied however I think WA is long overdue some big impact projects.
Well done on creating a great concept that will improve the surrounding environment and businesses.
I think this is a great idea and I'm sure most of perth would agree. Being privately funded and environmentally positive, this should stop the usual knocking by bored perth people that goes on with developments like this.
This development is a great bonus to WA and will elevate the status of WA in eyes of international visitors.
Additional boating facilities are desperately needed.
I am in Orr at this fabulous concept.. and what a real magnet for tourists and locals alike.. Please register my approval..
I would just like to commend you on your bold vision and plans for North Port. At the moment the area surrounding Fremantle is in poor state and condition, its uninteresting and uninspiring. It does nothing for our tourism industry.
I often wonder what a visitor thinks when they step off a luxury five star cruise liner to be faced with a derelict port and surroundings, it would be quite disappointing.
I commend you all on having a vision and passion to develop a world class facility that will bring visitors to our shores and give Perth an Icon to brag about to the rest of Australia and the World.
What a great idea!
Yes, I can hear the detractors - we are losing access to a couple of hundred meters of coast, out of the hundreds of miles available, a bit they have never been to anyway.... and if 20,000 people live there - it will be opened to far more people than ever!
And somewhere to go with a boat. Fantastic! And get them off the river! Less river pollution!
I dont suppose the nay-sayers are just jealous?
Dont let anyone stop you!
Great news,
When can i buy a pen and an apartment,
We need to move the port into Cockburn Sound and return Freo to the People.
The port , the heavy transport, the sheep smells have to go,Its one big mess in our beautiful swan.
Don't back down.
Hi all,
Fantastic concept, finally some forward thinkers have risen from the sleepy west.
Those opposing such a concept would have us stuck with the dullsville tag for the rest of eternity.
Being a port worker I am aware freo as a working port has a limited future.
Soon it will all have to relocate to kwinana. This makes much more sense, economically and commercially.
There is no better way to cleanse and transform the old port area than what you propose to do.
I do have some criticism ; it all looks a little regimented and boring. The waterways all appear to be too narrow, too uniform and insufficient in number, and no imagination exerted on the islands shapes and sizes. Take a leaf out of Dubai’s book and run with it !
However I do understand you must take into account prevailing winds, wave action and water flows for maximum flushing, so no doubt these and many other factors could hinder development.
Any way enough of my rambling, well done and keep up this most excellent project and vision for the future of all Australians.
Regards, and Good Luck.
Dear Sir / Madam,
In referance to the North Port Quay development, it is so refreshing to see these sort of ideas been brought forward to develop our future for our generation and the next.
As I am involved with the fishing and boating {Marine Broker} industry along with many friends and family for most of my life, I see this a step forward for the growth of our city and W.A.
Bring it on.
Kind Regards
Where do I sign up ! it would be the best thing to happen to western australia and fremantle since the american cup
it is just a playground for the rich.
a terrible idea.
Everyone needs to take a deep breath. This is a concept proposal. Let's have the debate. Some of the NIMBYs and naysayers may want to remember the early criticism of Sorrento Quay and the Hillarys Boat Harbour, the northern suburbs rail line and the Mandurah Ocean Marina. Hillarys was going to be a dreadful "white elephant" that would attract no-one. Now it's one of Perth's best tourist and local attractions. Wake up Perth!
Well we certainly need the boat moorings & small boat harbour,the environmental impact will be fairly high,new unpolluted beaches that would be good.... the residential component will be expensive,as far as schools,shops & wonderful way to move people,these things don't generally happen,but are lures for us to think this concept will be great. Good luck at getting it started & completely finished......
I live in Geraldton and have seen the benefits to this town of the recent development of our foreshore and the positive buzz it has brought to the town. I also appreciate we can't develop endlessly to our environmental cost, but the North Quay and Perth foreshore plans I have seen look sensational and I would spend more time in Perth with places like this to go to.
What a great concept. Sign me up.
I can see the objectsions now regarding environment and making changes to it. In an ideal world we would not make any changes to the environment and leave everything as we found it. (Yeah that's going to happen.)
No matter what restrictions we place on development in our fine city, our population will continue to grow, as will the number of cars and boats we drive. So lets open our eyes to a vision which can cater for this growth whilst making a positive impact on the environment.
(And by positive I definately include catering for the negatives of population and economic growth)
Perth does not have a shortage of land like other places where reclamation projects are required. Fremantle is a working port complete with the smells and flies that the sheep ships and the easterly breeze would bestow on North Port Quay. It is difficult to see how the project will have any beneficial impact on the environment as promised. Projects of this magnitude will always encounter unforeseen and unexpected problems. Any benefits from profit, lifestyle and boat pens will be shared by the few as the detriments will be borne by the many in perpetuity. For this reason North Port Quay should remain the big hairy audacious dream that it is.
Some of the negative comments are so dsappointing, I've been following this proposal closely and I think we definately need to do something, Fremantle is languishing back to the pre-America's Cup days and no one would want that.
All the proposal's opposition want is the status quo, things to be kept the same, but the truth is that the status quo for any city equals stagnation.
Life requires growth people it's time to embrace it and really make use of water transport both in Freo and on the Swan.
Carpenter is against this? After his monsterous idea for the waterfront in Perth? Ha!
I say GO FOR IT!! Let's have more development like this in WA and then let the tourists roll in!
Hurry up and start building. Looks great and would be a real much needed Icon for our state. Lets show the world that we don't live in the dark ages after all.
With our fantastic mediterranean climate, crystal blue waters and reliable summer breezes we can be the watersport capital of the world. This would be a fantastic step in that direction. Hopefully the silent majority will make themselves heard this time.
I really can't believe that the comments to this blog have been filtered to the point that there's no one against the development. The last time that someone tried to take some coast line away from Freo residents, 8000 people turned up to protest against it!
This is a fantastic idea. Perth needs this! I hate how every good idea gets rejected, there is no excuse for this one...
Good luck to anyone involved in getting this approved.
Excellent idea in all ways,
It will reduce the boating pressure on the river, reduce harbour through traffic !!!
Lets all hope in goes ahead & support the concept in every way possible !!
Excellent idea, but please include the removal of freight line, North Wharf and adjoining industries to Kwinana.
I am a town planning student at curtin and i have also grown up around fremantle my whole life. This absolutley disgusts me. Fremantle is unique, the atmosphere is like no other in Perth. This would change the social fabric of freo completley. Perth needs afordable housing not more unaffordable housing and there is no way there will be affordable housing in this development due to the central location, and the land being so desirable. It is just not possible. It will push out the people who make Fremantle such an amazing place. I would also like to know what impact this will have on the coast line, it will definetly have some affect on the sand movement along the coast. I am also a local surfer and the plans look as though at least 3 beaches and surf breaks have completley vanished. There is only one access road into the proposed development which during peak hour traffic is at a stand still as it is let alone catering for 20 000 new people using the road. We do not need more high rise on the beach, Scarborough is a dive. It will simply be an exclusive place for the richy riches of perth to frolic around rather then a place for all of people. If this sort of development is to take place do it to the north rather then a place with its own identity, heritage and culture. These developers are only looking out to make money not to benefit Fremantle or the wider Perth community.
On environmental day it is so dissappointing to hear the greens and minority in WA knocking a World First Zero Carbon Concept which they all profess to be part of ---- wake up WA we can lead the World in our own technology and show you really care about the environment --- for your own sakes get the message out ---- the World needs you Today
Previously there has been ideas on changing the Perth waterfront with a large scale development as well. Looking at that I found that the excessive amount of buildings would kill the very little grass areas we have around the waterfront which are a great place to gather and socialise.
The development in Fremantle however would have a different impact. For an area without many large modern buildings, it would create a new liveliness to an area which has been unchanging for quite a while now.
The development would attract a large variety of people not only to live there and form the community, but to visit and enjoy the new facilities which have been proposed.
I find that the sustainability development is a really important component in most of urban and industrial planning nowadays, and it has not been taken lightly in this development either. In fact it is one of the fundamental components of the design of the new facilities.
Although the impacts to existing port areas area concern, as long as it doesn't stop the traffic flow of industrial ships exporting goods i doubt that it would be too much of a problem as smaller private ships would be able to use the new facilities within the area.
One concern is for the addition of 2 primary schools in the area. From some newer school developments in suburban areas, the intake hasn't been as well received as they would have liked. Though i guess this shouldn't be too much of an issue here since there residents would be new to the area and the schools would be the most convenient option available, although it would also be subjective to the demographic of the people residing there. Theres also the concern of providing sufficient qualified staff as the number of teachers available is dwindling at current times. This is also amendable as the project lifetime is estimates at around 10 years giving time to source out the recourses necessary to realise this.
Whether or not they can scale something like the power setup for the Olympic village, to a full town whilst maintaining a level of power reliability without covering the area with unsightly solar panels and wind turbines is an issue but can probably be solved with careful design and placement. The hydrothermal heating systems being in it new stages of development would be viable when there is sufficient testing on it for the particular environment its being used in.
Overall I think this is a great idea giving "Perth" more to show to the world at large, unlike the bell tower which really hasn't become that much of an icon for at least the people living in Perth.
This will be a large complicated task taking lots of careful planning in order to make it a success without any dire environmental impacts.
I can say that i'd welcome and look forward to the change under the premise that all considerations are taken into account completely and that the development doesn't undergo any "cost cutting" in which would undermine the safety and quality of the project.
I like the concept. Good on the deveopers for thinking ahead. Before being dissmised by the goverment we should be able to have at least have a say in this wonderful project before told I DONT LIKE IT..
Henry, Raffles Waterfront Apt.
The North Quay development is conceptually exciting. Land being reclaimed from the sea is not a new idea, much of the land in Netherlands has been reclaimed from the sea and of course the developments in Dubai must be mentioned.
The benefits of the project include the huge investment estimated to be $10billion, this will be money injected into economy creating jobs and increased wealth in the state. The design is innovative and will bring WA at the forefront of residential development.
I must admit I do have reservations about the environmental impacts of the venture. However, I am disappointed with the governments especially Mr Carpenter's close minded approach towards the venture. It is this type of mindset which stifles innovation. Instead the government should assess the sustainability of the project and the actual impact on the enviroment. The govt should develop a set of criteria that the project has to meet so that it is satisfied that the venture will not be detrimental to the environment, thus allowing the developers to try and alleviate those concerns, instead of a flat out rejection of the proposal.
I think the proposal is a great step towards making WA more attractive to international tourists and business. However, maybe the potential problems need to considered a little more carefully before anything is approved. The environmental benefits are fantastic - renewable resources really should be harnessed as an energy source if they're available and affordable. But ultimately, I think the Premier needs to have a little more faith in this proposal and open his mind to this new, radical (albiet promising) idea.
What a fantastic concept. The world will be watching us in this exciting innovative idea off Fremantle of creating a carbon free enviroment. Not for just the rich and famous as lead by some of the comments but for everyone to enjoy for future generations to learn from..
good
I think this idea is fantastic
It is such an inovation and the planners should be commended!
Carpenter is only against it coz he didnt think of it first! Our government really needs to rethink things because from the public point of view this is amazing!
I wish all parties involved luck because all of Perth have thier fingers crossed it goes ahead!
:)
Great concept. WA has experienced an unprecedented boom in the economy. However you could hardly tell that we're doing well due to the government's reluctance to give the green light to innovative projects like this one.
Hopefully their vision for our future improves.
I'm hoping there will be a proper public consultation process where each person can be identified.
Instead of a bunch of corporate stooges writing comments with delibearate spelling mistakes to make it look like Ma and Pa Joe 4m tinny owner are actually agreeing to this ugly and stupid coastal development plan.
Oh look, the comments are moderated by the developers. Oh look, comments supporting the development overwhelming out number and comments against.
The real asset to Perth is the coast. Not the parasitic developments that people plan to put on it.
There are real beaches already. No need to make fake ones.
This is a scam to risk the currebt relaxed social environment and damage the dyanmics of the coast so a group of boardroom lugs can potentially sell real estate with ocean views.
The true forward thinkers in Perth are the ones who conserved natural tracts of bushland, wetlands, public open space along the river and coast. They are the assets that make Perth attractive to the residents when all the party goers and mining boom plastics have moved on to parasitise other places.
I must be one of the 'corporate stooges' some of you paranoid opponents think are behind every comment of this site.
actually I know for certain Nick is not behind this site, there are many different comapnies and invetsors behind the formation of the concept and while I can't account for some of them having their say (which as citizen's they have a right to), I can say that there is no 'conspiracy' behind positive letters.
I am suprised by the overwhelming number of positive responses.
I doubt you'll believe me though.
Housing: 'Affordable' apartment?
I can't afford a one bedroom studio at the Leighton Beach redevelopment next door.
Why will your affordable apartment be any more affordable when the market has already priced the same thing out of range?
I see you didn't publish my reply to Brett.
What's the point in having a forum, if you're going to pick and choose comments?
I say again, Brett supposes himself as a 'corporate stooge' and as such, gives his comments context.
love the name-calling: if you ask a question or raise an issue you are a "naysayer" or "negative" or "nimby" or "detractor"! the scale of this proposal is very large, the impacts in the area and environmentally would be considerable and these issues need to be explored and considered carefully. simply branding it "sustainable" doesn't make it so, unfortunately.
We are long time residents of East Fremantle and have just seen DVD delivered to friends in Fremantle. It looks great and we support your proposal. Carpenter and McGinty are acting like loudmouthed left-wing bullies.
Hopefully this development IF it goes ahead will cater for ALL segments of our society and NOT JUST THE RICH & FAMOUS.
I note that the cream of Perth's hoy palloy are signed up as investors.
Hopefully Peter newman will keep you on the straight and narrow.
D
Question: How can the vast majority of the housing NOT be exclusive/prestigious housing for the rich when the costs of building the islands will be astronomical, not to mention the cost of building the "promised" solar, wind, wave and sea bed thermal power stations to provide clean energy"? Despite their lofty and extravagent claims, the developers are not doing this out of the goodness of their heart or for the sake of the environment.
Lofty and extravagant???? North Port Quay offers the opportunity to provide a mix of housing types in line with outcomes sought by the State Government. In broad economic terms the availability of housing in a concept development of this type would ease demand on the wider housing market. Get a life!
Oh I see, Anonymous, promising a carbon-free residential development is not a lofty or extravagant claim??? Something that hasn't been done before in Australia or anywhere in the world, even on existing land. Promising solar, wind, wave and seabed thermal power generation is not a lofty or extravagant claim??? Again something that hasn't happened anywhere in Australia. Anyone not wet behind the ears will realise these claims are the equivalent of grandiose pre-election promises that will never come to fruition.
It all gets very confusing when everybody is Anonymous insulting Anonymous.
Which one's the crackpot and which one's the shill?
lofty promises may be - but whether they come to fruition or not does depend on community support and a narrow minded, loud mouthed minority all too often spoil developments in Perth whether they are the premier or anonymous.
Someone's got to be first to do these things, we've had a space race and an arms race - a 'green' race is probably the most useful yet.
how do you get the dvd?
Due to public demand our current supply has been exhausted but the video is available for download by clicking the above link
What about the live sheep export? Where are sheep farmers of WA meant to export their sheep from? Surely that is not compatible with the new lifestyle of the 10,000 rich people buying into the sustainable buildingsand canals you boast of-the smell will put them off. We have already watched corrupt government selling off Coogee beach so let's hope this time the ministers put a stop to this madness.By all means develop those derelict buildings near the port, but don't carve up the sea bed.
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