Infill Development Report

Improved integration of land use and transport planning and more specifically, encouraging higher population density around designated transit corridors (such as the Main Road Transit Corridor and the growth of major urban centres), are key planks in the Tasmanian Urban Passenger Transport Framework.

The PricewaterhouseCoopers 2013 reports on the Hobart Light Rail Proposal also identified the need to increase urban density, particularly on key public transport corridors.

Increasing urban renewal opportunities in the form of higher residential densities and mixed use along key public transport corridors and close to urban centres will make it more cost effective to deliver high quality public transport services to a greater proportion of the population, thereby increasing access and reducing car dependency.

The Infill Development Report was undertaken as a consultancy by Pitt&Sherry and Hill PDA. The project was partly funded by the State Government with contributions from the Southern Tasmanian Councils Authority (STCA), Kingborough, Glenorchy and City of Hobart Councils.

• Infill Development within Greater Hobart - Stage 1 Final Report (PDF 3MB)
• Infill Development within Greater Hobart - Stage 2 Final Report (PDF 2MB)

Stage One

The Stage One Report included identification of barriers and drivers to infill development, the key findings were:

• The current demand for infill development is based on proximity and convenient access to the Hobart CBD.
• The cost of assembling land packages, construction costs and difficulty obtaining finance together with the risk of delay due to planning issues make infill development in areas other than Hobart CBD risky with low return on investment.
• Greenfield development is often seen as simpler for the developer, with lower costs and a lower level of risk. It is also seen as affordable by the market.
• Hobart has low levels of population growth which affects the demand for development.
• There need to be policy changes to make infill development more cost effective for developers.

Stage Two

The Stage Two Report identified:

Conditions to enable infill development within Greater Hobart including macro and micro economic conditions, creating market certainty and infrastructure provision. Policy changes required to significantly increase levels of infill development. The recommendations included:

• Designate a priority area for renewal: Designate the corridor from Hobart CBD to Glenorchy as a priority area for infill development.
• Undertake a comprehensive strategic planning process: The development of structure plans for priority infill areas can assist in a smoother development approval process.
• Apply supply-side interventions: stimulating infill development by lowering some of the barriers such as improving development feasibility and creating efficient planning approvals.
• Apply demand-side interventions: to stimulate the demand for infill development such as improving public transport, creating attractive and highly liveable communities and ensuring housing diversity.
• Apply governance structure most likely to achieve desired outcomes: A governance model is required to facilitate infill development by implementing the recommendations above and providing a combination of leadership, facilitation and implementation.

What next?

The Department of State Growth will work with the relevant Councils to progress the findings from the Infill Development Report.