MIYA - 37 Kerr Street, Fitzroy

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The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released its updated regional population growth figures on Wednesday and at 14,114 people per square kilometre, the Melbourne CBD sits as the second most densely populated area of the country behind Pyrmont-Ultimo in Sydney (15,117 people per square kilometre) .

Based on development underway and in the pipeline - in the sheer number of projects and the size of them - the Melbourne CBD is likely to be in pole position within 12-24 months.

The density statistics are based on the ABS' <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/88F6A0EDEB8879C0CA257801000C64D9">"SA2</a>" regions and the Melbourne CBD SA2 area is bounded by the Yarra, Flinders Street, Spring Street, Victoria Street, Peel/William Street, La Trobe Street and Spencer Street (refer to the lead image above).

The merits of eventually being the most densely populated part of Australia - using the ABS methodology - are likely to be contested, however the oncoming ascension to the premier position is notable given the state of affairs in Melbourne's CBD 30 years ago.

I wonder if the City of Melbourne would have thought it possible in the 1980s that their heartland was to one day become the country's most densely populated?

We've come a long way since the early days of postcode 3000.

On June 30th 2015, the population of Melbourne's CBD stood at 33,433 according to the ABS data and the area bounded by the streets and river mentioned above measures 2.4 square kilometres.

Looking ahead over the next five to ten years it's not going to be a gradual ascension to the top of the ABS' SA2 density league tables, it's more likely to be akin to a violent, out-of-control steamroller driven by an angry mob that is going to set the bar incredibly high.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/collins_st_5pm_ngv.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="John Brack's &quot;Collins Street, 5pm&quot; painted in 1955. Image via NGV"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="408" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/collins_st_5pm_ngv.jpg?itok=EFu9Znqn" title="John Brack's &quot;Collins Street, 5pm&quot; painted in 1955. Image via NGV" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>John Brack's "Collins Street, 5pm" painted in 1955. Image via <a href="http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/3161/">NGV</a></figcaption></figure>Consider the following.

We're tracking 68 residential, student accommodation or mixed-use projects on the Urban.com.au Project Database located within the Melbourne SA2 and they have a combined 27,000-30,000 dwellings.

18 of the projects are currently under construction which together will produce 6000-7000 dwellings. According to the <a href="http://melbournepopulation.geografia.com.au/areas/CLSA01">City of Melbourne</a>, the average household size in the CBD standas at 1.91 and is forecast to decrease to 1.44 over the longer term.

The number of dwellings under construction could equate to a further 8500 to 10,000 new residents when using the longer-term household size forecast, potentially boosting the total population to 42,000-43,500 and increasing the population density of 17,500-18,125.

11 projects have a sales campaign underway and that, in total, is another 5000 dwellings in the pipeline with the potential to provide space for 7,200 new residents.

The remaining 39 projects being assessed by council or the Minister and those that are already approved total 16,000-18,000 dwellings; creating enough living space for 23,000-26,000 new Melburnists.

Even if only half the projects in the pipeline - everything except what's currently under construction - were to eventually be built and tenanted, that's could equate to a further 15,000-17,000 new Melbourne CBD residents.

Doubling the population and therefore the population density of Melbourne's CBD over the next 5-10 years? It's very much realistic and the numbers above broadly correlate with the <a href="http://melbournepopulation.geografia.com.au/areas/CLSA01">City of Melbourne's own forecast</a>.

In ten years the population density of Melbourne's CBD is forecast to between 26,000 and 27,000 people per square kilometre, comparable with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10th_arrondissement_of_Paris">10th</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/14th_arrondissement_of_Paris">14th</a> arrondissements of Paris, and similar to the projections for the 'half-sized' Fishermans Bend based on <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/news/fishermans-bend-to-become-australias-most-densely-populated-area">public domain information from 2013</a>.

That's what I meant by it's going to be violent ascension above all other national peers. No wonder the Lord Mayor was keen to see 447 Collins and its new green space approved.
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Alastair Taylor

Melbourne CBD on course to be the most densely populated area in Australia

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It's very easy to assume that Melbourne is only building skyscrapers and high-rise towers in the inner city and low-density detached housing on the fringes.  Skyscraper proposals attract headlines across a wide range of media outlets but there's an equally huge story of Melbourne's current development scene that is easily overlooked.

What of the middle ground between skyscraper or sprawl?  There are in fact hundreds of small stature apartment projects in Melbourne's suburbs that are easily glossed over.

At the time of writing there are 983 projects listed on the Urban.com.au Project Database.  208 of those are made up of either 2, 3 or 4 floors and when combined contain over 7,000 dwellings across all phases of the development cycle: that is from planning to construction.

If the search criteria is expanded to include projects up to and including 5 floors, the total number of projects rockets up to 339 with over 12,000 dwellings in play.

The following (long!) list is every low-rise project with either 2, 3 or 4 floors that Urban.com.au is tracking on within our  <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/developments">Project Database</a>.  <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/">Data Portal</a> subscribers can pull this information directly by exporting the database and filtering through a spreadsheet program like Excel or OpenOffice Calc.

I'm going to let the database do the talking from this point on - so get off your mobile, turn your tablet to portrait layout or jump on a desktop/laptop: here's Melbourne's low-rise high-density story.
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Welcome to boom-town: Melbourne's low-rise high-density projects in one long list

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Walking through the back streets of Fitzroy not all that long ago with camera in tow, the visit provided an opportunity to observe the healthy number of apartment developments currently under construction. With most in the vicinity of Brunswick Street, a question sprung to mind; is Fitzroy losing its fine grain character due to the increasing number of apartment developments subsuming prime and/or historic sites?

Naturally my perspective is slanted toward built form and street level character, whereas the average visitor to the area would not in all likelihood spend the majority of their time on Brunswick Street thinking along the same lines as me. That the Brunswick Street nightlife, entertainment and fashion strip has to date been spared from development is perhaps the critical point to consider.

Very few apartment developments of any note have found themselves holding prime Brunswick Street frontage in recent times. Urban.com.au's project database shows the only current project as <a href="/new-apartments/fitzroy-vic-3065">422 Brunswick Street</a> which is seeking approval. City of Yarra's Planning Register shows the proponents of 422 Brunswick Street as still striving for approval after two years in planning..make of that what you will.

So interest moves to the back streets where the real action is happening. Do current Fitzroy apartment developments mimic those of other suburbs, or are they truly reflective of the unique surrounds?

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/image23.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Currently under construction in Fitzroy"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="304" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/image23.jpg?itok=uJ2tXp8m" title="Currently under construction in Fitzroy" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Currently under construction in Fitzroy</figcaption></figure>Clockwise above are <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/buildings/nojo-45-rose-street-fitzroy">Nojo,</a> <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/buildings/bespoke-fitzroy-81-argyle-street-fitzroy">Bespoke</a>, <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/buildings/district-160-argyle-street-fitzroy">District</a>, <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/buildings/george-corner-377-george-street-fitzroy">George Corner</a> and <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/buildings/miya-37-kerr-street-fitzroy">Miya</a>. What do that have in common aside from being under construction? They're all small to medium sized developments that have design character, which introduces a fresh dynamic to their surrounds.

The key with Fitzroy is minimising impact; small is good! There are 21 current Fitzroy listings in our project database and all are demure in size but generally highly design competent. Development of this scale certainly doesn't detract from Fitzroy's existing urban character given they are well designed, small-scale developments essentially surrounded by masses of existing, dated buildings of a similar scale.

There is one notable exception though. NKYA was complete over an entire Fitzroy block during 2011, with project architect Ivan Rijavec providing a <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/expert-insights/buying/ivan-rijavec-on-a-question-of-urban-character">spirited description</a> of both building and surrounds on Urban.com.au during 2013. While it has many varying facade elements to break its mass, NKYA for many represents the overdevelopment of Fitzroy. I appreciate the nuances of the design, but I'm not a fan of its scale and imposition upon surrounding streetscapes.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/image32.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="The next crop of Fitzroy projects"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="261" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/image32.jpg?itok=bQh-PW3m" title="The next crop of Fitzroy projects" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>The next crop of Fitzroy projects</figcaption></figure>Looking ahead the Fitzroy development pipeline is also laden with residential projects that fit the bill, as seen above with five diversely designed projects highlighted. Yet for mine the best is Room 11's recent scheme for the corner of Spring Street and Argyle Street. While the below image depicts the original design, a current resubmitted planning application has just completed it's public advertising period with City of Yarra.

Maintaining the eclectic nature of the area's built form is key to maintaining and dare I say enhancing the area's intrinsic character, otherwise Fitzroy would forever remain a museum showpiece. Room 11 have devised four visually distinct buildings in scale with their surrounds, plus the retention of historic facades to both frontages; this is solid design befitting the area!

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/hero-day_edit.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="The initial proposal for Argyle &amp; Spring. Image courtesy Room 11 "><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="362" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/hero-day_edit.jpg?itok=AiQt6TwN" title="The initial proposal for Argyle &amp; Spring. Image courtesy Room 11 " width="580"></a>

<figcaption>The initial proposal for Argyle &amp; Spring. Image courtesy Room 11</figcaption></figure><blockquote>
Celebrating the fine grain of Fitzroy with simple, abstracted forms, four distinct mini towers are proposed rather than a single monolithic “wedding cake”.

The project seeks to amplify the fine grain nature of the site and surrounds and provide density which does not impact internal or surrounding amenity. The development sits between infill and landmark – a hybrid condition which is clearly defined via the breakup of the building into distinct blocks separated by ‘lane way’ voids.

These voids increase the ability to provide a greater internal amenity and allow the continuation of the fine grain found throughout the area. Utilising existing buildings on site and the vacant corner, we celebrate the fine grain of Fitzroy with simple, abstracted forms, Four distinct mini towers, rather than a single monolithic “wedding cake”.
<cite><a href="http://room11.com.au/projects/fitzroy-apartments/">Fitzroy Apartments, Room 11 website</a></cite>
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<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/img_0103.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Tower cranes numbers are on the rise in Fitzroy"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="256" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/img_0103.jpg?itok=CVqSlOI8" title="Tower cranes numbers are on the rise in Fitzroy" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Tower cranes numbers are on the rise in Fitzroy</figcaption></figure>When you tend to walk about a certain area for a long enough period, changes to an area's feel and composition become quite discernable. Does Fitzroy's existing built form and character suffer with the introduction of the new in recent years? I'd contend no it does not.

In fact I'd assert Fitzroy in many ways leads all other areas of Melbourne in terms of progressive, appropriate apartment design. City of Yarra look to have done a solid job of overseeing the gradual implementation of many new a apartment project in Fitzroy, with retention of local character to the forefront.

Small and varied, this 'mosquito squadron' of contemporary development is bringing a new dynamic to Fitzroy's back streets without compromising the abundant character that has been created over many decades.
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MIYA

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Melbourne CBD on course to be the most densely populated area in Australia

Welcome to boom-town: Melbourne's low-rise high-density projects in one long list

Is Fitzroy losing its built form character to apartment development?

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