Brisbane rapidly changing in $6255M building boom

Press, 2 June 1984, Page 19

Brisbane rapidly changing in $6255M building boom

Brisbane accounts for its continuing economic boom largely on the success of the 1982 Commonwealth Games held in the city. It is hardly surprising that it is now preparing a bid for the 1992 Olympic Games. ROD DEW, who recently visited the city, reports on Brisbane’s optimism and confidence in the future.

If the world-wide economic recession has touched Brisbane in any significant way, it is not readily apparent to the casual observer. Australia’s “Sunshine City” shows few signs of losing the impetus of the spectacular business and building boom associated with the holding of the Commonwealth Games in September, 1982. A taxi driver at the wheel of a new Falcon car might paint a dismal picture of rising prices and unemployment during the $9 ride into the city centre from the Brisbane International Airport, but in relation to what is happening elsewhere, Brisbane is still riding high. Development projects worth more than $6255 million are either already under way or in the pipeline, according to statistics prepared by the Brisbane City Council. Concrete evidence appears in the numbers of giant cranes rising above the city’s rapidly changing skyline. Less than two years ago, at the time of the Commonwealth Games, the council had approved projects worth $4865 million — a figure which then prompted the city treasurer to metaphorically rub his hands with satisfaction. Now that figure has been surpassed, and is rising by the week. The enormous economic momentum generated by this will keep Brisbane humming along for some years, although a small note of discord has been sounded in the annual building application statistics. Last year, new building applications fell from a total value of $750 million in 1982 to $590 million. But this is still the secondbiggest figure in Brisbane’s history and there is ample reason for regarding it as no more than an economic hiccup. Business confidence remains strong and is reflected in the continuing population growth. Greater Brisbane, an area covering 1220 square kilometres, was home for slightly more than a million people two years ago. Now there are a million and a half in the same area. Brisbane City, itself, has increased by 25,000, to 755,000, since 1982. “There has been tremendous migration from other states,” says the Brisbane Lord Mayor’s press secretary, Mr Larry Pettigrew. “It has slowed slightly, but the population of Queensland continues to increase much more rapidly than other states.” The catalyst for Brisbane’s prosperity was the Commonwealth Games and the major international cultural festival held in association with them. This is freely acknowledged. The venue of any major international games almost inevitably experiences an economic uplift. The difference in Brisbane is that it has been able to maintain economic and construction activity as the memory of the Commonwealth Games drifts into obscurity. Several detailed studies have been made on the effects of the Commonwealth Games on Brisbane, and all agree that they injected some $417 million into the Brisbane economy, generated thousands of jobs, and gave tourism a huge lift. “We are still feeling the effects of the Games — no question about it,” says Mr Pettigrew. “They put

the city on the map.” However, the greatest benefit of the Games, according to Mr Pettigrew, is a new-found pride that residents have in Brisbane. The general sprucing up of the city through the “Shine on Brisbane” campaign has carried on. People are keeping their properties tidy, planting trees, landscaping, and generally trying to improve their environment. The City Council offered every ratepayer two free trees a year in the years leading up to the Games. This proved so successful that the council has continued the programme. Up to half a million trees will be given away this year and by 1988 the council believes that Brisbane will be the “greenest city in Australia.” There is even a new pride in historical buildings, and their preservation. A “Heritage Trail” has been established and visitors to the city can follow it past some 39 historic buildings, from the magnificent Corinthian columns of the Brisbane City Hall in King George Square to the Commissariat Stores, built by convict labour in 1829. A brochure has been prepared describing the buildings, and the trail has been marked by bright yellow arrows painted on the footpaths. Brisbane’s Lord Mayor, Aiderman Roy Harvey, has actively campaigned for the preservation of Brisbane’s historic buildings. “It is important at this point in the development of Brisbane to identify those places that are of most significance while they still exist and to ensure their protection.” At the same time, Aiderman Harvey concedes that it is not possible or practicable to retain all the old buildings in the central

business district. This would seriously limit the future development and would be detrimental to the future vitality and viability of the city, he adds. Compromises are sometimes reached. One recent example resolved a conflict of interests between preserving the old Central Railway Station and making use of the valuable site for high-rise development. The council agreed to a proposal for a 420-room Sheraton Hotel to be built over the station, but only on the understanding that the Victorian facade and clock tower of the old station, erected in 1901, was retained and restored. The result: a new international hotel now soars above the railway station, bringing new meaning to Brisbane residents of the old pop song, “The Railway Runs Through the Middle of the House.” The hotel foundations straddle the lines, and the remodelled interior of the railway station is, in part, the basement of the hotel. This has been an expensive exercise. The hotel has cost in excess of $B3 million — and millions more have been sunk into the restoration of the facade of the railway station and the rebuilding of the interior. But everybody is happy with the result. The hotel, bearing the giant “S” of the Sheraton group, will open in July; below it, in the worlds of the old song, it says “The trains are right on time.” The Sheraton is the second international hotel in Brisbane. The first was the Crest, completed in 1982. Now, a third, which will carry the Hilton label, is on the drawing board and has a scheduled completion date of December, 1986. Designed as a centre-piece of the Kern Corporation’s $125 million

second stage of the Wintergarden Centre, the new Hilton will rise 17 storeys above Queen Street. But it will be set back so that it does not overshadow the City Mall in part of Queen Street. Similar in concept to the City Mall in Christchurch, the development of the Queen Street mall was. initially, a modernisation project loosely tied in with the Commonwealth Games. The mall cost more than $2.8 million, but it has added so much vitality to the city centre that plans are in hand to extend it. “We want to give the streets back to the people,” says Mr Pettigrew. “They are more important than cars.” Brisbane has experienced no problems with the closing off to traffic of part of Queen Street in the central business area; while the viability of shops in the central business area has improved markedly. More than 100,000 people enter the central business area every day and more than 40,000 of these are shoppers. The advent of the mall concept has certainly not prompted any development restraint. Brisbane, interstate, and international development companies have enough confidence in the future to invest $lll2 million in the central business district. This figure includes about $347 million in major developments now close to completion, $486 million worth of commercial projects now under construction, and a further $278 million in planned developments likely to proceed this year. All this will take place in the area bounded by George and Turbot Streets and the Brisbane River. One of the largest city centre developments to be started recently is the Lend Lease Corpora-

tion’s Riverside Centre in Eagle Street. On a site of two hectares, with a 200-metre river frontage, the new building of 36 office floors will be the tallest in Brisbane. The estimated cost will be $2BO million. Thirty other major building projects have either begun or are about to be started, in the central area of Brisbane — a property development expansion the like of which the city has never experienced before. Nevertheless, it would be foolish to accept that the only shadows in Brisbane are cast by tall buildings. Brisbane cannot protect itself from the price rises experienced elsewhere in Australia, and the national economic downturn has been felt in the tightening up of the job market. Brisbane has found the need to participate in the national wage pause employment scheme. Under this programme, approved local government job creation projects for older, disadvantaged, unemployed people are funded 50 per cent by the Brisbane City Council. 25 per cent by the Queensland State Government, and 25 per cent by the Federal Government. Approved job creation projects for people less than 25 years old are paid for entirely by the Federal Government. In 1983, the Brisbane City Council spent more than $1.6 million on wage pause projects; this year the figure is expected to rise to nearly $lO million. Less than a fortnight ago, the Queensland State Government approved a 13 per cent rise in the price of domestic electricity. This will raise the average household bill by about $B6 a year, to $BO6. Consumer groups are predicting a long, cold winter for low-income earners. Strong efforts are being made to limit the effects of the world’s recession, and the success of these so far is remarkable. There is a general atmosphere of optimism; an almost enthusiastic confidence in the future. Brisbane is unquestionably the city of the 1980 s, at least as far as Australia is concerned.