EIGHTY-ACRE ROOF.

Otago Witness, Issue 3912, 5 March 1929, Page 23

EIGHTY-ACRE ROOF.

GREAT MELBOURNE PLAN.

£4,000,009 ADDED WEALTH.

SYDNEY, February 21. For more than 40 years, Mr J. A. Smith, the framer of the city of Melbourne's building regulations, has been hammering away at a scheme for roofing the great railway yards at the railway centre at Flinders street. Now, with the offer of one English and four Australian syndicates, he believes that there is a possibility of the work being undertaken, and that Melbourne is on the threshold of the most remarkable development in its civic history. The roofing of the railway yards would add 80 acres to- Melbourne and the sponsor of the scheme believes, and is prepared to prove that, far from being a costly undertaking, it would be carried out at a huge profit. The added area, he says, would show’ a profit of at least £625 a foot. Everyone agrees that the present site is an eyesore, although the area which surrounds it constitutes the finest environment* within the metropolitan area. The natural conformation of the area makes it possible to construct a platform over the yards.’ Beneath the platform all the functions of the metropolitan station, virtually underground and hidden, could be effectively conducted. Above the pla* ’ >rm, the area created by its its construction could be added as an integral part to the most valuable portion of the city. It is explained that the roofing of the yards would make possible the extension of the roads and streets now abruptly terminated by the railway yards, thus releasing traffic at present forced into the bottle neck of Swanston street formed by Princes Bridge. At least three blocks could be added to the city on thjj Flinders street frontage alone, with a total frontage exceeding 6000 feet, and of a value avera^m 0 * more than £6OO a foot. Assuming that the platform was extended to the river road, an additional 2090 feet frontage would be obtained with an outlook upon the river and the Botanical Gardens. Where the well-known Prince’s Bridge stands, before the white man arrived, aborigines crossed the river at a native ford. At the same place the colonists established a punt, then a modern bridge, then a stone arch, and then the present steel bridge. To that centre of all the main streets of the city and all traffic avenue converge. Trams accentuated the congestion. The railways stations were adjacent to the bridge, and Melbourne thus became a city °of arterial communications radiating from a common point—the old crossing place of the blacks.

The value of the area now given up to minor railway purposes is declared on a conservative estimate to be worth £2,500,000. The estimated net profit on the portion of the roofing sclieme is put down at more than £4,000,000. All he area to be covered if the scheme is carried out will not be required for railway purposes, and it is proposed to provide a great parking area for 20,000 motor cars, a facility badly needed with the great growth of motor t .flic. There is a suggestion that the tops of the buildings to be erected on the platform could be transformed into aerodromes, but this is a matter that could be given attention later. It is a novel and ambitious scheme.