A 2016 planning code designed to limit skyscrapers in Melbourne’s CBD is instead encouraging developers to build more offices, despite a glut of commercial spaces and a desperate need for more housing in an affordability crisis.
Then-planning minister Richard Wynne, embarking on sweeping planning changes, had set out to establish a transparent framework for building in the city after a period of intensive development. “Regrettably, in my opinion, the government decided to include offices,” Spiller said. “I think it was wrongheaded.”
Melbourne now has an oversupply of ageing office buildings after COVID-19 restrictions encouraged CBD workers to stay home. And while the code is incentivising the construction of new offices, the state government has suggested a willingness to help turn underused offices into apartments in response to the housing crisis.