Architects challenge foreshore plan

PARALLEL WORDS: The City Gatekeeper's alternative development for the Swan River. Source: PerthNow

PERTH would have its own version of Melbourne's Federation Square on the Swan River under an alternative to the controversial waterfront project.

The plan would also see apartment towers built on a curved wharf along Riverside Drive, a floating stage for theatre productions and floating Olympic-sized swimming pools built in the Swan River.

The City Gatekeepers, a group of urban planners and architects fighting the Barnett Government's "flawed" project, today unveils what it says is a far better concept.

The lobby group, headed by Australian Institute of Urban Studies WA chairman Linley Lutton, sparked fresh debate with an 11th-hour bid for the development to be scrapped last month.

The group is at odds with the Government's plans to dig up the Esplanade to create an inlet and divert Riverside Drive, which it says will cause "traffic chaos".

Instead, Dr Lutton said the waterfront should be developed between Barrack St and the Narrows Bridge, with a focus on "returning civic value" to the city.

"It's a much better site because you can position the buildings to protect the site from wind, we're not touching Riverside Drive, you're getting sun through the whole development and it's right on the natural river, not built around an inlet," he said.

"The Government's project is a commercially driven project, where ours is a community and culturally driven project.

"We're providing civic value, like museums, art galleries and performing arts."

The group's proposal includes plans for a "Perth version" of Melbourne's Federation Square in front of the Esplanade and a new museum.

But Planning Minister John Day has rejected the group's last-minute redesign and said that after more than 20 years of debate work would go ahead in April.

Funding had been committed and the Government had opened expressions of interest for a waterfront hotel development.

"It is too late for a complete re-think of the Perth Waterfront project," Mr Day said.

"Dr Lutton's plan includes no development north of Riverside Drive, which means keeping the Esplanade and four lanes of traffic between the city and the river. This is actually increasing the barrier between the city and the river and would be worse than no development at all."

Details of the long-awaited $440 million waterfront were released last year, with plans to create an inlet on the Esplanade, linking the CBD to the river.

Committee for Perth chief executive Marion Fulkner said she supported debate, but the lobby group's plans had come too late and people were "totally fatigued by the whole discussion".

Dr Lutton said it was irresponsible of the Government to pursue a "second-rate" development.

He expects as many as 6000 people to back the plan when the City Gatekeepers hold a public rally on the Perth foreshore next Sunday.

The group has also gathered thousands of signatures on a petition, which will be presented to parliament on March 6.

WHAT THE GOVERNMENT IS DOING

- A 10ha development with a 2.8ha inlet

- A "water square" with access for private boats and public ferries

- A hotel

- Apartments and short-stay accommodation

- Commercial space

- A jetty with boat moorings

- A Stage

- A landscaped island in the centre of the inlet

- A bridge providing access for pedestrians and cyclists to the island

- Cafes, bars and restaurants

WHAT THE CITY GATEKEEPERS WANT

- Keep the Esplanade and Riverside Drive intact

- A "land bridge" over Riverside Drive connecting the Esplanade to the river.

- Floating public swimming pools

- Apartment buildings no higher than 10 storeys

- Apartments on a curved finger wharf in the river

- A hotel on the water's edge

- Floating public swimming pools

- A floating performing arts stage

- A museum, modern art gallery and Indigenous cultural centre

- Jetty and boat pens

- Cafes, bars and restaurants

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Architects challenge foreshore plan