Windsor Hotel
13 January 2012
The amended design for the corner building (below) has been approved by Heritage Victoria. Report in The Age. Construction may commence by mid-2013.
16 June 2011
Not quite cornered. The Windsor Hotel owners have modified the design of the corner element in order to comply with Heritage Council ruling on height of corner building. The design of the imposing 27 storey tower to be constructed on the to-be-demolished rear section will however remain unchanged. Read report in The Age.
12 February
Ombudsman investigation into the probity of The Hotel Windsor redevelopment
Report in The Age by Melissa Fyfe
18 December 2010
'Finance hitch muddies Windsor revamp'
The Age reports that "doubts cloud the financial viability of the $260 million Windsor Hotel project". A redesign may be in the offing. More...
23 September 2010
Supreme Court rules against the Trust's appeal
After a year of advocating against the $260 million redevelopment of the Windsor Hotel, on Wednesday 22 September, the Trust lost its Supreme Court legal bid as the construction of a 91-metre tower and the demolition of parts of the historic hotel were given the 'go ahead'. The Trust went to the Supreme Court as a last measure to attempt to overturn a VCAT decision that a heritage permit was not required for the redevelopment. The Age reported CEO Martin Purslow saying that he believed that the ruling would help set a precedent allowing 100-metre buildings in the Windsor precinct. "It is clearly a political issue now and a political matter as to whether this tower should be allowed at the top end of town," he said. AAP 5 November 2010 and The Age 10 November 2010.
5 August
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The National Trust of Australia (Vic.) vs the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) will be heard at 10.00am on Friday 6 August 2010 at the Supreme Court. (Corner of Lonsdale and William Streets.) The Trust is seeking a review (under Administrative Law Act) of the VCAT decision that ruled that no appeal to the planning permit (for development of the historic Windsor Hotel) could be heard under the heritage overlay provisions of the Planning and Environment Act 1987. www.savethewindsor.com |
30 June 2010
On Friday 25 June the National Trust of Australia (Vic) made an Application to the Supreme Court for Review of a decision made by VCAT on 27 May 2010 in relation to the Hotel Windsor
VCAT has ruled that no permit is required under the Heritage Overlay for the development of the Windsor even if the development extends 26 stories into the air – and irrespective of the effect that this may have on the area as a whole, if it stays within the site’s current boundaries.
If VCAT is correct, the Trust has no right to object at VCAT to the merits of the proposed development (except to the limited extent that the proposed development extends outside the current Hotel’s boundary). In practice, this means that no-one in the decision making process is forced to take into account the effect of the proposed development on the whole of the Bourke Hill Heritage Precinct.
CEO for the Trust, Martin Purslow says: “The Supreme Court Application is the Trust’s ONLY opportunity to have the merits of the Windsor Hotel redevelopment tower heard by VCAT. We are a not for profit community group and the ONLY organistion that is pursuing a review of this matter.”
On 7 April, 2010 the Trust filed, with the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal under section 82 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987, an application for Review of the decision by the Minister for Planning for the Windsor Hotel redevelopment.
In early May, the Halim Group (the owner of the site) and Hotel Windsor Holdings Pty Ltd (the developer of the site) brought a ‘strike-out’ application to VCAT on “an issue of jurisdiction of an objector bringing an appeal” and requested that this matter be dealt with at a preliminary Practice Day hearing.
The VCAT directions hearing, held on 21 May, subsequently determined the there is no jurisdiction at VCAT to hear a merits appeal on heritage overlay grounds for that part of the proposed development that is within the current Hotel site, and that the Trust can only appeal the merits of the proposed ‘recreation stick’ which will protrude out over the Windsor Place Laneway to the rear. This was contrary to the opinion of the Minister’s department, the Department of Planning and Community Development, which was of the opinion that review rights existed under the heritage overlay.
The Trust is of the opinion that the decision is a matter of general importance involving the interpretation and operation of the Planning & Environment Act and its relationship of the Heritage Act and will have general application to other sites and other parties across the City of Melbourne and other municipalities.
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