The latest Victorian advocacy and policy updating including new Apartment Standards information, our submission to DELWP on environmentally sustainable development and more.
NEW APARTMENT STANDARDS INFORMATION SESSION
An invitation has been generously extended to the Institute’s Victorian Chapter members by the Planning Institute of Australia (per PIA-Vic) to their VIC Briefing: Better Apartments Design Standards Update being run on Zoom from 1:00pm to 2:00pm on Friday 19 March. Register here.
Further information on the updated design standards, including video material and the 148-page draft Apartment Design Guidelines for Victoria can be found here.
INSTITUTE MEMBER SURVEY ON NEW APARTMENT GUIDELINES AND STANDARDS
Victorian Chapter members (and members, where relevant, from other Chapters) are invited and strongly encouraged to provide their feedback and questions about the new Victorian Apartment Design Guidelines and Standards via a survey hosted in our Victorian Chapter Survey Monkey account. The purpose of the survey is to provide a robust evidence base for advocacy back to the Victorian Government about our members’ perceptions and questions about the new guidelines and standards. Submit your response here.
Please also note that the Victorian Chapter is currently liaising with DELWP about a further information session planned for April. Your feedback and questions provided via the survey will help inform the session.
VICTORIAN CHAPTER SUBMISSION TO DEWLP ON ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Key positions of this recent submission, prepared with the input of SAF were to:
- Support the broad reform objectives in relation to key themes of:
- Energy;
- Water use efficiency and storm water management;
- Noise and air pollution;
- Waste minimisation, management and recycling;
- Active and public transport and
- Greening and cooling of urban spaces, landscaping and biodiversity
- Make a call for design review panels to counter balance ‘box-ticking’ planning application processes and avoid costly and delaying VCAT reviews as the ESD Roadmap has an important component that is to be delivered through changes to the Victorian Planning Provisions. This is similar to the position that we recently also put to Infrastructure Victoria in our submission on Victoria’s 30-year Infrastructure Plan.
- Add emphasis about the need to retain planning provisions that relate to Indoor Environmental Quality as distinct from distance separations and planning controls on existing sources of noise and air pollution.
A copy of the submission can be downloaded here.