25 May 2015

For years, the Herdsman Glendalough Area and the Stirling City Centre have been synonymous with car based showrooms and bulky retail, service industry, car yards and the occasional office building. Scarborough Beach Road itself is a busy, car-based thoroughfare that provides a necessary link between the vibrant inner city areas of North Perth and Mount Hawthorn, the Innaloo shopping centre and Scarborough Beach.

Herdsman Glendalough is now on the cusp of a transformation to a mixed use precinct characterised by office development, new commercial and retail opportunities, and the introduction of residential living. Herdsman Glendalough is unique in that:

Several landholdings are in common ownership, or are very large
Developers have identified that redevelopment is feasible, with several office building projects already underway or completed
The proximity to the Perth CBD lends it to have a competitive advantage to other metropolitan centres such as Fremantle, Midland, or Joondalup
Existing bus services operate along Scarborough Beach Road, with bus interchanges at Stirling Station and Glendalough Station on the Joondalup railway line
Proximity to established residential suburbs such as Scarborough, Doubleview, Karrinyup and Wembley
The State Government’s 2031 Public Transport Strategy identifies Scarborough Beach Road as a future route for rapid public transit

Indeed, the Joint Development Assessment Panel has overseen several large-scale developments nearby, with several 20-storey buildings in the pipeline in the Stirling City Centre. When visiting the area you can appreciate the constantly changing skyline that is taking shape. Several large developers are investing in this area, which is a reflection of the industry’s confidence in the area’s potential.

Of course, this transformation has been the subject of strategic planning at a regional and local level. The Scarborough Beach Road Activity Corridor Framework was prepared by the Western Australian Planning Commission and it brought a holistic view, from Scarborough through to North Perth. This was essential in establishing the character of each discernible section of the road, including around Innaloo-Stirling and Herdsman Glendalough.

The City of Stirling has also embarked on a comprehensive strategic approach to this area as a large-scale redevelopment opportunity to bring in additional employment opportunities, regeneration, and most importantly, residents. Working with Taylor Burrell Barnett and in collaboration with Jacobs, EPCAD and GHD, the City of Stirling has adopted for advertising the:

Together, these documents knit together the statutory planning framework behind the intensification of land use along Scarborough Beach Road, having regard to the aspirational employment and development targets within Herdsman Glendalough and the challenge of providing appropriate medium rise development along Scarborough Beach Road West, through established residential areas.

The City’s encouragement for more intensive redevelopment is two-fold. Firstly, the intensification of development brings with it improved redevelopment opportunities, which can incentivize and catalyse redevelopment at an earlier and potentially more rapid rate that would otherwise be expected from a business as usual approach. Secondly, through intensification and improved redevelopment opportunities and feasibility, the City aims to source funding to help contribute towards important community infrastructure, including:

Upgrading existing parks, and developing new public open space reserves, and providing new public plazas;
Widening of Scarborough Beach Road to between 30 and 42 metres in order to upgrade the road for including dedicated transit lanes (for buses or future conversion to light rail), relocation of services, street tree planting, on-street parking, and cycling;
New road connections to improve the permeability of the blocks and improving the walkability of the area.

The days of segregating employment from housing are over; and Herdsman Glendalough serves as a city-building example for other inner metropolitan areas in terms of how the integration of land use planning, transport planning, and local leadership can help to deliver better communities for our future generations. In turn, the intensification of development along Scarborough Beach Road West will also ensure that road widening is achievable, by offsetting land lost from properties by increasing development yield.

TBB is excited to continue working with the City of Stirling on these important projects as they continue to progress through towards implementation.

Learn more about the Herdsman Glendalough Project here

Transforming Herdsman Glendalough Perth’s second CBD

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