Demolition of the Red Hill public housing precinct to begin in August

The demolition of the Red Hill public housing precinct will begin next week.

Deputy director-general of the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate Brett Phillips said the first stage of the work will involve the removal of hazardous material prior to structural demolition.

The 53,600-square-metre former public housing site will be replaced with a 252-dwelling precinct comprising 108 single residential blocks, four multi-unit sites, as well as public domain spaces.

Mr Phillips said four community workshops informed the design of the plan.

“The final approved estate development plan sets out the subdivision layout and block sizes of the development, as well as height limits for each area, which are lower in some cases than what is permitted by the Territory Plan,” Mr Phillips said.

“A key focus has been maintaining the character of the area with six green spaces at the heart of the precinct, connected by a pedestrian network that enables immediate and surrounding residents to move around the site.

“A feature of the plan is Lady Nelson Park as the central focus of the community, which will add to the area’s landscaping and greenery.”

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Red Hill Residents Group chairperson Melissa Bennett said the community was pleased with the final plans for the site, but there were some “trust issues” around the final result.

“The concern remains will this be followed through – will the community get what they worked hard to agree on, or will there be scope for developers to make changes as they wish?” Ms Bennett said.

“If this does turn our positively we will be advocates for the consultation process that was used, because on the face of things, it worked well.”

The approved plans were a revision of 2015 plans for about 550 apartments and other homes to replace the 144 public housing units.

Following strong community protest, the government more than halved the planned number of dwellings.

The sales method for the site will be announced later this year.

Demolition works are expected to be completed by March 2018.

Mr Phillips said measures have been put in place to limit any impact on residents, including defined working hours, management of dust, restricting all contractor parking to the site, and truck movement routes.

He said local residents would be regularly updated on the progress of the works.