Angela Bennett’s private company AMB Holdings has cleared a planning hurdle for its $20 million office move to another western suburb.
Angela Bennett’s private company AMB Holdings has cleared a planning hurdle for its $20 million office move to another western suburb.
The Metro Inner-North Joint Development Assessment Panel today unanimously approved AMB Holdings’ development application to build an office and residential hub on 126 Railway Street, near Swanbourne Station.
AMB Holdings is the investment vehicle for Mrs Bennett, the daughter of the late mining pioneer Peter Wright.
The company’s office was located in Peppermint Grove but is now based on Rokeby Road, Subiaco.
The proposed hub, to be built on the corner of Railway and Congdon streets, comprises a two-storey office with external terraces and basement, and a four-bedroom apartment in the residential component.
Despite the unanimous approval, the JDAP spent nearly two hours ironing out concerns over potential noise levels at its meeting today.
The development application, prepared by Allerding & Associates, said the office component would accommodate existing AMB staff of 40 people with the building designed to ultimately house up to 80 staff.
AMB Holdings' proposed development on Railway Street. Image: Fitzpatrick + Partners via JDAP document
The hub will include an amphitheatre with tiered seating, private communal facilities in the basement, being a gym and sauna, and a 12-bay carpark.
JDAP presiding member Lee O’Donohue said the amphitheatre posed a potential noise issue, with it being a gathering space.
“It is an office use, it’s not a residential situation. I can’t predict what will happen but… we can’t necessarily control human voices and the volume they may reach in particular situations,” she said.
“I’m not confident with the noise management plan at this time.”
JDAP presiding member Francesca Lefante also briefly questioned the size of the private recreational facilities, which includes a float tank, massage equipment, and sauna.
“This is huge and different, I haven’t seen [this] for a non-public space,” she said at the meeting.
The applicant confirmed the amphitheatre and other communal facilities would not be open to the general public.
The proposal received unanimous support from panel members despite the robust discussion on noise levels, with the applicant to submit a noise management plan to the Town of Cottesloe as one of the conditions of the approval.
The proposed hub to house AMB Holdings' staff. Image: Fitzpatrick + Partners via JDAP document
AMB Holdings is also pursuing a Living Building Challenge certification for sustainability for the Swanbourne hub, with the civic pavillion portion or roof component to be decked with solar tiles.
If approved, the AMB hub would be the first development in Western Australia and the third in Australia to receive the global certification.
Residents of the apartment on the second level of the hub will be AMB staff, the application said.
Site history
Despite being a stone’s throw from Swanbourne station, the 1,475-square metre site is within the Town of Cottesloe’s boundary.
AMB Holdings’ proposal is the third development application for the site since 2019, according to the development application.
“It’s a very complex site, it has a long history since it’s been rezoned,” the town’s senior planning officer Ed Drewett said.
Swanbourne Village Trust received approval for its $10 million development, named the Ilios project, for the Railway Street site in early 2019.
The project was spearheaded and designed by Ecotect founder and Wise Earth director Garry Baverstock.
The Ilios project was expected to be completed by late 2021 but the lot remained vacant.
Data from CoreLogic shows AMB Holdings bought the site from Wise Earth for $3.6 million in mid-2020, and its development application was submitted in March this year.
Cedar Woods is also progressing a market-led proposal named Swanbourne Village Project, with a masterplan of the area immediately around Swanbourne Station being prepared.
