A proposed apartment complex at the former Ford Motors and Matilda Bay brewery site has been revised after a panel was unable to decide on its fate last year.
A proposed apartment complex at the former Ford Motors and Matilda Bay brewery site in North Fremantle has been revised after a panel was unable to decide on its fate last year.
Leederville-based Parcel Property, on behalf of landowner Chinese developer 3 Oceans Property, submitted plans for an apartment complex titled The Assembly in mid-2022.
The application was lodged with the Metro Inner-South Joint Development Assessment Panel with a $185 million price tag in June but amended plans were then submitted to the City of Fremantle in September.
Amended designs by COX Architecture show an increase in the 16-storey tower to 20 storeys, and the 11-storey tower to 15 storeys with a reduction in the number of apartments from 207 to 198.
A deferral was issued to iron out issues on vehicle movement, road upgrades, insufficient affordable housing and a shortfall in parking, following a JDAP meeting that ran for more than three hours in November.
The most recent application prepared by Rowe Group said the scale and form of the development had been revised again, with the car parking requirement reduced from 548 to 436 bays.
“Both podiums have dropped in scale [from] five to three levels this will further reduce downdraft,” the application said.
COX Architecture creative director Steve Woodland said the major ambition was always for the primary heritage structures to be in the public realm instead of being privatised.
"These heritage structures engage directly with a raft of community experiences and offerings," he said.
"The administration wing will be fully conserved in its original footprint, with the upper horizon terrace dramatically reduced in size and scale. This has offset some of the lower ground basement parking to generate far greater deep soil to the public domain."
"The significant reduced podium to Coventry Parade has also been substantially setback 15 metres from the boundary creating greater invitation into the courtyard allowing full expression of the double volume factory eastern facade and a generous alfresco space for local community along Coventry Parade.
"There has been substantial reduction in podium heights, resulting also in reduction of apartment dwellings, increased diversification of living typology and one-bedroom affordable units increased to create greater living diversity."
Other design changes include proposed construction of a dedicated and protected bike path in addition to pedestrian routes and a cascading amphitheatrical set of promenade stairs from Coventry Parade, according to Mr Woodland.
Mr Woodland said the Matilda Bay Brewery development had made significant improvements to the design to respond to all the local governments and community engagement consultation.
The 2.9-hectare site, on the border of North Fremantle and Mosman Park, was sold to 3 Oceans Property for $39.6 million in 2014.
The developer is also behind an ongoing attempt to build a development at the corner of West Coast Highway and Scarborough Beach Road in Scarborough, which has gone back to the drawing board several times.
It was also the former home of Ford Motor Company’s manufacturing facility, which was built in 1929.
The site was sold to Alan and John McGillivray in 1987 and has been known as the Matilda Bay Brewery site when one of Australia's first craft breweries started its production in the building two years later.
Parcel Property is part of ABN Group, which includes Dale Alcock Homes and Webb & Brown-Neaves.
