$160m facelift for East Perth site creates jobs
- Perth company to develop former Chemlabs site in East Perth
- Project to generate 250 jobs and more than $160 million investment
- Another step forward for the Riverside project
Local developer Diploma Properties Pty Ltd has been selected as the preferred proponent to transform the former Chemistry Centre site at East Perth into a mixed-use development with more than 200 apartments, dining venues and shops.
Planning Minister John Day said Diploma’s proposal demonstrated high-quality design and integration of the heritage building on the 5,335 square metre site, which will remain a prominent feature of this new urban precinct at Lot 101 Hay Street.
“The State Government earmarked this site as the key location for essential amenities and services that will cater for the new population within the Riverside project and surrounding areas,” Mr Day said.
The Minister said Riverside was rapidly transforming the eastern gateway to the city, creating a new riverfront destination and injecting billions of dollars of investment into WA’s economy.
“This development is expected to create 250 jobs and is an investment of more than $160 million to the State by Diploma,” he said.
The proposal includes a 16-storey apartment tower and roof-top ‘sky gardens’ offering views of the neighbouring Queens Gardens.
The Material Sciences red-brick heritage building will be adapted to provide an entry to a bustling ‘little eats street’, offering dining and shopping along a laneway from Hay Street to De Vlamingh Avenue.
Negotiations are under way by Diploma to secure a major supermarket retailer for the main 1,500sqm tenancy.
“The Government went to the market looking for a supermarket that could service the hundreds of new residents living in East Perth and working in new office developments in the area,” Mr Day said.
The sale of Lot 101 Hay Street is due to be finalised by mid-2015, with final development plans to then be considered. Construction is due to start in 2016.
Fact File
- The former Chemistry Centre at Lot 101 Hay Street was built in 1942.
- The development plans pay homage to this heritage by retaining the Material Sciences building and a hexagonal design feature that also provides shade
- Work to prepare the site for development began in February 2015, with dilapidated buildings to be removed by mid-2015 (excluding the heritage building)
Source: News Release, Government of Western Australia, 28 February, 2015