HILL SMART ENERGY PLAN NOW A BLURRED VISION
The Doncaster Hill Vision, “The Jewel In The Crown” of the failed 2030 program, originally hailed as a futuristic 21st century urban precinct with local investors expected to flock to it, is now being bailed out by foreign developers using their overseas intermediaries to sell small apartments.
Subterranean Apartments
Doncaster Hill Centre
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No Wind Turbines
No Solar Panels
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The following propaganda article published in 2009 by the Manningham Council, was to portray how a resident, living and working in Doncaster Hill, would describe their improved quality of daily life: “I wake up in the morning to views across metropolitan Melbourne, pleased with my contribution to the long term sustainability of this City because I live in
Subterranean Apartments Berkley Street Doncaster Hill Click to enlarge
a 6 star Green Star rated apartment with natural ventilation and daylight, made from materials with low embodied energy, high efficiency lighting and appliances and a sense of community among my neighbours as we monitor our own energy usage through smart meters installed inside the front door of our apartments.
I love the fact we don’t need air conditioning and we can log onto the internet and see how our building and precinct is performing in the Doncaster Hill sustainable housing rewards program. As I leave for work I marvel at how attractive the outside of my building looks, much like apartment buildings outside Doncaster Hill, yet it is the workhorse for powering our building.
The integrated solar photovoltaic panels form part of the glazing and wall cladding, capturing energy from the sun and converting it to electricity.
On occasion we need to draw 100 per cent Green Power from the grid, but generally all our power comes from our solar panels, or better still we sell our excess power back to the electricity company with the proceeds going towards resident barbecues or our recent roof top garden improvements.
Today I’m walking to work because the weather is pleasant. However, I’m glad I live in Doncaster Hill, home to Melbourne’s largest bus transport interchange, and I can easily catch the bus to work, the city and across town via the orbital bus route to Dandenong, Greensborough, Footscray, Ringwood and Frankston (to name a few) with the seamless transition between bus, train, tram and cycling networks. I ditched my car years ago!
Heading down Doncaster Road I check the Doncaster Hill community energy meter which shows how much energy is being generated by the distributed energy facilities in Doncaster Hill, including: the mini wind turbines on light poles, solar array on top of the offices, residential apartment buildings and the local shopping centre, and pneumatic sensors installed underneath the roads of Doncaster Hill.
It also shows the amount of energy being consumed with Doncaster Hill compared to the rest of metropolitan Melbourne. I’m excited about the fact I’m living amongst the action. We at Doncaster Hill are achieving new things, having been given the flexibility by the state and federal governments to test and pilot the latest technology, and with new legislation allowing Melbourne to make the necessary transition to a sustainable city.
As I pass the Sustainability Power House (SPH), Council’s Doncaster Hill Smart Energy Zone – Action Plan Page 7 sustainability information centre, I notice Council’s biomass plant, which converts waste into electricity, is performing at full capacity and the water storage levels from the recycling stormwater program have boosted our water supply so we can again water our sports ovals and parks.
Having green grass and big street trees has meant walking to work is generally a daily pleasure, rain, hail or shine. The SPH has been instrumental in helping people like me understand sustainability and open our eyes to the possibilities available by thinking about the appliances we put in our home, the type of housing we live in, how we get to work and how I can even help reduce the carbon footprint of my workplace.
Local schools are also heavily involved in demonstration projects with Council, residents and businesses, helping build projects, plant trees and promote sustainable living.
I’ve met new people and feel more like I’m a part of something bigger. Just past the SPH I come to the business precinct where I find people to help put a roof top garden on our apartment building (complete with vegie patch!). The architect for our building is here, as is the ‘green’ plumber and the solar electric bicycle store.
Doncaster Hill may not look much different to other places in Melbourne but we are quietly doing our bit to live more sustainably and teach others about it. And we enjoy the cost savings, along with the health and well being benefits that come with the Doncaster Hill lifestyle.
Same Happening On Doncaster Hill
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5 Comments
When you take into account the kick backs and commissions paid to overseas agents coupled with the weakening of the local market due to the glut of apartments currently for sale, the prospects these overseas purchasers will have of reselling in the foreseeable future at a reasonable price will be extremely limited.
We chose the Doncaster area for our second home in 2002 because we wanted to raise our children in a quiet residential environment after moving from a High rise commission flat in Richmond. Little did we know that within ten years after moving here, the high density apartment and busy traffic environment we had scraped and saved to escape from, would surround us again. Earlier the Manningham Planning department had proposed a four storey Town Centre apartment plan for Doncaster Hill but had been rejected thanks to Irene Goonan, (anti- high rise) and her fellow Councillors after receiving so many objections from the community.
What was to follow in just a little over 12 months was incredible. Council had been surreptitiously planning apartment developments on a much larger scale up to twelve storeys which was already cut and dried and this time had the backing of the State Government. (I am not sure whether it was “The Living Suburbs” or the “Melbourne 2030” Plan) So by the time the community and councillors got to see it was too late. Of course there was community consultation sessions but they were nothing more than information sessions. Incredibly trivial questions like what color of the seating do you prefer at bus stops or which of the following tree species would you like to see planted on the Doncaster Road Boulevard?.. etc. etc.
One explanation suggested for Council’s deceptive behaviour, and the rush to get something spectacular going, was that Manningham Council was to be one of first casualties of the Kennett government’s consolidation of Municipalities. It was not a highly populated area nor was there any industry so it would have been one of the first of the municipalities to be carved up. So when the government announced their Melbourne 2030 plan for intensive development Manningham immediately submitted a high rise strategy to be accepted in the plan which was why Manningham survived. There would have been a large number of council employees including highly paid officers and planning staff that would have lost their jobs had Manningham disappeared.
Sheridan
It was a long time ago but I can remember senior planning officers at the community information meetings telling residents that it was the government that had foisted the high rise strategy on the Doncaster community not the Council. This was definitely misleading because it was Manningham who were the first municipality to offer a strategy to be incorporated into the governments 2030. The authority was amazed at how quickly Manningham had lodged it’s plan but were pleased to approve it (other metropolitan councils were less than enthusiastic at that time) on political grounds.
These Doncaster Hill sub-standard apartments may also be in breach of the building code which states that;
“finished floor levels should be at or above the level of the adjoining verge”. (nature strip or footpath)