Multigenerational community to be crafted on school regeneration site

LONDON: A multigenerational community is set to be crafted upon a school regeneration site.

A mega-development with plans for 315 dwellings, shops, a cafe and other facilities earmarked for the former Claremont Primary School could be built with less houses than promised.

The development application for the $200 million build, called the Windermere Bay Precinct, was approved in March last year, but since then there’s been little movement at the site.

On Monday, Glenorchy mayor Bec Thomas said she’d met with the developer and architect of the project after receiving feedback from community members.

“Obviously Covid has had a significant impact on the building industry and the development sector and they have been reconsidering the scope of the project at Windermere Bay,” Ms Thomas said.

“They wanted to give us an update to say they haven’t forgotten about it, they are still working on it but they are potentially looking at a project that has a reduced number of dwellings compared to the original 315 proposed.

“They will communicate with the community when they have more certainty around what that proposal will look like.”

The rundown site at Cadbury Road has been the subject of different housing development proposals for several years and has remained empty since the school shut in 2011.

Ms Thomas said community members were concerned about how the site looked.

“A lot of concerned community members say the site looks run down, [community members say] ‘can’t they at least demolish some of the dilapidated buildings’,” Ms Thomas said.

“People really want to see something happen at the site.

Ms Thomas said the developer assured they would look into managing the site.

“He did give an undertaking they will look at demolish some of the dilapidated buildings in the short term,” she said.

The developer is required to substantially commence works at the site within two years in order to retain their permit, unless they apply for an extension.

The project, designed by Circa Morris-Nunn Architects, would keep the original heritage-listed school building.