Members of the Hansen Partnership team are looking forward to attending the upcoming ‘Better Living Forum’, regarding the Victorian Government’s Better Apartments discussion paper. Andy Fergus, Senior Urban Designer at Hansen, is one of the organisers of the independent forum, which is being held as part of the official Open House Melbourne program.

The recently released discussion paper ‘weighs up housing needs, market demands and building standards with the aim of improving liveability and affordability.’ (Richard Wynne, 2015). The paper intends to ‘kick-start consultation’ with the public and industry stakeholders to establish minimum standards for the design and development of apartments.

The focus of the forum looks at how, in an environment where our population is swelling, threatening liveability and driving investment market pressure, new apartment design standards have the potential to have a lasting effect on our city – hopefully for the better.

The event will bring together a planner, a city maker, a developer, a policy maker, an architect, a commentator, a lawyer, an economist, a real estate agent and a resident to help discuss: How do we keep pace? There will be an opportunity for audience members to participate in the discussion through a Q&A.

Speakers include: Stuart Harrison (MC), Colleen Peterson (CEO- Ratio Consultants), David Waldren (Developer – Grocon), Riad Yasmine (Lawyer – Maddocks),  Michael Bleby (Commentator – AFR), Marcus Spiller (Economist  – SGS Economics and Planning), Kerstin Thompson (Architect  – KTA), with more speakers to be announced.