Planning key to Tetris

The latest App on my smart phone is Tetris.

It’s an old school game, but a classic.

Last week I’d just started a game and it was slowly building up.

I then had to deal with three long straight pieces coming down in a row.

How unfair. Where was I going to put these pieces so the game isn’t ruined, I thought. Alas, thanks to some careful planning and foresight, I was able to fit all three towers effectively and the game continued as normal.

Sound familiar?

Last month Southbank Local News reported that Matthew Guy had approved “The Falls”, the third high-rise building to be completed on Queensbridge St.

Residents in Freshwater Place were unhappy, but perhaps less predictably, the City of Melbourne has also reacted cautiously to the decisions and made changes to C171 in an attempt to stop the negative responses to planning in Southbank.

The three buildings to come into Queensbridge St - Queensbridge Tower, The Falls and Prima Pearl - are big but, if managed correctly and planned properly, the additional residents could add a real buzz to the area.

One of the biggest concerns for residents (See the SRG column on page 15) is traffic congestion in the area. At peak times Queensbridge, Whiteman and Power streets are already difficult to deal with, so a traffic analysis of the impact of these extra residential towers must take place.

The concern of residents is that these streets will simply not be able to handle the extra traffic that will come with the new residents.

Having said that, done properly, this influx of residents might just create a wonderfully vibrant community centre and, with the help of Queensbridge Square, become a hive of community activity.

Southbank is growing. We all know that is a reality and managed correctly, these buildings may just become not only a Southbank icon, but an Australian icon as well.