16 February 2023

SHAFSTON HOUSE

Dear Lord Mayor,

I write to you to reiterate widespread community concerns regarding the redevelopment of Shafston House. 

Shafston House is a heritage-listed building with great significance to Kangaroo Point, and the broader Brisbane community. Kangaroo Point has already lost a great many heritage and pre-1910 homes that once gave the community great character and warmth. These buildings are often replaced by ugly, poorly designed, poorly built and prohibitively expensive apartment blocks that make a lot of money for developers and deliver very little back to the community, particularly when there are no requirements for developers to include public and affordable housing within their builds. The Burgundy Group proposal for Shafston House fits within this category. 

I urge the Brisbane City Council to reject this proposal and work with the state government and other stakeholders to open Shafston House and the heritage-listed gardens to the public. Kangaroo Point is sorely lacking in usable greenspace, and this would be a great boost to the community. The grounds could also serve as access to the eventually-completed Riverwalk from Mowbray Park. 

Lord Mayor, can I also clarify how this proposal has been classified as code assessable? The fact that this development needed to be referred to SARA surely indicates a higher level of scrutiny that warrants this development being classified as impact assessable, with requirements for a basic level of community consultation (of which there is none for code assessable developments). 

Thank you for your consideration, and I look forward to your reply. Please do not hesitate to contact my office on 07 3724 9100 if you would like to discuss this matter in more detail.

Kind regards,

Amy MacMahon

Member for South Brisbane