Lord Mayor Graham Quirk has
unveiled plans for a $4 million overhaul of the Brunswick Street Mall which he
says will boost the daytime economy of Fortitude Valley.
“I’ve been working closely with local traders for the past
two years and my commitment to the upgrade of the Brunswick Street Mall will be
a positive for the future of the Valley and its day- time businesses,” Cr Quirk
said. “This the first of a broader economic strategy we are investing in, led
by the local traders, to see Fortitude Valley as the creative industry and
entertainment hub of Brisbane.”
But council
opposition leader Milton Dick cast doubts on the level of
local input to date, calling on the Lord
Mayor to work with local businesses on the design to ensure “it doesn’t turn
into King George Square mark two”.
“It’s a hard task to get the balance right with a design
that supports existing night-time trade while encouraging increased day-time
business trade and I hope the Lord Mayor’s design gets this right.”
Cr Quirk said the much-needed facelift would turn Brunswick Street Mall into a key
creative and entertainment location. Concept plans included the installation of
a large wire roof structure covering the central section of the mall, which
could support lighting and public art and provide shelter and shading. Small
retail and art pods, similar to those found in Queen Street Mall, were also
among the concept plans.
Cr Quirk said some detailed design would take place during
the next financial year with construction expected to start in mid-2014. The
project was expected to be completed about a year later.
Councillor Dick said the upgrade was long overdue with
funding promised last budget but not spent. “Council has a responsibility to
ensure that the final design doesn’t turn Brunswick Mall into another concrete
jungle and that shade and trees are incorporated into a design that gives
enough space for improved business and entertainment opportunities.
“A key component of the design should be taking into account
improved safety, lit up safe spaces and better access to public toilets.”
He also called on the Lord Mayor to work with affected
businesses to minimise the impact on trading while construction took place.
Top and above: How the new Brunswick Street Mall
could look in a few years’ time.
At the heart of Lord Mayor Graham Quirk’s
rhetoric surrounding his $4 million Brunswick Street Mall makeover is the
assumption that a revamped mall will somehow magically boost the flagging day
economy of the whole Fortitude Valley area.
That, somehow, some fancy shade structures and retail hubs
are going to attract the numbers of people that nearby retail outlets badly
need as paying customers to stay afloat in tough times
That, somehow, instead of the central Valley area being just
a place for people to walk through on their way to somewhere else, a sparkling
new mall will bring people to the area to spend quality time – and money.
Did the multi-million dollar redevelopment of the nearby
Chinatown Mall achieve that admirable result? This newspaper doesn’t claim to
know the answer to that – maybe someone in government can enlighten us with
some figures – but our suspicion is that it made little difference to the
cashflow of the businesses – eateries and others – that border the mall or are
based nearby.
In previous editorials, this newspaper has also made the
point that if the Brunswick Street Mall is to be redeveloped, then it must be
done properly. Something is wrong under the surface there and millions of
dollars could be wasted if that is not investigated and addressed.
So while the Lord Mayor’s media statement is full of fancy
words and great promise, what the new design will actually bring to the
precinct remains in doubt. Apart, of course, from having a smooth concrete
surface what will be much more user-friendly to those fancy cleaning machines
that the Lord Mayor and now local councillor Vicki Howard played with in a few
media stunts before the last council poll, right in the faces of local business
people being hurt very very badly by the closure of the Walton’s walkway.
And let’s get back to those local traders. The Independent
will conduct a new survey of their responses to this mall makeover announcement
in our next issue, but we have in the past
carried their concerns about how construction will affect their
livelihoods. Clearly, as with the Chinatown mall makeover, people are going to
avoid the area while the dust and the noise of work goes on.
And if the council says the work will take 12 months, then
simple logic suggests it will probably take more. The Chinatown Mall went many,
many months over schedule. And what if they find, as they did under the
Chinatown Mall, problems with utilities infrastructure that could blow out the
project, both in time and cost. Records of what lay under the surface in that
mall were inadequate.
The Independent believes that traders will be awaiting the
construction phase with understandable trepidation. And the final insult to
their financial injury will be if we are left with a mall that fails to achieve
Cr Quick’s lofty ambitions.
