How refreshing to read Tom Lipiett’s article on high rise (August 19). I think his middle of the road compromise can be summarised in four main principles which should be applied to all high rise speculation.

The developer must own a tract of land that is of a sufficient size. This size needs to be determined by the technical experts and applied to all. All the land in question needs to be within the building development zone.

The number of residential units/office units allowed needs to be equivalent to that of developing low rise over 100 per cent of his land – with an additional 20 per cent bonus to cover the extra expense of this type of project. Building should not exceed 40 per cent footprint of the total land with 50 per cent of the land being open space accessible to the public, half of which can be used for bar/restaurant concessions.

Two parking spaces must be made available for each residential unit whether the new owner drives or not and selling units without parking spaces must be forbidden.

This would equate to a high rise project of circa 20-22 floors in an eight-floor development area or 11-12 floors in a four-floor development area. This would also allow for an additional two floors situated at the lowest level that would be of a commercial nature.

With these principles followed, the developer will get the money he deserves from his land without getting more than his entitlement, the public will get access to 50 per cent of land that would otherwise be inaccessible to them had the building been low rise and the parking is well catered for the residents or their guests if they don’t drive.

Everyone’s a winner!

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