Roma Street
Cross River Rail PDA

The Roma Street Cross River Rail PDA is required to provide for the coordinated, timely development of land and infrastructure, facilitating economic development and development for community purposes, within the precinct surrounding the new underground Roma Street Cross River Rail station.

The PDA is approximately 32 hectares. The PDA encompasses land on the north-western edge of Brisbane’s city centre. The Roma Street CRR PDA contains the Roma Street Railway Station, railyards and busway, and is generally defined by Countess Street, Roma Street, Albert Street, College Road and Parkland Boulevard.

The Roma Street CRR PDA also includes land on the southern side of Roma Street between Makerston and May Streets, and State Government (Emergency Services) land on the western side of Countess Street. These sites have been included as there may be opportunities to enhance the streetscape and improve public transport interfaces across the precinct.

As a key link between the city centre, Spring Hill, Caxton Street, the Barracks, Suncorp Stadium and the Cultural precinct at South Bank, Roma Street’s improved transport connections provided by Cross River Rail will allow for new transport-orientated developments to reinvigorate the precinct.

Cross River Rail will transform Roma Street station into Brisbane’s busiest interchange connecting passengers with the existing suburban bus and rail networks, the Brisbane Metro, as well as regional and interstate bus and train services.

Yes. Development within the PDA will be designed to take advantage of Brisbane’s subtropical climate and contribute to Brisbane’s identity and outdoor lifestyle, by delivering high-quality, subtropical architecture of outstanding merit and buildings, public realm and landscaping that are open, engaging and green, with public art, shaded spaces and opportunities to interact with the street.

The PDA has been designed to deliver a net gain in publicly accessible open space and provide for a well-connected and accessible public realm network that is permeable for pedestrians and cyclists, links attractions, public passenger transport infrastructure, surrounding parkland and neighbourhoods.

This includes the establishment of a new public plaza beside the new Cross River Rail station building that establishes a focal point for passenger arrival, and provides views to the Roma Street Railway Station heritage place from Roma Street and George Street through the new Cross River Rail station building.

There is also a requirement that allows for the extension of the Albert Street Green Spine to Roma Street Parkland, which forms a key link in a broader open space network including Wickham Park, Emma Miller Place and the City Botanic Gardens.

Approximately 46,000 people will use the Roma Street underground station each weekday by 2036.

The Cross River Rail Delivery Authority has worked closely with the Brisbane City Council (BCC), Economic Development Queensland (EDQ), relevant state agencies and specialist planning consultants to prepare the Roma Street CRR PDA Interim Land Use Plan. The community will have the opportunity to comment during the preparation of the development scheme in 2020.

The Delivery Authority has worked closely with Brisbane City Council officers to prepare the Roma Street CRR PDA Interim Land Use Plan at this location. Applications for development within the PDA will be assessed and decided by CRRDA as delegate of the Minister for Economic Development Queensland and be assessed against the Interim Land Use Plan rather than the Brisbane City Plan 2014.

While the underground Roma Street station requires the demolition of the Brisbane Transit Centre, the final tunnel alignment, station entrances and construction methodology is outlined here.

The Roma Street CRR PDA Interim Land Use Plan has adopted a range of development application notification triggers including from the Brisbane City Plan 2014. If triggered (refer section 3.4 of the ILUP), a development application will be publicly notified, and submissions considered during the assessment of the development application.

The Roma Street Railway station and Albert Park South Air Raid Shelter are listed on the state heritage register. The Countess Street Rail Bridge Abutments is listed on the local heritage register.

The Heritage locations (Roma Street railway station, Albert Park South Air Raid Shelter and Countess Street Rail Bridge Abutments) within the PDA are protected.

Any development within the PDA will have to provide for the conservation of heritage places whilst providing flexibility for sensitive adaptive reuse opportunities.

Any development or adaptive reuse proposal will be assessed against the ILUP until the development scheme is finalised. The requirements in these documents mean proposals have to be done in a way which showcases the identified heritage value and preserves its cultural heritage significance including the historic built form character and structural integrity.

The significant improvement in transport connectivity and revitalisation of the Roma Street precinct made possible by Cross River Rail will generate opportunities for urban renewal and enhancement of public spaces in the area. The exact form of the future development is subject to further work including development feasibility, market advice and ultimately development assessment as is the normal practice under a PDA.

The business case was prepared with world-leading sport and architecture experts, Populous, completing the design for the arena, and Deloitte’s Access Economics carrying out the financial modelling. Further planning during preparation of the development scheme will consider the potential for a new entertainment arena at Roma Street.

A development scheme is a statutory instrument created under the Economic Development Act 2012 (ED Act). In short, a development scheme regulates development within a PDA for intended purposes aligned with the ED Act.

In the Roma Street Cross River Rail (CRR) Priority Development Area (PDA) context, the proposed development scheme has been developed to coordinate the renewal and repurposing of large government land holdings and assets surrounding the Roma Street Cross River Rail station for economic development and development for community purposes.

PDA development applications within the Roma Street CRR PDA will be assessed against the development scheme, once finalised.

Put simply, a proposed development scheme constitutes a draft development scheme which is released for public comment prior to finalisation.

The key elements of the proposed development scheme comprise:

1. a Land use plan that regulates development in the PDA
2. an Infrastructure plan that describes required infrastructure to support the achievement of the Land use plan and states applicable infrastructure charges, and
3. an Implementation strategy that describes objectives and actions that complement the Land use plan and Infrastructure plan to achieve the main purpose of the ED Act.

The Roma Street CRR PDA Interim Land Use Plan commenced upon declaration of the Roma Street CRR PDA on 13 December 2019. It regulates development within the PDA in an interim capacity until a development scheme is finalised. The proposed development scheme will replace the current Interim Land Use Plan once it has been finalised.

The Cross River Rail Delivery Authority, as delegate of the Minister of Economic Development Queensland (MEDQ), is responsible for assessing and deciding PDA development applications within the PDA.

The Cross River Rail Delivery Authority has worked closely with Brisbane City Council to prepare the proposed development scheme. PDA development applications for development within the Roma Street PDA will be assessed against the development scheme (once finalised) and decided by the Cross River Rail Delivery Authority as delegate of the MEDQ.

The Brisbane City Plan 2014 cannot regulate development within the Roma Street CRR PDA. Notwithstanding, some elements of the Brisbane City Plan 2014 are applied through the proposed development scheme.

The Cross River Rail Delivery Authority has worked closely with Brisbane City Council, Economic Development Queensland, other state agencies and specialist planning consultants to prepare the proposed development scheme.

The community had the opportunity to comment on the proposed development scheme by making a submission during the submission period, being between 18 February to 1 April 2021.

Funding and building infrastructure is key to facilitating development within the PDA. The DCOP supports the proposed development scheme for the Roma Street Cross River Rail (CRR) Priority Development Area (PDA) by identifying trunk infrastructure required to service the PDA, development charges and how these charges are calculated, levied and administered.

The DCOP is a policy document dealing with infrastructure matters relative to PDA development applications and development within the Roma Street CRR PDA. It includes the following:

• development charges for the provision of trunk infrastructure for the following networks:
  • wastewater
  • water supply
  • stormwater
  • transport
  • parks and community facilities
• trunk infrastructure plans and schedules of works, and
• matters relevant to calculating a credit, offset or refund for the provision of trunk infrastructure.

Trunk infrastructure is the high-level, shared infrastructure that services large catchments in the PDA, such as:

• transport (e.g. roads, pathways, bike paths)
• stormwater (e.g. pipes and water quality treatment devices)
• water supply and wastewater (e.g. pipes)

Infrastructure required to service the PDA will be delivered by a combination of property developers and government entities (e.g. Brisbane City Council, Urban Utilities and State government departments subject to funding arrangements to be determined).

The mechanism to require payment of development charges and/or deliver trunk infrastructure identified in the DCOP will be through conditions of a PDA development approval. Infrastructure may also be required to be delivered in accordance with a detailed Infrastructure Master Plan prepared to support a PDA development application or required by conditions of a PDA development approval.

Infrastructure will be funded from a combination of development charges and other revenue sources. State expenditure on infrastructure will be subject to consideration through normal State budgetary processes and will be part of an approved State agency capital works program.

Where an applicant is required to construct a trunk infrastructure contribution in accordance with conditions of a PDA development approval, the applicant may request the value of that trunk infrastructure contribution be offset against applicable development charges.

Fragmented land ownership in the PDA and the significant cost of trunk infrastructure means it may not be feasible for any one developer, land owner, or government entity to fund the trunk infrastructure required to service the PDA.

Development charges provide for a reasonable proportion of the cost of future trunk infrastructure to be funded by development in the PDA.

The DCOP development charges framework has been developed by Economic Development Queensland and is informed by the anticipated trunk infrastructure demand from predicted future development (infrastructure users) and the estimated cost of servicing the development with trunk infrastructure.