A Williamstown architect who opposed high-rise development on the former Port Phillip Woollen Mill site has been recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Shelley Penn has been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to architecture and design in the public realm, and to professional institutes.
Ms Penn is an Associate Professor in Architecture at Melbourne University, Adjunct Professor at Monash University and has owned her own business since 1993.
She is a former national president of the Australian Institute of Architects, one of many pro-bono roles undertaken, and has worked in multiple government advisory roles.
Ms Penn is known as a strong advocate for high quality public places.
In 2010, Ms Penn, late former premier Joan Kirner and then Williamstown MP Wade Noonan made a joint 183-page submission recommending good quality densification but condemning insensitive high-rise development in Nelson Place.
The Nelson Place Village proposal for the former Port Phillip Woollen Mill site had included tower blocks up to 13 storeys high.
“We made the submission to the state Planning Advisory Committee, who accepted our recommendations on quality controls and height limits (amongst other things), but a change of government meant the new planning minister, Matthew Guy, opted for discretionary rather than the recommended mandatory height limits, and effectively dismissed the quality controls,” Ms Penn said.
“Hence the poor design and inappropriate tower heights now built on the site.
“It’s a shame because urban consolidation is important but it should be respectful and contributory to its context, and this is not.”
