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Stirling Towers
2018 - August 12: Security Shift Incident Report - Upon arriving at 6pm, security walk into the courtyard and notice bags, clothes and other items that weren't there the previous day. They suspect trespassers are onsite and immediately request that they come out. A male and female emerge from a unit on the third floor, both appearing to be intoxicated. They become verbally aggressive when asked to leave but after security explains why they're being removed, they comply and are escorted out of the complex without any further issues.
2018 - August 13: Security Shift Incident Report - Security arrive at 6pm to find two fire trucks parked up at the front. The fire alarms have been triggered. Once security open up the main gate to allow them access, the firefighters check the fire panel on the ground floor and notice the alarm has been triggered in a storage room located on the ground floor. The door is locked and there's no key for it, so the firefighters force it open. They later come to the conclusion that the fire alarms are faulty.
2018 - September 4-7: The WA Police run a forensic training exercise in the rear three-storey block of 12 units on the Stirling Street side.
2018 - September 25: Security Shift Incident Report - Security attend the site at 6pm to find a man in unit 43 on the fourth floor. He is escorted out after being questioned on how he had entered, which had been through a broken window on a blocked off stairwell.
2019 – March 1: After a two year delay that saw no action taken with the vacant Stirling Towers, it will finally be “demolished and replaced with contemporary mixed housing”. The Department of Communities intend to lodge a development application with the City of Vincent. Demolition and construction won't be set until planning has been approved by the council.
2021 - October: The Housing Authority secures the gate and board up all of Stirling Towers. Four onsite Site Sentry cameras monitor the site 24/7, replacing the security guard.
06 - September 2021
07 - January 2023
2022 - February 18: The State Government want to partner up with a community housing agency to develop the site into a build-to-rent development. This is when a developer designs and constructs an apartment complex, retains ownership of the building when it's completed but then rent out the units to tenants whilst managing and maintaining the complex. The McGowan Government release an Early Tender Advice (ETA) for the redevelopment of Stirling Towers.
2022 - February 20: A young woman walking her dogs along Smith Street sees two men wearing balaclavas, passing things over the fence to each other from Stirling Towers into their ute. The Site Sentry alarms are sounding but it doesn't faze them. A neighbour also witnesses this incident at 5.30am when the alarms wake him up. When he goes outside to see what's going on, he sees the two balaclava-clad men passing black fencing panels over the fence to each other. When he asks them what they're doing, one of them responds with "Getting new gates, mate!" The neighbour films the incident, noting the fencing panels in the back of the ute, although their number plates have been removed from the vehicle.
2022 - February 24: The new plan is to outsource construction and rental management to a community housing provider for a period of up to 49 years, with WA Labor's housing minister John Carey, publicly committing himself to ensure the latest plan goes ahead.
2022 - March: The Housing Authority intends to release an invitation for Expression of Interest to redevelop the Stirling Towers site on TendersWA.
2022 - April 22: The State Government opens Expression of Interest on TendersWA to transform Stirling Towers into a "contemporary build-to-rent development with ongoing tenancy and property management". The site would be made available under a Ground Lease term, which is usually a leasing arrangement typically granted by a government authority to a developer who will lease the vacant land for development.
2022 - August 12: Consortiums led by Community Housing Ltd, Housing Choices Western Australia and Foundation Housing Ltd have all been shortlisted for the State Government's build-to-rent redevelopment. Plans are expected to consist of approximately 100 new rental dwellings with 30% comprising of public housing.
2023 – May 23: Mark McGowan likens Stirling Towers (and the previously demolished Brownlie Towers) as ghettos, which give “rise to crime, dysfunction and huge amounts of drugs and other things”. Despite this, he blatantly denies that the declining stock of public housing during his first term of government was “a deliberate attempt to stamp out drug dealers operating out of the ghettos”.
2023 – December 16: Community Housing (CHL) and Tetris Capital are named the consortium who will see out the demolition of Stirling Towers and the build to rent development.
2024 – February 24: Vincent Mayor Alison Xamon calls for people with disabilities to be given priority to new housing options provided for by the Stirling Towers redevelopment, in order to allow them to live close to the city and essential services.
2024 – March 21: Community Housing Ltd and Tetris Capital lodge a demolition application for Stirling Towers and forms stage 1 alongside preparing the site for their build to rent redevelopment, which comes with a 50-year ground lease.
Honourable Dr Brad Pettit MLC states that he attended a presentation a few days prior, in which an idea was put forward by a community housing provider to refurbish Stirling Towers. It would potentially save the government $13 million as well as see the project completed in a very short time, in lieu of demolition and rebuilding on the site, which tends to occur with many housing units.
2024 – May 14: Honourable Jackie Jarvis MLC states that it is unlikely Stirling Towers, “could be brought up to current national standards and building codes including, importantly, accessibility and energy efficiency standards”.
2024 – May 15: Honourable Jackie Jarvis MLC states only one tender proposal was received by the Department of Housing to refurbish Stirling Towers but the proposal was found to be out of scope, as an engineering review of the building stated that refurbishing Stirling Towers was unviable. This was a result of “significant structural issues, including the presence of concrete cancer, significant asbestos and noncompliant balconies”.
2024 – July 3: Brajkovich Demolition & Salvage (WA) are awarded the contract to demolish Stirling Towers, as well as the smaller three-storey building behind it. Before this can begin, the Department of Communities must approve a demolition permit, incorporating feedback from the Town of Vincent to ensure local regulations are adhered to.
2024 – July 5: Security guards are said to now be permanently onsite until demolition is complete.
2024 – July 10: The build to rent development project will transform the site into one and two-bedroom, social affordable and specialist disability rental units (The West Australian, p.36).
