In a rare move on Wednesday, the State Commission Assessment Panel (SCAP) refused to grant planning consent to developers Phillip Brunning & Associates for the construction of an 86.5-metre hotel on the corner of Wakefield and Pulteney Street in the city’s east.

The proposal would have seen 234 rooms of tourist accommodation, a rooftop bar, LED advertising screen and a restaurant with outdoor dining space on the site of the former Backpack Oz hostel and Orient Hotel.

The proposal was 63 per cent higher than the maximum 53-metre building height for the area.

The rejected 26-storey hotel proposal. Image: PACT Architects

The developer submitted to the SCAP that the proposal was “an appropriate candidate for additional building height… given the commitment to design quality, sustainability and achievement of an enhanced public realm outcome to Wakefield Street”.

The developer also submitted that the hotel would provide “an orderly transition up to the prescribed maximum height in the adjacent height area”, which has no height limit other than air traffic considerations.

But the SCAP rejected this argument when it assessed the project on Wednesday.

The panel ruled the hotel did not provide enough of an orderly height transition to justify exceeding the 53-metre limit.

“The development would not adequately satisfy the Planning and Design Code’s expectations expressed in Capital City Zone (Building Height) PO 4.2 part (b) in respect of measures that would provide for substantial additional gain in sustainability, and part (b)(i) regarding development that would provide an orderly transition up to an existing taller building or prescribed maximum height in an adjacent Zone or building height area,” the ruling states.

The SCAP said the building would have also excessively impacted the local heritage-listed St Stephen’s Lutheran Church Hall, located at 152 Wakefield Street adjacent to the development site.

“The development would be expected to dominate, encroach on, or unduly impact on the setting of an adjacent Local Heritage Place contrary to recommendations of the Planning and Design Code’s Heritage Adjacency Overlay,” the SCAP ruled.

An artist rendition showing the proposed hotel’s location next to St Stephen’s Lutheran Church. Image: PACT Architects

The developer had submitted to the SCAP that while the hotel was “clearly of a greater scale and different form than that of St Stephen’s Lutheran Church”, the 86.5-metre building “will not in itself compromise the heritage value and setting of this heritage place”.

The SCAP’s decision goes against the advice of state government planning officer Karl Woehle, who recommended the SCAP approve the project despite acknowledging it exceeded the area’s height limit.

Government Architect Kirsteen Mackay also submitted that the proposal had justified exceeding the area’s maximum height.

“The project’s continued commitment to an environmentally sustainable outcome, high quality materiality and positive contribution to the public realm is fundamental in justifying my support for a development that significantly exceeds the maximum envisaged height,” she wrote in August.

But the SCAP also highlighted concerns about the developer’s vision for an 11.4-metre wraparound LED screen on level four of the hotel.

The screen, facing the Wakefield and Pulteney Street intersection, would have displayed third-party advertising.

The SCAP argued this was against the principles of the Planning and Design Code, which “anticipates advertisements limited to information relating to the lawful use of land they are located on… and avoid(s) unrelated content that contributes to visual clutter and untidiness”.

The SCAP also rejected the developer’s proposed waste collection strategy.

“The development would rely upon waste collection occurring at the subject land’s Wakefield Street frontage, contrary to the Planning and Design Code… which recommends communal waste storage and collection areas located, enclosed and designed to be screened from view from the public domain and open space,” the SCAP ruled.

The SCAP’s surprise decision means the vacant two-storey building currently located at 144 Wakefield Street will remain untouched for now.

The former Backpack Oz site at 144 Wakefield Street – the long-time home of the Orient Hotel. Photo: Jason Katsaras/InDaily

The site – which is not local or state heritage listed and was slated for demolition under the hotel proposal – was most recently the home of the Backpack Oz hostel, which shut its doors last year.

Prior to that, it was the Orient Hotel – a city pub that operated from 1863 until it was purchased in 1996.

It is unclear whether the developer intends to submit a revised proposal.