New home for Rinehart’s $10m helicopter hits turbulence
Gina Rinehart’s most senior lieutenant is leading a fight with Perth’s city council to build a helipad at her company’s planned new headquarters, arguing the West Australian capital is a business hub akin to New York and London that can handle private helicopters.
Planning consultants from Hancock Prospecting were flanked by project chief executive Sanjiv Manchanda in the public gallery’s front row at a council meeting on Tuesday night.
The family empire of Australia’s richest person is seeking approval to install a special landing pad for a Bell 429 helicopter on the roof of its five-storey office building on Perth’s western fringe. Bid documents said the pad would be used about a dozen times a year to ferry executives in and out.
But city officers recommended the council reject the plan, arguing it was likely to deter future high-rise development and adversely affect the area’s amenity.
In their report, officers claimed the company had been unable to demonstrate that it could mitigate any noise or vibration caused by helicopters landing and taking off.
Consultants for Hancock on Tuesday insisted Western Australia’s $150 billion resources industry had elevated Perth to a “global city” and the helipad was merely a contemporary requirement for a business of Hancock’s size.
“This forms part of its multimillion-dollar investment into Western Australia, building a world-leading business hub in West Perth, and aligns with the City of Perth Future Perth initiative which supports development of our city as a premier international business destination,” Element Advisory planning principal Daniel Lees told the meeting.
“Rooftop helipads are commonplace in major cities around the world, including New York, London and Tokyo.”
The company said noise assessments had concluded the landing of Rinehart’s $10 million helicopter would be quieter than the already noisy adjoining streets.
Hancock also pitched the pad as a potentially “lifesaving” back-up for emergency services given its location between two of Perth’s major hospitals.
Lees said Hancock would promise to keep flying between 9am and 7pm and adjust flight paths. The plan will be put to a vote next week.
The new headquarters for the company’s iron ore division has already undergone work to cover the facade of the building, formerly occupied by Santos, in pink Sturt Desert Peas, and refurbish the interior.
The company forked out $60 million for the 6000-square-metre block, which will house the 600 staff at the company’s Perth Airport headquarters.
The first two floors will be occupied by flexible working stations and a town hall amphitheatre, while its executive chairman will work from a sprawling office on the third floor.
The complex will also feature a radio studio and a “cat” meeting room leading to a “meow” terrace, to allow staff to interact with cats. Rinehart is a patron of Western Australian pet welfare service Cat Haven.
