Gina Rinehart’s company has claimed helicopter pads are a necessity of modern business as it fights to install one at its new headquarters in West Perth.
The City of Perth on Tuesday recommended councillors block the request from Hancock Iron Ore to install a helipad as it redevelops its offices.
Designs provided to council show the helipad would sit 25 metres off the ground, directly above an in-house teppanyaki grill also proposed in the 53 Ord Street redevelopment plans.
Hancock told the council a Bell 429 helicopter would use the pad up to 12 times a year and only during daylight hours but planning officers said it would be difficult to formally limit the helipad’s use.
Dan Lees, an Element Advisory planner representing Hancock, told council on Tuesday night that private rooftop helipads – a rarity in Australia – were common in New York, London and Tokyo.
“Perth is a global city and with that come contemporary needs for globally connected businesses,” Lees said.
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“The proposed helipad is a contemporary requirement for a business such as Hancock Iron Ore.”
Appearing alongside Sanjiv Manchanda, a long-time Rinehart lieutenant, Lees told the meeting the helipad had “life-saving potential” as a landing point for emergency services.
Questioned further, he acknowledged the deck was only a “backup of a backup” landing option, given another hospital helipad was 3km away, and patients carried in by air would still need to be transferred from the rooftop to a hospital for treatment.
The application has attracted 29 opposing submissions, with one landlord telling council Hancock’s construction work had already prompted complaints from their tenants, including psychologist consulting rooms and recording studios.
Another neighbour feared the helicopter winds could damage their apartment block’s asbestos roofing and spread loose asbestos fibres, while others noted a private helipad offered no public benefit.
“[It] would only save them some travel time, which is a very selfish attitude for the owners of the building to take,” a submission read.
Hancock supplied analysis finding the aircraft noise would not surpass 92 decibels, similar to the levels already observed in the area but planning officers said the company had not shown noise and vibration issues would be avoided.
The staff briefing ahead of council’s December meeting also warned the flight path could hinder Perth’s housing development by stopping nearby buildings from adding storeys, which Lees denied.
Peter Newman, a professor of sustainability at Curtin University, said councillors could permit the helipad but were likely to follow the advice of the City of Perth’s planning team.
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But Rinehart could nonetheless appeal to the state government to allow the helipad to be developed, Newman said.
“The premier would have to do [that] against the wills of the planning system,” he said.
Councillors declined to share how they would vote at next Tuesday’s meeting when asked. The deputy lord mayor, David Goncalves, said he would approach the decision with an open mind.
One councillor, Chris Patton, said he would have supported the application but was ineligible to vote as Hancock was a client of his audiovisual services business.
“As a pilot myself, I wish I could vote,” Patton said.
“As Perth continues to grow and modernise, it’s reasonable to expect air transport to become a more routine part of city life.”
The council permitted Hancock to renovate its newly bought offices in 2023.
The company also plans to install a staff restaurant and a cat-friendly meeting room next to an outdoor “meow terrace”.