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In an effort to speed up housing and data centre developments, the NSW government has said that it is adopting artificial intelligence.
As originally reported by ITNews, in tender documents submitted by the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure on 1 September, the department is after a “ready-to-use” solution that will assist with planning documents and matching them against local planning regulations.
“This will add an important tool to the suite of tools available to planners as they assess larger and more complex proposals,” said Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully.
“This is about using technology to do more of the heavy lifting in the planning system while leaving the final decision to a human decision-maker.”
The AI will become part of the state’s significant development application process, which are applications for major projects that the state government assesses. These are projects that have a capital investment value over a specific threshold, are over a certain size or are located in sensitive environmental areas.
The assessment, on average, takes roughly 8.5 months, “with three months in government hands”, according to the department.
“This is a game changer – maintaining the quality of assessment but continuing to speed things up to get more housing projects underway more quickly allowing construction to get underway and new keys into new doors,” Scully said.
“In the midst of a national shortage of planners, we need those we do have to be doing the nuanced and complex assessment work – not checking for typos or formatting errors.”
The new AI system will need to review documentation before it is lodged, assess applications against criteria, reduce the time it takes to complete the assessment and “complete post-submission checks” to speed up the finalisation process.
According to the department, the AI will become a feature of the NSW Planning Portal starting in October, while the government expects the AI to be rolled out and completely operational by 30 January.
“With Sydney as the second least affordable city in the world, and NSW losing twice as many young people as it is gaining, we need to be improving every area of the planning system to make sure homes are built faster,” said the department.
“This is part of the Minns government’s plan to build a better and modernised NSW with more homes and services, so young people, families, and key local workers have somewhere to live and in the communities they choose.”
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