We were recently asked to dust off our crystal ball for www.ourbrisbane.com and paint a picture of inner Brisbane in the year 2020. No Jetsons-like spacecraft but it still takes some getting your head around!

“I closed my apartment door and while I waited for the lift to climb to the 25th floor I glanced across to the city skyline, its buildings piercing the morning clouds and soaring through them. A quick stop for my usual caffeine fix then down into the subway for the two minute commute under the Brisbane River to Eagle Street station.”

Brisbane’s property landscape will change enormously over the next decade. An imaginary day in the year 2020 will include a Gabba resident calling a 25th storey apartment their home. A new, high speed subway will likely link that suburb, and many inner suburbs, with the offices of the lower CBD. With a scarcity of land, its office towers will probably top 100 storey.

It might be mind boggling but this vision of Brisbane is almost here.

Our population continues to grow and taller buildings are being encouraged to house these new arrivals. Many middle-ring Brisbane suburbs will resist the trend, residents unhappy for ‘seismic’ change in their neighbourhoods. But change will be relentless in the inner city as light industry and other land uses make way for apartment development. Huge tracts of land in Bowen Hills, the RNA Showgrounds amongst them, are already in planning. The Gabba, South Brisbane and Milton are some of the suburbs that will look very different by the year 2020.

The landmark Fourex brewery may well be redeveloped into apartments, shops and, hopefully, a bar or two!

Despite the State Government’s plan to decentralize its workforce by pulling 20% of its offices out of the CBD, the demand for central office space will see heights rise. Our city centre will also spread, crossing the river as South Brisbane accommodates 30 storey offices. More bridges and more tunnels will link Kangaroo Point, New Farm, Toowong and West End.

Council will spend more on parklands, greening the city like never before to counter its ‘urban-ness’. North Bank will be developed, a substantial green belt and dining precinct lining the Brisbane River alongside offices and apartments that straddle and veil the Riverside Expressway.

Planners will take advantage of this greater population, encouraging streetside cafes, arts precincts, entertainment options and cosy laneway bars. The Parmalat site (Paul’s Milk) in South Brisbane might even be the site of Brisbane’s own Opera House …

Adding almost half a million new residents by 2020, Brisbane will not be the same city as it is today. For better and for worse.

Visit the real estate pages of www.ourbrisbane.com for more interesting articles.