The City of Ryde is running an international competition to design a new civic precinct. Four designs have been shortlisted from 175 entries from 49 countries. The jury includes Peter Poulet (NSW Government Architect), Shaun Carter (President of the Australian Institute of Architects NSW Chapter) and Maria Atkinson (sustainability strategist). Read more details here. This clip shows the design concepts from an American firm that was shortlisted.
Is THIS the standard we aspire to in NSW?
NSW Department of Planning is asking us all to comment on NSW’s new Housing Code. It’s informative that they should choose such a dreadful house and garden to illustrate their invitation.
Adaptive re-use? Image Danielle Bamforth
This particular example of the genus Project Home fails on every count to add anything positive to any neighbourhood and its choice says much about the sensibility of the DoP bureaucrats who want to make it easier to build such crap.
Rather than making it easier, everything should be placed in the way of having such things constructed.
If Hunters Hill Council is merged with Ryde and Lane Cove Councils, how would this affect ordinary property owners, renters and rate payers? It seems sensible to …
The Trust’s Rough Guide draws together information from the websites of the 3 councils and from NSW government planning controls. It identifies the likely impact on:
Female Factory, Asylum, Cumberland Hospital
Female Factory, by Augustus Earle nla.pic-an2818460
What ever happened to the plans for an Arts and Heritage precinct in Parramatta?
The North Parramatta Government precinct covers 32 hectares of public land. It includes buildings of immense cultural and historic significance such as the convict built Female Factory designed by Francis Greenway in 1818, fine examples of Federation and Arts and Crafts style buildings designed by Barnet and Vernon as well as 150 year old formal plantings by Charles Moore.
An estimated 1 in 7 Australians today is descended from the convict women of the Female Factory.
The State government says the land is “surplus” and plans to sell it for private residential development of 4000+ units in 30 storey towers. And that’s before developers get to apply for extensions to those heights under the LEP. North Parramatta Residents’ Action Group says NO and seeks support. The video below gives an idea of just a small part of what is at stake:
A new Executive Committee was elected at the AGM on April 28th:
President: Tony Coote, Vice President: Brigid Dowsett Treasurer: Justin Parry-Okeden Secretary: Alister Sharp Committee members: Caroline Mackaness, Maureen Flowers, David Gaunt, Kate Russell and Gully Coote.
Caroline Mackaness gave a fascinating and moving presentation on the Anzac Memorial Centenary Project which will complete architect Bruce Dellits’ original vision of a water cascade and build education and interpretation spaces.
Caroline Mackaness
ANZAC Memorial
Caroline Mackaness is Director, Veterans’ Affairs, NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet. She has extensive experience in the development, management and operation of State Significant Heritage and Cultural Facilities, including capital works and heritage conservation.
Caroline is an historian and author of ‘Bridging Sydney’ for the 75th anniversary of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, ‘Sydney Then & Now’ and ‘An Edwardian Summer’. She is also a valued member of the HHT Committee.
Tony Coote, President of HHT urged Council to reject the Planning Proposal from the developers of the Gladesville Shopping Village site who wanted to amend the Local Environmental Plan to allow them to build up to 58m and increase the floor-space-ratio. You can read Tony’s speech here. All Councillors, apart from Peter Astridge, voted to reject the proposal.
The state government can approve the Planning Proposal without local council support, and we expect that the developers will apply to build higher than current local planning instruments allow.
From the plans exhibited, Moch Pty Ltd expects to build across the site where the timber cottage at 10 Cowell St stands as well as the at-grade open car-park further up Cowell Street and land on Massey Street.
Moch will take legal ownership of the timber cottage at 10 Cowell Street on 4th April, having been sold it by Hunters Hill Council. This sale was not subject to any public consultation beforehand and there was no public or competitive tender for the sale. The sale happened before Council finally agreed to grant heritage protection to the cottage. When Council eventually put the heritage listing into the Local Environmental Plan, the land around the cottage was excluded – despite no such limit being applied to any other heritage listing by Hunters Hill Council and no such limit to the listing in the motion approved by Council.
Information and regular updates available from Gladesville Community Group.
GSV view from south west. Image: Robertson and Marks, Architects
Hunters Hill Council will consider the Planning Proposal from the owner of GSV who wants the Local Environmental Plan to be amended to allow them to build up to 58m (16 storeys), and increase the floor-space-ratio (FSR, which is a measure of bulk because it is the ratio of how much area a building can create, expressed as a multiple of the site footprint at ground level) from 2.3 and 2.7 at different points of the site, to 3.4 across the entire site.
The development site now includes the ‘at-grade’ car park at 4-6 Cowell St, and the timber cottage at 10 Cowell St, after the developer exercised its Option to acquire these properties from the public, settling 4th April 2016.
Source: pinterest
Members of Hunters Hill Trust committee met with Anthony Roberts member for Lane Cove, Minister for Industry, Resources and Energy at his electoral office in Gladesville on 3rd December 2015 to discuss:
Present: Anthony Roberts, Tony Coote, Brigid Dowsett, Alister Sharp, Kate Russell. There was no written agenda for the meeting.
A.R. began by commenting on his disappointment over the impending demolition of the building in which his office is situated; it is to be replaced by a large block of apartments.
A.R. had major concerns regarding Urban Growth NSW for its over-development of the land around North Ryde Station (in Delhi Rd), especially the small amount of open space within the development
Note: A Planning Proposal for this project went to Council on 8 October: Council must respond within 90 days.
T.C. commented that drawings for the redevelopment of Gladesville Shopping Village (GSV) propose much greater heights than are allowed in current DCP and LEP, and would obstruct views from proposed redevelopment along Victoria Rd as well overshadowing the existing houses below the site. “What can we do?”
A.R.: “I’ll oppose it”
Councillor Meredith Sheil has made a long comment online regarding The Trust’s open letter to Council following the finalisation of the sale of publicly owned property to the developer of the site. Click here for the full text of the Open Letter.
Councillor Sheil should not be surprised by The Trust’s attitude towards Council’s role in the redevelopment of the GSV site. Our view is long standing and has been canvassed on a number of occasions.
In our submission of 7 November 2013 objecting to the original Moch Pty Ltd proposal for the GSV site, which was subsequently withdrawn we argued that:
It is an overdevelopment of the site.
(The items in bold relate specifically to Hunters Hill Council’s role in the development.)
Click here for the full text of The Trust’s 2013 submission objecting to the proposal.
In summary we argued that a major reason for the overdevelopment of the site is because Council accepted the revisions to the LEP and DCP in the Newbold Review of 2009. The revised DCP increased the density and height allowed on the site on the basis that the previous controls “would not deliver financially-feasible redevelopment” of the site. The Trust argued: “ this clearly puts the developer’s financial interest ahead of the community’s interest and the maintenance of the amenity of the surrounding area”.
Gone within our lifetime? Image: Huffingtonpost.com
The NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act is set to fast-track land-clearing approvals in response to pressure from big agribusiness and a minority of landholders.
Before the election, Premier Baird committed to “enhancing the state’s biodiversity to benefit current and future generations” but the government is now weakening our nature protection laws.
You can add your name to the petition to NSW Government calling for key changes to the Biodiversity Conservation Bill: Stand up for Nature petition
Without urgent action, many our species of native wildlife, including the koala, will become extinct within our lifetime. Without better approaches to land management, farmers will find it even harder to provide food and fibre sustainably in a hotter, drier climate.
A street protest will be held to call on the Prime Minister to intervene.
10:00am Monday 14th March, outside Malcolm Turnbull’s electoral office, corner of New South Head and Edgecliff Roads, Edgecliff.
