How can we get better at conserving and adapting our heritage items?

By admin | Published: August 24, 2018

11 Mark Street

How can we get better at protecting, maintaining and adapting our heritage items?  There are lessons to be learned from what happened to the Schedule 5 heritage listed cottage at 11 Mark Street.

This small timber workman’s cottage became very dilapidated over many years, despite alerts from Council’s Conservation Advisory Panel (CAP) and the Hunters Hill Trust. The owners initially discussed demolition and creating car parking spaces but eventually proposed to demolish the cottage and reconstruct the front portion of it with a new building behind.

1 Ryde Road

The Council of the time ignored CAP’s detailed advice. CAP recommended that the hipped rear section of the building should not be demolished as it could be anticipated that the two storey rear addition would dominate the little house at the front. Sadly, this has proved to be true. The detail of the rebuilding of the front part of the house and the colour scheme have paid little heed to the original details of the fabric of the cottage.  Read the sad case of heritage listed cottage at 11 Mark Street here.

What does this mean today as we stand by and watch the two historic timber cottages steadily deteriorating on Ryde Road?

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Gladesville Planning Proposal – what Council is recommending

By admin | Published: August 23, 2018

The owner of the Gladesville Shopping ‘Village’ site wants to amend the local planning instruments to increase the number of flats that can be built on the Gladesville Shopping Village site.  The site includes land that is currently a public access car-park on Cowell Street and the timber cottage at 10 Cowell St which was sold to the developer by the previous Hunters Hill Council.

Current planning controls allow approximately 180 apartments to be built on the site. The proposed changes would increase that to 280 apartments.

Read Council’s latest report and recommendations for the GSV proposal here

Council is holding a public meeting to discuss its response to the proposal:  6pm-7pm Thursday 30th August 2018 at 22 Alexandra Street, Hunters Hill. All welcome.  Enquiries:   Phillppa Hayes, Senior Strategic Planner 9879 9400

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Poorly considered playground

By admin | Published: August 21, 2018

Council is proposing to build a ‘Livvi’s Place’ playground on the site of the existing, small playground in High Street near Montefiori in heritage listed Boronia Park.  Livvi’s Place playgrounds cater for the very young and those who find it difficult to engage with many existing playgrounds.

Why would Hunters Hill Council want to destroy a serviceable, existing junior playground?  The recently agreed Boronia Park Plan of Management identified older children and young people as the priority groups needing playgrounds in Boronia Park.

Livvi’s Place playgrounds are substantial constructions and involve significantly more maintenance than usual playgrounds as they include sand pits, water play equipment, paths to be swept of leaves and sand.  A recent visit to Livvi’s Place playgrounds in Ryde and Five Dock showed equipment that had been taken out of service.

The total cost of the project would be much greater than $500,000; the report to CM4443 puts the estimated cost at $500,000 + $200,000 to reconfigure car parking, and does not estimate ongoing costs of maintenance.  Read the Trust’s submission to Council here.

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Moocooboola 2018

By admin | Published: August 7, 2018

The Trust’s stall at this year’s Moocooboola Festival was very successful.  Committee members mingled with locals, discussed local heritage and the Significant Trees Register.  They answered queries about how people can go about investigating the history of their houses.

It was great to sign up 6 new members and sell some publications as well.

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Bedlam Bay walk

By admin | Published: August 6, 2018

HHT walkers

image: M Sheppard

Our July walk, led by Len Dowsett was a fascinating stroll around some of our local bays including Looking Glass and Glades Bay – which was new to many of us – and as the weather was beautiful and the foreshore sparkling, it proved to be another winner and one of those walks we must do again.

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Design Guide for Heritage

By admin | Published: August 6, 2018

Building owners, architects, consultants and and people working on heritage buildings, sites and precincts will appreciate this Design Guide for Heritage.

The guide was developed by the Government Architects of NSW and the Heritage Council of NSW, and draws on earlier publications developed by the Australian Institute of Architects NSW Chapter and Heritage Council of NSW.

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negative impacts of St Joseph’s College plans

By admin | Published: July 31, 2018

Luke St & Gladesville Rd, Source: TDK Architects

St Joseph’s College plans to build a huge basketball complex and gymnasium. The basketball court building would be more than 14m high and extend 95m along Luke Street and 34m along Gladesville Road.  This is almost twice the height of what is allowed by houses in the adjacent streets.

St Joseph’s College is heritage listed (Heritage Item 1242) and is also within Hunters Hill Council’s General Conservation Area.  The current plans have negative impacts on this Heritage Item and also on the local Conservation Area.

The style of the BASKETBALL COMPLEX building has been described as “brutal,” “stark” and “industrial” and is at odds with the residential scale and character of the surrounding streets.  It will destroy the garden setting and completely change the character of this part of the campus.  Views of various buildings and landscape features will be obliterated.

The heritage-listed stonewalls to Gladesville Road and Luke St will be overwhelmed by the scale of the new structure’s walls.  The street trees in Luke St, on public land, will be ‘demolished and replaced’.  Existing properties in Luke St  will be over shadowed and lose afternoon sun in winter. There will also be sound problems and traffic problems.

The form and finishes of the GYMNASIUM are also unsympathetic to the existing surrounding buildings.  The landscaped area between the Brothers’ Residence and Chapel will be destroyed.

Source: majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au

Since this proposal is being classed as a State Significant Development, the College is not necessarily bound by the LEP controls that every other ratepayer is required to abide by.  The College still has a moral duty to do the right thing by the community and to respect the objectives and controls set out in Hunters Hill Council’s Local Environment Plan and its Development Control Plan, not just to its own heritage listed campus, but also to the neighbourhood.

The Trust urges Council and the Local Planning Panel, which will ultimately assess the proposals, to reject both in their entirety.  Read the Trust’s detailed assessment of the College’s proposal here.  For more details of the proposed works: Check here.

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Historic cottages: is this demolition by neglect?

By admin | Published: July 14, 2018

1A Ryde Road, Hunters Hill

At its meeting on 24th May, the Main Street Committee expressed concern about the rapid deterioration of two weatherboard cottages at 1A and 3 Ryde Rd near the Hunters Hill overpass. The doors and/or windows of these cottages have been open, and there is a danger of them collapsing, or catching fire.

Hunters Hill Trust members are concerned about the continued  neglect of these historic cottages, and want to know why they are still unprotected from further deterioration.

What action is the owner and site developer taking to stabilise them?

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save Moore Park’s trees

By admin | Published: July 11, 2018

save Sydney’s trees

The deadline for the community to make a submission against Stage 1 of the NSW Government’s knockdown-rebuild proposal for Allianz Stadium is fast approaching.

Buried in hundreds of pages of technical reports submitted as part of the Government’s development applications are seriously concerning details – including the proposed removal of healthy trees, increased events and patronage which will impact on our access to Moore Park and inadequate plans to fix congestion.

Send your own submission by Wednesday 11 July or you can sign the save Moore Park petition here.

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proposed alterations to historic cottage

By admin | Published: July 7, 2018

The Hunters Hill Trust supports Council’s work to preserve the unique character and heritage of Hunters Hill and its conservation areas, and its stand to preserve the cottage at 18 Richmond Crescent Hunters Hill.  You can read the Trust’s detailed comments on the proposed alterations and additions to the cottage that are currently being proposed.

Council has previously rejected an application to demolish this cottage and build a very large new house in its place.  Late last year the Land and Environment Court dismissed an appeal from the owners of 18 Richmond Crescent. Key factors cited in the judgement included the heritage value of the existing cottage.

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