Like Waterloo, Pyrmont is threatened with “transformation” which could either enhance, or nullify its mixed development and heritage character.
Following the Independent Planning Commission NSW’s confirmation of the Department of Planning, Industry & Environment’s (DPIE) refusal of the Star’s modification of development application for a 61-storey tower on the site of the former Pyrmont Power Station, the Premier called a snap review of planning parameters in Pyrmont, conducted by her Greater Sydney Commission (GSC).
Predictably, the GSC recommended “revitalisation” of what is already a vibrant precinct, focused on growth of their Innovation Corridor and the morphing of Pyrmont into the “gateway” to the Harbour City. A team in DPIE is preparing the Pyrmont Peninsula Place Strategy (PPPS) and will finalise its recommendations by the end of September.
Concurrently, INSW (another development-focussed department reporting to the Premier) has released its vision for the Blackwattle Bay foreshore, comprising three almost identical scenarios for the current Sydney Fish Market site, each including three 45-storey towers to complement the wall of buildings on the Eastern boundary of Pyrmont and Ultimo which effectively shuts them off from the CBD. We fear that if any of these scenarios proceed, it will establish a height precedent which will turn the peninsula into a series of narrow canyons, aping the towers which shut out the sun and the sky from the city streets.
In March, the PPPS team released its 10 Directions for the PPPS and we are pinning our hopes on the words of Direction 1 which foreshadow “development that complements or enhances the area … in which buildings sit comfortably with terrace housing, smaller shops and heritage areas”. We are particularly anxious that our current stock of social/affordable housing will be protected and increased and that other much-needed social and physical infrastructure will be provided along with any new developments which arise with changes to planning instruments recommended by the DPIE team.
Pyrmont and Ultimo can support more growth but it must be respectful of their current characters and be transitional in form from that of the CBD to that of Glebe. But towers – no way.
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For more information email Pyrmont Action Inc. Convenor Elizabeth Elenius eelenius@bigpond.net.au
