The presentation of this year’s awards takes place at the historic Locomotive Workshops at Australian Technology Park on Friday 1 July. This promises to be a memorable night in a wonderfully spacious venue. The seated dinner arrangement should be appealing, plus we have a star attraction in the wild and witty Judith Lucy as MC. I hope to see many NSW members at the architectural ‘night of the year.’

Bays Precinct

The Institute was an enthusiastic supporter of UrbanGrowth NSW’s approach to the re-imagining of this massive site west of the Pyrmont peninsula. They went out of their way to engage with the professions, the experts and the community in preparing for the development of the eight sites in the precinct.

But I had misgivings when late last year three parcels of land, including the White Bay power station, were offered for development proposals to convert the heritage structure into a technology hub adjacent to facilities for the health, education and creative industries.

I asked: ‘Where is the master plan for this site – and how will it connect with the rest of the precinct? How will it integrate into the adjacent suburbs?  Where is the commitment to fine grain and multiple players and many authors? How will public transport service this area?’

Ten days ago the government announced that all 13 bids to develop this massive 10 hectare site had been rejected and UrbanGrowth will instead produce a master plan, design the precinct and make smaller lots available for tender to the private sector.

Indeed, Planning Minister Rob Stokes rejected the government’s previous model of handing over public land for the private sector to both plan and develop that has been the target of criticism by the Institute for some years. He said: ‘This will not be an exercise where government hands over large areas of public land and gives away control without ensuring good outcomes for the community’ (Sydney Morning Herald 9/6/16).

This is upsetting for the teams that developed the 13 proposals – but very good news for the public interest and the rational development of public land. As I said to Cameron Jewell in a piece published by The Fifth Estate last week:

‘We’ve always known what good city making is. You make the public domain, make streets, footpaths, separations, set heights, then sell it off to private interest.

This allows diversity and maximises public benefit.

Overwhelmingly, all the cities we like to go to – London, Barcelona, New York, Paris – are fairly fine grain, or mixed grain. There is a mixture of small, medium and large buildings, and no two architects are likely to have designs side-by-side.’

I also believe that the government needs to go further by delivering the infrastructure that will add value to the entire Bays Precinct and attract the best people – things like light rail, ferry stops and public parks.

By putting an end to the bidding process the government has taken an important first step in developing the Bays Precinct in a manner that makes the public interest the first priority.

 

Shaun Carter
NSW Chapter President