NSW Chapter President’s Message
Monday 7 November
National Awards
There was a great roll-up to the National Awards ceremony held in Sydney last week. This is the Institute’s annual opportunity to demonstrate the excellence of the work of its members to the Australian community. A big round of applause to the NSW winners:
Commercial Architecture
The Harry Seidler Award – AHL Headquarters – 478 George Street by Candalepas Associates
National Award – 5 Martin Place by JPW & TKD architects in collaboration
Educational Architecture
National Commendation – UNSW Materials Science & Engineering Building by Grimshaw
Heritage
National Award – 5 Martin Place by JPW & TKD architects in collaboration
Public Architecture
National Award – St Andrews House by Candalepas Associates
National Commendation – Kempsey Crescent Head Surf Life Saving Club by Neeson Murcutt Architects Pty Ltd
Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
National Award – Darlinghurst Rooftop by CO-AP (Architects)
Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
The Robin Boyd Award – Indigo Slam by Smart Design Studio
Residential Architecture – Multiple Housing
National Award – 10 Wylde Street by SJB
Sustainable Architecture
National Award – Northern Beaches Christian School by WMK Architecture
Urban Design
National Award – Lennox Bridge Portals by Hill Thalis Architecture + Urban Projects
People’s Choice Award
Winner – Deepwater by Tobias Partners
Barangaroo casino court case
Many eyes will be watching proceedings in the Land & Environment Court next week as the Environmental Defenders Office challenges the Planning Assessment Commission’s decision in June to approve the Crown casino project. The basis of the case brought by Millers Point Fund Incorporated is that the Commission erred by accepting a 2013 amendment to the Casino Control Act agreeing to locate the casino on the harbour foreshore. The case rests on whether that act can take precedence over the Environmental Planning & Assessment Act, which governs the decision-making process of consent authorities such as the Commission.
Saving the Sirius
There’s been quite a bit of action on the Sirius front as well. Last week I spoke at a media conference with Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development Anthony Albanese, NSW Member for Sydney Alex Greenwich, NSW ALP shadow ministers Tania Mihailuk (Family & Community Services) and Penny Sharpe (Heritage) and Green Bans hero Jack Mundey announcing court action challenging the legality of the decision not to list Sirius on the State Heritage Register. The conference was preceded by articles in the Fairfax press. We are now awaiting a call-over at the Land & Environment Court to determine the hearing date, probably early next year.
The Sirius building is a fine example of Australian brutalist architecture. It’s also a highly innovative design that is sensitive to its historic context and to the needs of its social housing tenants.
On top of all that, it’s a building that owes its very existence to the Green Bans movement. That struggle challenged the Askin government’s attempts to disperse low income families from The Rocks and Millers Point and resulted in the Wran government’s introduction of heritage legislation in 1977.
How ironic that we are now fighting the same battle over the same issues more than three decades later in defence of a building that embodies that very struggle! As George Santayana said: ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it’.
If the state won’t look after our cultural treasures, we will.
Design at the forefront of government policy
Two initiatives in recent weeks by NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes deserve our congratulations. Better Placed, prepared by the Office of the Government Architect, is a comprehensive design policy that lays the foundation for a design-led planning strategy and guidelines supporting better architecture and urban design. It establishes a NSW State Design Advisory Panel to consider key state significant projects.
The Minister has also released a new draft policy to encourage the design and construction of terraces, manor houses and other forms of medium density housing. The code will enable some forms of medium density housing – side by side dwellings, manor houses and terraces – to be assessed as complying development. The code is accompanied by a design guide that provides minimum standards for this kind of development, based on the same design quality principles as those in SEPP 65.
The Minister has also announced that the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 will be amended to include a new object promoting good design in the built environment.