[North Eveleigh] Political Parties on Housing Policy / North Eveleigh - CME Exhibition / Bridge Housing Elizabeth Street / Waterloo VPA Exhibition / Action for Public Housing / Explorer Street

[REDWatch Spokesperson]

Dear REDWatch members, supporters and agencies,



Public, Social and Affordable Housing Policies of major parties in their own words - REDWatch 6pm 2 February

Chief Mechanical Engineers Building (CME) SSDA Exhibition until 21 February 2023

Bridge Housing to develop 600-660 Elizabeth Street LAHC Redevelopment

Bridge Housing flips NSW 30:70 model in Redfern Development

Waterloo Voluntary Planning Agreement (VPA) - Exhibition ends 20 Feb

Action for Public Housing’s Save Waterloo Action 29th January

Clover letter on Endeavour Street Public Housing South Eveleigh

Please note – this email contains hyperlinks. This means that if you see a blue underlined word or phrase that you can click on it and go directly to a document or to get more information.

Happy New Year to all!

It has been a busy week with the NSW Government clearing the decks for the March state election so we have exhibitions and announcements to let you know about across a number of sites. We also have a meeting where representatives of the major parties will explain their social and affordable housing policies.

Public, Social and Affordable Housing Policies of major parties in their own words - REDWatch 6pm 2 February

Heading into what is looking like a close NSW election, policy differences are emerging between the major parties on public, social and affordable housing. With the inner city having large housing estates and a number of proposed public housing renewals, REDWatch has arranged for representatives of the Liberal, Labor and Green Parties to attend and explain their party’s policy for these three housing types. In addition Shelter NSW, as a housing peak, will outline its election asks of the parties. Speakers include:

  *   Greens NSW, Jenny Leong MP
  *   Labor NSW, Rose Jackson MLC
  *   Liberals NSW – Chris Rath MLC
  *   Shelter NSW – Cathy Callaghan

The meeting will include presentations about the policies of the three parties and an opportunity for Questions and Answers. It is expected that there will be lots of questions so they can either be emailed to mail at redwatch.org.au or phoned to Geoff on 8004 1490 before the meeting so we can prioritise the questions most people want asked. There is a poster<http://www.redwatch.org.au/eventnotice/230202redw/view> you can use to promote the meeting or you can share the meeting details from the REDWatch Facebook page<https://www.facebook.com/RedfernEveleighDarlingtonWaterlooWatch/>.

The meeting will be held on Thursday February 2, 6pm at the Factory Community Centre, 67 Raglan Street Waterloo or you can join on Zoom via https://tinyurl.com/RedwatchZoomMeeting.

Chief Mechanical Engineers Building (CME) SSDA Exhibition until 21 February 2023

The Transport Asset Management Entity (TAHE) and Transport for NSW (TfNSW), which are handling the redevelopment of Redfern North Eveleigh, have put forward a proposal for the adaptive reuse of Chief Mechanical Engineers building on Wilson Street. The proposal is on exhibition through the NSW Major Projects portal until 21 February 2023 as 505 Wilson Street, Redfern - CME Building<https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/major-projects/projects/505-wilson-street-redfern-cme-building>.

Regrettably TAHE and TfNSW have not released the CME Conservation Management Plan that is supposed to guide any work on the building.

The CME building, is listed as a State Heritage item (Item #01139) under the Heritage Act 1977. It is a two-storey masonry and brick building in the Victorian style built in 1887 and subsequently extended in 1900 and 1920 to accommodate the expansion of NSW railways and demand for engineering services within the area. It was the primary administrative building for the whole Eveleigh Railway Workshops (ERW) housing the office of the Chief Mechanical Engineer as well as ordinary engineers, overseers, inspectors and various clerical staff.

It currently contains 32 rooms and 3 bathrooms across two levels. Room sizes vary, with rooms at the eastern and western sides of the building being larger and the central rooms being smaller. Heritage fabric within the rooms include fireplaces, ceiling and wall detailing and cabinetry. Minor internal alterations over the years to these rooms included the addition of lighting and false ceilings, wall partitions and cabinetry. The site also includes an existing garden to the east of the CME building which has been left un-kept for several years. This area is known as the Eastern Gardens.

The Development Application on exhibition proposes restoration of the building and alterations to make it suitable for current day use. Proposed works comprise new internal walls, doors, a lift, amenities, windows and new balustrades. Landscaping is proposed to improve the curtilage around the CME building and ensure the building is more accessible while retaining all trees on the site. New in-ground services including a new stormwater system and new sewer connection are also proposed.

The questions for this exhibition relate to the trade-off between the original heritage values of this important heritage item and what is considered necessary to make it suitable for reuse. It’s about the appropriateness of the adaptive reuse and if Burra Charter<https://australia.icomos.org/publications/burra-charter-practice-notes/> conservation principles have been applied.

The main summary document for this exhibition is CME Final EIS<https://majorprojects.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/prweb/PRRestService/mp/01/getContent?AttachRef=SSD-39971796%2120221223T010842.663%20GMT>. This document includes up to Appendix E, The rest of the appendices as separate documents that can be downloaded from the exhibition page for 505 Wilson Street, Redfern - CME Building<https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/major-projects/projects/505-wilson-street-redfern-cme-building>. REDWatch will prepare a guide to the documents which will be on the REDWatch website’s CME Page<http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/statesignificant/northeveleigh/cme>.

Given that this exhibition is about the impact of the work on this heritage listed building, it is of major concern that the Conservation Management Plan (CMP) for the CME’s building, which the EIS says was prepared in 2022 has not been placed on exhibition with the other documents.

Instead we have a Statement of Heritage Impact<https://majorprojects.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/prweb/PRRestService/mp/01/getContent?AttachRef=SSD-39971796%2120221222T054057.106%20GMT>, as well as an Aboriginal Heritage Due Diligence<https://majorprojects.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/prweb/PRRestService/mp/01/getContent?AttachRef=SSD-39971796%2120221222T054550.640%20GMT> and a Historical Archaeological Assessment<https://majorprojects.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/prweb/PRRestService/mp/01/getContent?AttachRef=SSD-39971796%2120221222T054054.934%20GMT>. Appendix B of the Statement of Heritage Impact, has a table assessment against the CME’s CMP Policies but the CMP itself has not been released.

The first policy referenced in the CME CMP Policy assessment section states: “The present CMP should be used as the principal document to guide the conservation and management of the CME Building. This CMP should be adopted by TAHE and TfNSW”. Presumably the 2022 CMP that is supposed to be the principle document governing what happens to the CME’s building has not yet been adopted by TAHE and TfNSW.

Nor it would appear that TAHE and TfNSW are prepared to publically exhibit the CMP to gain feedback from the community. This is a major concern. While CMPs for South Eveleigh were released for comment and are publically available, TfNSW has not released CMPs for Redfern Station, nor now for the CME building.

Appendix B also assesses the proposed changes to the CME building against the Overarching CMP which was released as part of the Paint Shop Precinct documents and can be seen - Updated Eveleigh Railway Workshops Overarching Conservation Management Plan<https://shared-drupal-s3fs.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/master-test/fapub_pdf/Keelie+Drupal+Documents/Updated+Eveleigh+Railway+Workshops+Overarching+Conservation+Management+Plan.pdf> and Addendum to Eveleigh Railway Workshop Overarching Conservation Management Plan<https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2022/Addendum%20to%20Eveleigh%20Railway%20Workshop%20Overarching%20Conservation%20Management%20Plan.pdf>.

REDWatch has argued since the Redfern Waterloo Authority was established in 2004 that the CME Building should be restored and bought to an appropriate use rather than left to deteriorate until the fate of the rest of North Eveleigh was determined. It is pleasing to see this is now happening, even if it has allowed almost 20 years unnecessary decay. What is of concern is that not all the relevant documents to do the adaptive use assessment required in this DA have been released.

TfNSW has run a Registration of Interest (ROI) process to gauge interest in moving into the building and is currently near the end of its Expression of Interest (EOI) process. The changes proposed in this DA are to make the building suitable for whoever gains the building to be able to move in. Depending on the activity of the successful applicant, a use DA may be required.

Bridge Housing to develop 600-660 Elizabeth Street LAHC Redevelopment

On Monday 23rd January, Minister Anthony Roberts, responsible for Planning and Homes, announced that The NSW Government has appointed a consortium including one of Australia’s leading community housing providers, Bridge Housing, and national infrastructure developer Capella Capital, to deliver the $230 million renewal of Elizabeth Street, Redfern.

The announcement was dropped initially to the Sydney Morning Herald, which ran the story Hundreds of apartments to transform empty block opposite Redfern Oval<https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/hundreds-of-apartments-to-transform-empty-block-opposite-redfern-oval-20230119-p5cdrn.html> and was followed by a later ministerial media release Innovative Partnerships see Inner City Housing Boom<http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/elizssd/230123lahc>.

The actual commercial details between the successful bidder and LAHC remain Commercial in Confidence. LAHC forbids tenders from talking to local organisations during the selection process under its confidentiality agreement, so it is only after the announcement that information starts to become available from the successful consortium. Bridge, in partnership with Frasers, is one of the four shortlisted development consortiums still in the selection process for the Waterloo South and Estate development so it is still bound by the confidentiality agreement relating to that LAHC redevelopment.

The media statements says the Redfern Redevelopment is expected to commence in 2025 and be complete in 2028. The 100 social housing units on the Redfern site, along with 70 social housing units from the Waterloo Metro site have been promoted by LAHC as places that will be used for relocations from Waterloo South during its construction. The first Waterloo South relocations are scheduled to start in 2024. Waterloo South residents now know that their new landlord will be Bridge Housing if they get relocated after 2028 to the 600-660 Elizabeth Street redevelopment.

The government announcement contained little detail of the successful proposal other than the project would be around 300 units and that LAHC would receive the 100 social housing units it wanted from the site. In the media statement Natasha Maclaren-Jones said “in addition to more than 100 social homes, the project proposes a mix of housing including affordable homes, homes for key workers, disability support units and private homes.”

The 600-660 Elizabeth Street site was master planned for a public-private partnership redevelopment and approved by South Sydney Council in 2002, but a developer partner could not be found. In the end the NSW government sought approval in 2007 to build the public portion between Walker and Morehead Street itself, which were completed in 2010. The walk-ups remaining on the Elizabeth Street site were knocked down in 2013 after a campaign was rejected for formalising their use for homeless housing while a redevelopment was progressed.

The site has sat vacant since. Only the PCYC remained opposite Redfern Oval after turning down a government funding offer to move to the NCIE. The site has been a focus of campaigns about public housing land sitting vacant while so many people sit on the public housing waiting list needing social housing.

Under Communities Plus, LAHC proposed its first Build to Rent redevelopment for the site, but when it became obvious it could not get the high densities it required LAHC reverted to its standard Build-to-Sell model where around 30% of the site would be new social housing paid for by selling the rest of the land to a developer for private housing.

While LAHC put a plan to the City of Sydney for up-zoning on the site, the Council developed its own lower scale proposal for the planning controls and also pushed for the site to deliver affordable housing, as well as social housing. LAHC pushed back on the affordable housing arguing that it had a mandate to deliver social housing and had a broader mandate which allowed it to extract a return from the site so it could be used in other parts of the state.

The site, like public housing redevelopment sites in Waterloo, Eveleigh and Glebe, has more recently attracted protests against the government’s self-funding Communities Plus model which sell off 70% of the site to a developer to pay for the delivery of new social housing on the remainder of the site. The response from local Newtown MP Jenny Leong reflects these concerns – see her media release Redevelopment of Elizabeth Street, Redfern will be a sell off of public land for private profit - Jenny Leong Response<http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/elizssd/230123jl>. This was picked up in the City Hub’s Leong calls for Redfern development to retain 100% public housing<https://cityhubsydney.com.au/2023/01/leong-calls-for-redfern-development-to-retain-100-public-housing/>.

The site also was a focus for the Redfern-Waterloo Aboriginal Affordable Housing Campaign’s ask for 10% Aboriginal Social and Affordable Housing on the development of all government controlled land in the Redfern Waterloo area. Warren Roberts from the campaign was on 702 radio pushing that campaign’s claim on 25 January 2023.

While the Elizabeth Street redevelopment announcement does see public housing land sold off, the outcome is not the usual Community Housing Provider manages the social housing for LAHC and the developer sells off the rest of the units to private owners. Campaigners may yet get a lot of what they have argued for.

Bridge Housing flips NSW 30:70 model in Redfern Development

Now that the announcement is out it is possible to also see what Bridge Housing<https://www.bridgehousing.org.au/> has said it wants to do. The site has reasonably tight planning controls so the final outcome will not be determined until the DA stage when the final building designs and layouts are submitted, but in the past LAHC has talked about 300 units on the site, but Bridge thinks it can get over 300.

The first surprise about this announcement is that Bridge Housing is the development lead for the redevelopment, not just a CHP that will run the LAHC owned affordable housing. This is the first time a CHP has been appointed to lead a Communities Plus project. It is a model that was used by the Aboriginal Housing Company for the Pemulwuy Project on The Block.

Being the developer means that Bridge can choose to use its developer margin to deliver affordable housing it will own on the site. Bridge says “all our profits must be used to deliver more affordable housing and better services”. Bridge estimates that it will be able to provide 39-40 units of low to medium income affordable housing on the site it owns. Bridge has also said that it plans to relocate its headquarters to Redfern once the project is complete. The Bridge office was in the old TNT Towers prior to their redevelopment.

Bridge Housing’s consortium partner is Capella Capital<https://capellacapital.com.au/>, a leading infrastructure advisor. Bridge has also said that Hickory<https://www.hickory.com.au/> will be the builder and local employment opportunities will be created. We know nothing about how the redevelopment will be financed other than a general statement by Bridge CEO Rebecca Pinkstone that the “development will become a blueprint for how the community housing sector, working in partnership with government, institutional investors, commercial lenders and the private sector, can deliver social and affordable housing at scale”.

The next surprise is that Bridge is only proposing 100 market homes rather than the expected 200 in the LAHC plan. Some of the private housing will be replaced by the 40 homes Bridge will build and retain ownership of, but it is also saying there will be 80 affordable homes for key workers and 11 specialist disability homes.

Given the Bridge model, it might still be possible, if Federal Government funding for Affordable Housing was to become available that the site could still end up a mix of social and affordable housing of different types. Such an outcome would further strengthen the argument that government itself should be able to do such developments while retaining government land.

In its fact sheet, Bridge has said that “10% of all of Bridge Housing’s allocation of homes will be dedicated to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tenants”. This will go some way towards the outcomes sort by the Aboriginal Affordable Housing Campaign even if they are also aiming for Aboriginal housing to be run by or in collaboration with Aboriginal organisations. Bridge has however given a “commitment to engagement with First Nations communities to find opportunities for involvement in the further development of the project” so that element of the Aboriginal Affordable Housing ask may not be off the table either.

It is not clear from the Bridge statement about what is happening with PCYC, the fact sheet says the project will deliver “3,500 m2 of community space as a hub for local services, potentially including the PCYC subject to funding, and Bridge Housing’s new head office with community meeting space”.

So while all this is subject to the final DA, it is looking a lot better than many in the community feared after dealing with LAHC. Bridge Housing say it looks forward to working with stakeholders in the coming year as it prepare the DA for submission. If you would like further information you can email Bridge Housing on redfernplace at bridgehousing.org.au or visit our website www.bridgehousing.org.au<http://www.bridgehousing.org.au>.

On the REDWatch website you can find the Bridge Housing Fact Sheet on Elizabeth Street, Redfern Redevelopment<http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/elizssd/230124bhfs/view> and the text of the initial website Bridge Statement on Redfern Estate<http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/elizssd/230124bh>. You can also see one of the Bridge graphics released by LAHC on the REDWatch website under Bridge Housing - successful pitch for 600-660 Elizabeth Street<http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/elizssd/230123bh/view>.

Waterloo Voluntary Planning Agreement (VPA) - Exhibition ends 20 Feb

The planning controls for Waterloo South within the Waterloo Estate were finalised in November 2022. The new planning controls were to come into effect after a planning agreement was publicly notified and finalised.

Planning agreements are a method of securing development contributions to help cover the cost of delivering infrastructure needed to support new businesses, communities and homes. A planning agreement is a legal agreement between a developer and a planning authority. This planning agreement is between the Council of the City of Sydney, the Minister administering the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 and the NSW Land and Housing Corporation.

Being legal documents, the planning agreement is not easy for most people to understand. An explanatory note has been supplied but it is not much better and the frequently asked questions contains little detail about the agreement.

The links to the documents are:

  *   Frequently asked questions<https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/-/media/Files/DPE/Factsheets-and-faqs/Plans-for-your-area/Priority-Growth-Areas-and-Precincts/Waterloo-south-planning-agreement-faqs.pdf?la=en> (PDF, 148 KB)
  *   Explanatory Note - Draft Waterloo South Planning Agreement<https://apps.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/prweb/PRRestService/DocMgmt/v1/PublicDocuments/DATA-WORKATTACH-FILE%20PEC-DPE-EP-WORK%20SVPA2023-4!20230123T065504.076%20GMT>
  *   Signed Draft VPA - 23.01.23 - Waterloo South<https://apps.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/prweb/PRRestService/DocMgmt/v1/PublicDocuments/DATA-WORKATTACH-FILE%20PEC-DPE-EP-WORK%20SVPA2023-4!20230123T065504.432%20GMT>

If you are looking for the documents without these links, the VPA is in the Department of Planning system as 209 Cope Street Waterloo 2017 Land and Housing Corporation Planning Agreement rather than under the earlier used Waterloo South.

Making life even more difficult is that the VPA is signed so it is a pdf scan and is not searchable making locating sections referred to in it difficult. REDWatch has produced a version with an optical character recognition text overlay -Waterloo South Signed VPA with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) overlay<http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/Waterloo/lahc22-23/230126redwvpa/view>. However scanning marks on the original and inexact character recognition may mean that some words may not render correctly and users will need to check the text against the underlying image. We have put it on the REDWatch website in the hope it might help some people who want to search the document.

Submissions need to be made online through the bottom of planning portal 209 Cope Street Waterloo 2017 Land and Housing Corporation Planning Agreement<https://pp.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/svpa/notification/209-cope-street-waterloo-2017-nsw-land-and-housing-corporation-planning-agreement> page. The exhibition is open for public feedback until Monday 20 February 2023.

The planning agreement will require the following public benefits:

  *   Roads - Providing land and the construction of new roads
  *   The embellishment of existing roads
  *   Open space - Creating new public open space of approximately 23,600m2
  *   Community facilities – Providing land and construction for approximately 2,400m2 of community facilities.

The Frequently asked questions document states the agreement “does not include information such as the type of community facilities or the locations of open space. The Waterloo Estate (South) Design Guide provides requirements which will need to be addressed by future redevelopment of the site relating to community facilities and open space. The detailed design and specific locations of these spaces will be provided by future development applications for the redevelopment of the site. These development applications will be publicly exhibited, and you’ll have an opportunity to have your say.” Council will be involved in the future design and operation of the open space and community facilities and both of these will be subject to further consultation.

The agreement sets out how the works and land delivered will be determined and makes a provision for “top up” or credit amounts. Credit amounts can be applied to future development of Waterloo Estate (North) and Waterloo Estate (Central). It also sets out requirements for bank guarantees and the dedication and transfer of land. The agreement seeks to cover off all possible contingencies in the development that may impact on the delivery of the public benefit developer contributions.

As this is making public an agreement between parties, REDWatch has been advised by Council that if any changes were made to the agreement post-exhibition, they could only be made with LAHC’s agreement and would require re-exhibition.

Action for Public Housing’s Save Waterloo Action 29th January

Action for Public Housing has been campaigning for no demolition of public housing, no evictions of housing tenants and to defend and extend public housing. In response to the proposal to develop Waterloo South, Action for Public Housing have organised an action at 1pm on Sunday January 29 at the corner of John St and George St, Waterloo. There will be music, signs and sausages as well as a community artwork spelling out Save Waterloo. For more details visit the groups Facebook event page<https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ffb.me%2Fe%2F3jEagJMih%3Fmibextid%3DRQdjqZ&h=AT2td0syx4eFCePQDJxGUWDXZGpSEDfVFN2lToLLliKfFzBpLems4TPTzwyMxGfl2p7lkI0d8Z4UyOkmE4x04LunsBSw9HlvuD2as0AMPVu7epHz2JgUlgTweojz7MRPQfiVEXnntkZiBfwH2g&__tn__=-UK-R&c%5b0%5d=AT29DTkFC_-YGQUTJVYfBZL8yPesxdCllQx4bS-OkPqNyVgHRvVI8ZEGtCE5Q2Hd6cd0Q8cdY7UOCuHscOBh8OJuyK44Ar2anOErhpbi142rc0xVx27PMGsIGfFnPYKivd8Z9QzquEInRJA6AKKWWSSZFKzq45EF_KD1UkVWVIBDHbKXoeGbgHjXMRUSuwBoKIRF6rC6UaESSw>.

Clover letter on Endeavour Street Public Housing South Eveleigh

In the REDWatch update just before Christmas we reported that the rezoning of Explorer Street Eveleigh has been taken from Council and it will be handled by the Department of Planning and Environment (DPE). The announcement was just a mention of Explorer Street in a media release primarily about new rezoning pathways<http://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/rezoning-pathways> – you can read it on the REDWatch website at Explorer Street Eveleigh Rezoning taken over by State Government<http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/Explorer/221205dpe>.

As we mentioned there was a City of Sydney Council Resolution on Explorer Street Eveleigh<http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/Explorer/221212cos>. In line with the resolution the Lord Mayor wrote letters to both the Minister and Shadow Minister for Planning. We have provided the text of the letters on the REDWatch website as Clover Moore letter to Planning and Shadow Planning Ministers on Explorer Street Eveleigh<http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/Explorer/230117cos>.

Regards,



Geoff

Geoffrey Turnbull

REDWatch Co-Spokesperson

Ph Wk: (02) 8004 1490  Mob: 0418 457 392

email: spokesperson at redwatch.org.au

web: www.redwatch.org.au<http://www.redwatch.org.au/>

FB: www.facebook.com/RedfernEveleighDarlingtonWaterlooWatch/<http://www.facebook.com/RedfernEveleighDarlingtonWaterlooWatch/>


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