[North Eveleigh] Waterloo South Demolition / short term use / Concept Plan / Christmas / REDWatch AGM

[Geoff Turnbull (REDWatch Spokesperson)]

Dear REDWatch members, supporters and agencies,

Waterloo South Stage One Demolition - feedback by 10 December 2025

"Meanwhile Use" - Short term use of 29 Johns Street Waterloo

More info on Stockland Concept Plan - Consultation until 5 December 2025

Raise any concerns about Waterloo redevelopment social impacts

Waterloo Green Christmas Celebration - Friday 21st  November 2-5pm

881-885 Bourke Street Waterloo Exhibition until 25 November 2025

REDWatch Informal get-together - 6pm 4th December 2025

REDWatch AGM - 7pm 4th December 2025

REDWatch is looking for people to be actively involved

REDWatch Membership

Donations to REDWatch are always welcome
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.
Waterloo South Stage One Demolition - feedback by 10 December 2025
Notice of the proposed demolition of buildings in Waterloo South Stage 1 has been distributed to tenants and those around the site. REDWatch has posted the Waterloo South Stage 1 Demolition Notice<http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/Waterloo/stage1/251113hnsw/view> on its website.
This information has not yet appeared on the official Homes NSW Waterloo website<https://www.nsw.gov.au/about-nsw/housing-and-infrastructure-projects/social-building-projects/waterloo-renewal-project> nor the Waterloo Redevelopment<https://www.waterloorenewal.com.au/> website. It is also not mentioned in the just issued November Waterloo Connect newsletter that will appear in the newsletters section of the Homes NSW Waterloo website<https://www.nsw.gov.au/about-nsw/housing-and-infrastructure-projects/social-building-projects/waterloo-renewal-project>.
The notice is in effect the start of the actual development process that would normally be covered by a Development Application.
This is the only opportunity to comment on the Stage One demolition and it is a separate process to the current community consultation on the Stockland Concept Plan and rezoning. All feedback on the proposed demolition needs to be received by Wednesday 10 December to CommunityEngagement at homes.nsw.gov.au<mailto:CommunityEngagement at homes.nsw.gov.au>.
In its Scoping Proposal Stockland foreshadowed this was going to happen and left wriggle room in its consultation wording. The public take-a-way from the consultation wording was that nothing is going to happen until we do the big picture concept plan.
It would have been far less confusing if Homes NSW had waited until the concept plan consultation was over, but this is what you get if you are trying to accelerate the process and leave things until just before Christmas!
Homes NSW is notifying the demolition as a Review of Environmental Factors (REF) which is an environmental impact assessment conducted by Homes NSW itself that does not require public exhibition. As a result, the current notice is flagging an intention to demolish giving a brief overview, without releasing any of the studies they need to undertake for Planning NSW. The final reports will only be seen on line after Planning NSW has given approval for the proposal.
This notice period precedes the finalisation of Stockland's Concept Plan expected to be lodged for approval around March 2026. It has been done to speed up the demolition while the Concept Plan, basement / early words and first building DAs work their way through the planning process.
A consequence of this early notice is that the community has to raise concerns about aspects of demolitions and stage one with both Stockland for the Master Plan as well as Homes NSW for the demolition to make sure that community concerns are reflected in both planning pathways.
Below are some concerns REDWatch thinks should be raised, but please raise your own concerns during the period for feedback:

  *   The plans released by Homes with the notice show the demolition area and what trees plan to be removed and retained. Special attention needs to be paid to what is proposed, as once the trees are gone there won't be replacements for a long time. The temporary park will also not have much tree cover.
  *   Truck movements from the demolition site will happen via John and Mead Streets, but the route after exit is not currently shown. Given John Street is closed trucks will need to go through or past some of the estate to exit the area, but this information and its impact is not provided.
  *   Rats were a major problem during the Waterloo Metro demolition and Homes NSW needs to have a control process in place prior to and during the demolition to minimise impact on those who live around the demolition site.
  *   Putting in place training for contractors to minimise adverse interactions between locals and workers on the site will be essential. This will be the first work on the Waterloo Estate site and it will need to overcome the legacy of interactions between locals and the Metro site developer that saw off-duty police needing to be paid so that work on the site could be undertaken. From the start the Waterloo redevelopment needs to handle this much better.
  *   Handling of dust and any asbestos on site are usually well covered in standard demolition requirements. Recycling of materials should be a part of what is required.
  *   Work hours should not be allowed outside normal construction times. Respite times, when work is not happening on the site, should be notified to those impacted by the demolition.
  *   Any Concept Plan identified social impacts requiring mitigation should also apply to the demolition.
*         Please let REDWatch know of any other issues that you think are important for Homes NSW to consider during the demolition stage.
The proposed demolition work if approved, is expected to begin in early to mid-2026 as part of a staged demolition program over 6 - 9 months after tenants have been relocated. Homes NSW will first need to appoint a demolition contractor.
Before demolition can start, all tenants have to be relocated and at least some unit blocks empty. Some tenants have already moved and some are still waiting for a suitable place in their preferred location to become available, which takes time depending on where they want to move.
For Homes NSW one benefit of the accelerated demolition is to minimise the time that buildings remain vacant and can be illegally occupied after current tenants are relocated.
While not included in the notice, Homes NSW has indicated an intention to create a temporary open space on the cleared land until Stockland is ready to proceed with basement construction.
"Meanwhile Use" - Short term use of 29 Johns Street Waterloo
The demolition notice also included information about Homes NSW plans for interim use of some of the site which it refers to as "meanwhile use". One building at 29 John Street will be used as part of a short-term rental program for 12 months. REDWatch welcomes the use of some properties for interim/meanwhile use. This approach was trialled with Community Housing Provider Bridge Housing running a similar program in Glebe. Arrangements for the Waterloo trial are still being finalised and it is hoped that as arrangements are bedded down that interim use of properties rather than them being knocked down early will be expanded.
More info on Stockland Concept Plan - Consultation until 5 December 2025
More information about Stockland's Concept Plan has become available through the Online Community Information & Feedback Session presentation<https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/68e5bd886589104662180f8d/691170ff8ff7c30f347514f9_Waterloo%203%20Nov%20Online%20Session%20presentation.pdf>. This presentation remains the only place that Stockland is publicly showing the heights of proposed buildings and how it has arrived at its concept. The presentation provides a much more wholistic view of what Stockland is proposing than the few illustrations linked to by the Waterloo Renewal website<https://www.waterloorenewal.com.au/>, which REDWatch has discussed in our Stockland Consortium Waterloo South Concept Plan with REDWatch comments<http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/Waterloo/stage1/251029redw>.
With a number of opportunities available to meet with representatives from the Consortium (see details on www.waterloorenewal.com.au<http://www.waterloorenewal.com.au>) we encourage people to attend and ask your questions. Our experience is that there is more information available at these sessions than what is on the website and if you ask questions, you will learn much more about what is proposed than you will from just reading the website and the presentation.
You can also email questions and comments to hello at waterloorenewal.com.au<mailto:hello at waterloorenewal.com.au> or Phone 1800 997 318. Stockland will accept submissions / comments in writing until 5pm on 5th December 2025.
Regretfully due to video quality problems from the November REDWatch meeting with Stockland we have not posted the video of this meeting which would have provided some additional information. Below are some comments on the Concept Plan based on the presentation.
Stockland's proposal is a major rework of the 2022 plan, which had four towers and everything else up to 13 storeys. The Stockland plan retains four longer towers that cannot go higher due to flight restrictions and includes nine buildings between 15 and 22 storeys, delivering a height mix similar to the earlier Land and Housing Corporation Preferred Masterplan that preceded Council's 2022 proposal.
The 2022 approval added an additional 10% design excellence floor space to the proposal. Stockland says this cannot be accommodated within the 2022 controls, necessitating planning control changes to deliver the approved space. Stockland is arguing its case by showing where it can add the extra floor space on the original 2022 plan. This leads to its new proposal that accommodates the extra space, but increases many buildings heights and lowers some others.
While Homes NSW and the Consortium are sticking with the 2022 pre-floor space increase figure of the development delivering 3,000 homes, with the 10% floor space increase and the expected size difference between social, affordable and market homes, the final number of units is likely to be between 3,300 and 3,400 depending on the final mix of apartment sizes.
The presentation pack includes a broad-brush proposed development staging. It has the western side of the precinct developed in the next stage and the eastern side later. This will provide some certainty for tenants in Waterloo South.
One concern about the staging is that while Stage One has a relatively small affordable housing building that should be able to be delivered in perpetuity, the balance on the western side has both 15 and 22 storey affordable housing buildings that City West will need to find funding for earlier in the redevelopment if they are to remain in perpetuity. City West told the last REDWatch meeting it wants to try to get funding for all the sites planned to be affordable housing so they can be in perpetuity.
Stockland is concurrently negotiating with planning bodies and finalising its proposal before a formal exhibition in 2026. The consultation information does not yet include all the details people want to see, such as shadow diagrams, tree plans, private vs public space, car parking entrances and traffic, and how design excellence will be achieved. One consequence of the taller building is more space at ground level allowing greater building setbacks to the streets and potentially more space for trees. As part of its Concept Plan, Stockland need to show how its proposal provides improved design and solar outcomes over the earlier proposal.
One change on the consultation web site is an artist's impression<https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/68e5bd886589104662180f8d/6912be5367578b599334e861_Waterloo%20South%20Aerial%20Render%20Oct25%20v1.pdf> of the development based on the planning envelopes. The envelopes are what the final buildings need to fit within not how they might appear. The artist impressions help people to visualise what the scale might look like but do not resemble what might be delivered. The are also green washed to show what things might be like when all the trees have grown and if all the tops of buildings and podiums are landscaped.
Raise any concerns about Waterloo redevelopment social impacts
Stockland is also collecting information on how people may be affected by the development and how any impacts might be mitigated. Consultants have been appointed to prepare a Social Impact Assessment of the redevelopment and to prepare a draft Social Impact Management Plan. If you have concerns about the impacts, you have experienced or you expect to experience, please ask to speak to someone at the drop-in sessions with a consultant looking at both positive and negative social impacts of the redevelopment.
People's input on the proposal or impacts at this early stage is more likely to influence the outcome than waiting for the final proposal.
Waterloo Green Christmas Celebration - Friday 21st  November 2-5pm
Homers NSW are partnering with Counterpoint and the Waterloo renewal partner organisations- Stockland, Link Wentworth, Birribee and City West Housing- to host a Waterloo Christmas Celebration on 21 November on Waterloo Green 2-5pm.
Come together with friends, family and neighbours for an afternoon of festive fun and holiday cheer featuring a special visit from Santa with gifts for all children, Christmas carol sing-along, face painting, jumping castle, climbing wall, gaming trailer, fairy floss, popcorn, snow cones and sausage sizzle.
881-885 Bourke Street Waterloo Exhibition until 25 November 2025
So, this is what housing acceleration looks like in other parts of Waterloo. The State Significant Development Application (SSDA) for Waterloo Mixed Use Development 881-885 Bourke Street<https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/major-projects/projects/waterloo-mixed-use-development-881-885-bourke-street> went on exhibition from Wednesday 12 November 2025 until Tuesday 25 November 2025 - now just the 14 days required after the recent changes. All submissions must be made online through the NSW Planning Portal<https://majorprojects.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/prweb/IAC?pyActivity=@baseclass.LaunchOnlineSubmission&ExhibitionID=EXH-98727457> where you need to have an account.
This development was originally initiated through Council with a concept DA and a Voluntary Planning Agreement, but it was pulled out of Council's DA process and a fresh application was made to the NSW Housing Delivery Authority (HDA) for the accelerated pathway to allow a new SSDA with a concurrent rezoning proposal to allow for a 36 storey tower and to increase the  Floor Space Ratio Map from 1.5:1 to 3.05:1, as well as changes to other Sydney Local Environmental Plan 2012 requirements covering Green Square and Danks Street.
The development is for the construction of 850 apartments in 9 residential and mixed-use buildings across 4 development parcels, for the purposes of delivering build-to-rent and associated communal amenities as well as commercial premises and creative industry floor space, construction of a consolidated basement with below-ground links between development parcels, landscaping and publicly accessible open space.
The increased development will deliver an additional 73 Affordable rental houses (to be managed by a CHP for only 15 years) on top of the monetary contribution made under the City of Sydney Affordable Housing Policy of 3% for residential uses and 1% for non-residential uses, which would fund approximately 28 additional dwellings being provided off-site, in-perpetuity.
If you have any concerns about the development's proposed changes then you will need to speed read and make a similarly accelerated submission otherwise you will miss out.
REDWatch Informal get-together - 6pm 4th December 2025
Before the formalities of our AGM at 7pm, we will have an informal catch up and nibbles from 6pm. The purpose of the pre-meeting catch up is for the REDWatch community to come together, chat and get to know one another better.
This would be a good opportunity for people who would like to become more involved in REDWatch or who want to find out more about what we do to come along and meet people at Counterpoint's Factory Community Centre, 67 Raglan Street Waterloo.
Feel free to bring something to share, but we will ensure there is plenty to go around.
REDWatch AGM - 7pm 4th December 2025
REDWatch is an incorporated body which means it has an Annual General Meeting that elects office bearers and members to its Coordination Group. REDWatch will be holding its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Thursday December 4th 2025 at 7 pm at Counterpoint's Factory Community Centre 67 Raglan Street Waterloo. This is an in-person meeting and there will be no Zoom link for this meeting. Members will receive formal notice.
At the AGM we receive a report from our office bearers and Co-ordination Group and elect the office holders (Secretary, Treasurer, Convenor, Spokesperson and Co-ordination Group members). There are also opportunities for job sharing or for understudying in roles like Co-Convenor and Co-Spokesperson.
Membership must be current to nominate for a position or vote and participate in the AGM. Please email your Nomination for Office-Bearer Position Form<http://www.redwatch.org.au/redwatch/incorporation/nom_office/view>  (and membership form if you are not yet a member) no later than the day before the AGM to mail at redwatch.org.au<mailto:mail at redwatch.org.au> to help us ensure a smooth AGM!
Non-members are welcome at the AGM but only members can vote.
REDWatch is looking for people to be actively involved
One of the challenges for a group like REDWatch is we cover issues across four suburbs covering built environment and human service issues for both public and private residents. This means that finding people happy to volunteer their time to help steer this work can be more challenging that organising a campaign were people are directly impacted by a development. On top of that we find younger people who become involved often get pushed out of the area due to the high cost of housing or they move into jobs that make it difficult for them to also hold key roles in REDWatch because of potential conflicts of interest. This means we are always on the lookout for people who are willing to become more involved and pick up some experience working across our diverse community.
If you like what REDWatch does and want to know more, we suggest you have a read of REDWatch Overview: Why, How and What we Do<http://www.redwatch.org.au/redwatch/about/230605redwwhw/view>. If you would like to discuss the possibility of becoming more involved then please contact Geoff Turnbull (Spokesperson), Navin Lamsal (Convenor) or one of the other Coordination Group members. We are happy to mentor people so they can take on roles in REDWatch be it in officers' positions or in helping is particular areas of interest, establishing and running our website and social media etc.
As someone who cares about REDWatch, if you are unable to become more involved in REDWatch you can still actively talk to others about the importance of REDWatch and the value of community participation. Please talk to people you know who might be interested in what we do.
REDWatch Membership
While many people just get our email updates and come along to meetings that interest them, REDWatch is an Incorporated Not for Profit Association and has a membership. Membership fees are $2 a year and membership fees are now due. If you are not a member, or have let your membership lapse, now is a good time to consider being a member.
Full membership is open to those who live or work in Redfern, Eveleigh, Darlington and Waterloo and immediately adjoining suburbs. Outside this area people can support our work by becoming Associate Members. You will find a Membership Form<http://www.redwatch.org.au/redwatch/incorporation/membership/view> and the REDWatch Incorporated - Rules of Association<http://www.redwatch.org.au/redwatch/incorporation/rules/view> on our website in the REDWatch Incorporated & Membership<http://www.redwatch.org.au/redwatch/incorporation> section.
Completed membership forms can be emailed to mail at redwatch.org.au<mailto:mail at redwatch.org.au> , dropped in to Navin Lamsal at Counterpoint's Factory Community Centre or provided in person prior to the AGM. We can arrange for two members to sign if you can't find anyone! You can either drop in $2 with the form or pay it electronically directly into our bank account by EFT: Our Bank Account details are:
REDWatch Incorporated
Australian Mutual Bank BSB: 611-100
Account: 100222534
Please put your name in the information/reference field of an EFT so we know who you are.
If you have any payment difficulties, please email treasurer at redwatch.org.au<mailto:treasurer at redwatch.org.au>
Donations to REDWatch are always welcome
REDWatch relies on membership fees and donations to cover our costs rather than conduct separate fundraising activities that take away time and effort from our day-to-day work. REDWatch is an unfunded volunteer organisation and no one is paid to do REDWatch work. Donations help fund other things we have to pay for like our website and other costs. You can use our bank details in the section above or our website on how you can make a donation<http://www.redwatch.org.au/redwatch/support> to make a donation which we will greatly receive.

Regards,

Geoff
Geoffrey Turnbull
REDWatch Spokesperson
Ph Wk: (02) 8004 1490  Mob: 0418 457 392
email: spokesperson at redwatch.org.au<mailto: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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