Scoping: What Changes do Stockland want to make?

This document on the Scoping Proposal covers the following
areas (click on the links to jump to that part of the document)

Document Context

The accelerated
combined rezoning and planning pathway used

Next Steps in delivery
and planning for Stage 1

Changes proposed to
the Sydney Local Environment Plan (LEP) Planning Controls

Changes proposed to
the Design Guide

Changes proposed to
Design Excellence process

Stage 1 public
benefits and community infrastructure deliverables

Indicative location of
housing types across Waterloo Estate (South)

Indicative stages for
Waterloo Estate (South)

Studies and Issues to
be looked at in the Rezoning and the Concept Plan SSDA

Social Impacts to be
Assessed and Managed

Document Context

With the release of the Stockland and Homes NSW Scoping Proposal for a Rezoning and Concept SSDA for
Waterloo Estate (South), we have our first detailed look at some of the
changes the Homes NSW and the Stockland consortium want to make to the proposal
outlined in the 2022 rezoning. This is a snapshot of what Stockland proposed on
20 August 2025 to Planning NSW and thinking may have changed since this
document as a result of further work and consultation.

This document is based primarily on the
Scoping Proposal for a Rezoning
and Concept State Significant Development Application (SSDA) for Waterloo
Estate (South) dated 20 August 2025. This report was prepared to
request The Planning Secretary’s
Environmental Assessment Requirements (SEARs) which sets out the concurrent
Study Requirements for the Rezoning and for the Environmental Impact Assessment
(EIS) for the Concept State Significant Development Application (SSDA). The
Scoping Proposal has to set out details about the project and what the
proponent wants to do. It hence also provides the
community with information that has not been otherwise available to date from
either Homes NSW or Stockland.

While the Stockland Scoping proposal was produced in late
August 2025 it did not become public until after Stockland presented to the
October REDWatch meeting so the Stockland Update on Waterloo South Planning and Design to
REDWatch on 2 October 2025 does not contain a lot of information about the Scoping
Proposal but does contain some other important information about the overall
process and what Stockland propose.

You can get an overview of the current 2022 controls that
apply to the site from REDWatch’s presentation to the Waterloo Redevelopment
Group at REDWatch Refresher on the Waterloo South Planning Proposal –
18 June 2025. REDWatch has now produced a REDWatch primer for Waterloo South Concept Plan and Rezoning
Consultation – October 2025 with the latest information including about the
consultation starting on 27 October 2025.

The accelerated
combined rezoning and planning pathway used

We now know that Homes NSW / Stockland applied for the “Prioritising rezoning that delivers social and affordable
housing program” and this was approved by Planning NSW on 10 June 2025.
This program allows both the Rezoning and the Concept Plan State Significant
Development Application (SSDA) to be dealt with together on an accelerated
timeline for Homes NSW owned land.

That accelerated time line, according to the Scoping
Proposal, envisaged an Explanation of Intended Effects provided to Planning NSW
by October 2025 and a package of material for public exhibition by the end of
December 2025. Stockland have subsequently advised that these timeframes are no
longer valid as developing the draft Concept design to a stage suitable for
community input has taken longer than anticipated.

Stockland expect, as detailed to the October REDWatch
meeting, to lodge the Concept Application and Rezoning package (including the
EIE) with the Department towards the end of Q1 2026. This remains an estimate,
as the final timing will depend on the extent of community feedback, the
resulting design refinements, and completion of the required technical studies
under the SEARs.

The Scoping Proposal Application and Planning NSW’s
requirements based on the application (SEARs) have been made public. Initial
feedback on Stockland’s Scoping Proposal from Council and State Government
bodies has been provided to Stockland but this information is not yet public.
Stockland have been asked to address any concerns raised by agencies and to
make their application for both processes in line with the SEARs.

Next Steps in delivery
and planning for Stage 1

As the land is owned by Homes NSW and Stockland have also
indicated that they propose to:

• Use a Review of Environmental
  Factors (REF) process for the demolition of the buildings and removal of
  trees in Stage One. This process needs to be made public but does not
  necessarily require exhibition.
• Use an Early Works SSDA will seek
  Crown development consent for the removal of approximately 60 trees,
  including 25 street trees (subject to detailed arborist assessment) and
  the construction of basements on the Stage One site (Blocks 8&9).
• Prepare the Stage 1 SSDA(s) for
  the development of buildings in the Stage One area.
• Under changes Stockland proposed
  for Design Excellence, the “initial planning strategy has the market and
  social/affordable dwellings split into separate applications because of
  the different design excellence pathways they will be subject to and
  therefore the different amount of time it will take to prepare each
  application”.

It is important to note that the combined rezoning and
concept plan SSDA appear on the Planning NSW web site as “the future delivery
of 3,000 dwellings”. This was the figure before the 10% design excellence bonus
and changes made by the NSW Labor government. The planning controls specify a
percentage of floor space be given to different tenure types and the final
number of dwellings will be determined by the average unit size delivered as
social, affordable or private housing.

Changes proposed to
the Sydney Local Environment Plan (LEP) Planning Controls

The planning controls were originally proposed to include a
possible increase of 10% floor space for design excellence. The rezoning made
this 10% design excellence bonus in addition to the proposed floorspace. Page
20 of the Scoping Proposal notes ”the text in Section 4 of the Design Guide
confirms that the City of Sydney the Design Guide envelopes were designed to
accommodate 265,000m2 gross floor area [GFA], however the LEP permits
approximately 286,000m2 gross floor area if design excellence is awarded”.

The Scoping Proposal says the rezoning will not seek to
increase the maximum GFA currently permissible across the Waterloo South
Estate. Stockland say the rezoning proposes to:

• Amend Height and FSR Maps – Rectification to the height controls in
  the Sydney LEP 2012 are required as they are currently inconsistent with
  the building envelopes established in the Design Guide, nor do they fully
  accommodate the floor space achievable under the design excellence bonus
  applicable to the site.
• It is proposed to make “education
  establishments” and “creative industries” allowed as active street
  frontages.
• It is proposed to remove the
  approved requirement for a Health One or medical facility and reduce by
  2,000sqm land to be used for purposes other than residential accommodation
  or add “education establishment to replace medical facility. REDWatch
  notes that Sydney Local Health District continues to be interested in
  having a health facility within the Waterloo South development but it has
  been deleted by Homes NSW or Stockland.
• Allow rooftop access to communal
  open space and related amenity structures from the height of the building
  measurement in line with City of Sydney Housekeeping Amendment to the LEP.
• Change to definition of community
  facilities
• Changes in traffic and parking
  surround updating the car park locations, accessible car parking rates,
  and entries map. These amendments are in response to changes to the
  building layouts, flooding planning levels, and land uses.
• Changes in tree removal in
  response to the amendments proposed under the rezoning. These updates will
  outline the proposed strategy for tree retention and removal.

Changes proposed to
the Design Guide

The Scoping Proposal indicates the following changes will be
made in the Design Guide:

• Staging and Implementation Update
  to include proposed project staging This section is to be amended to
  reflect the indicative staging of the Concept scheme.
• Land Use Update – location of
  non-residential uses at ground level and update the active street
  frontages map Minor refinements are proposed to reflect the Concept
  Scheme.
• Community Facilities &
  Services – Remove reference to Health One facility Include reference to
  alternative uses such as an Education Establishment. Change required as
  Health One Facility is no longer proposed within the precinct.
• Public Space – Include reference
  to additional public open space proposed at the southern end of George
  Street
• Update Tree Strategy to reflect
  trees proposed to be retained and trees to be removed and minor
  refinements proposed to reflect the Concept Scheme.
• Transport, movement & Parking
  – update carpark locations and entries map and minor refinements proposed
  to reflect the Concept Scheme.
• Building Layout, form & design
  – there are three major changes proposed in this section of the design
  guide:

• Amend provision regarding max.
  floorplate of tall buildings to enable floorplates larger than 720sqm GFA
  above 15 storeys
• Reduce the requirement for silver
  liveable apartment standard and accessible car parking for market
  apartments
• Update design excellence
  requirements to reflect revised design excellence strategy
• Other changes in building layout
  and form include:
• Remove detailed building sections and redundant images from
  the Design Guide
• Update building height in storeys map
• Update floor to floor heights
• Update building setbacks map
• Update roof level communal open space and green roofs map
• Update the ground level deep soil and planting locations map
• Minor refinements proposed to reflect the Concept Scheme.

Changes proposed to
Design Excellence process

The concept SSDA will seek approval for an alternative
Design Excellence Strategy for the precinct.

The Scoping Proposal says: To prioritise the delivery of
more social and affordable homes for communities in need, amendments to the
Design Excellence Strategy are proposed. Streamlining the design excellence
process across the precinct will not only accelerate the delivery of social and
affordable housing and support tenant relocations directly into new homes, but
it will also bring the Design Excellence Strategy into alignment with
contemporary practice.

The proposal seeks to remove the previous design excellence
process with:

• Direct appointment of architects
  for the concept plan, First Nations Architect/Advisor Concept Landscape
  Architect, social and affordable housing and community buildings.
• Competitive design processes for
  all market housing buildings exceeding 100m in height, including a minimum
  of three (3) competitors invited for each competition, unless a design
  competition exemption is granted as per clause 6.21D(2) of the Sydney LEP
  2012 and/or an approach similar to the Housing Delivery Authority (HDA)
  competition exemption pathway is agreed with GANSW.
• A Design Review Panel (DRP) be
  formed for each Stage to review the various buildings and landscape
  proposed within that Stage and guide the project to achieve design
  excellence.

Stage 1 public
benefits and community infrastructure deliverables

The Scoping Proposal references several public benefits and
community infrastructure items it proposes to deliver in Stage One including:

• Skills exchange and reemployment
  hub
• Social enterprise incubator
• Local Aboriginal health service
  facility
• Educational establishment
• A Council owned community facility
  and public park
• Childcare centre
• Activation of the Ground Plane
  with retail (particularly along George Street)
• Precinct Management Deed and place
  activation funding

The development proposed within the first stage of the
project (Stage 1 – Block 8 and Block 9) is anticipated to include the following
mix of housing:

• Approximately 600 market housing
  dwellings
• Approximately 400 social housing
  dwellings
• Approximately 70 affordable
  housing dwellings

Stage One includes two of the four residential towers as
well as part of the George Street retail precinct.

Indicative location of
housing types across Waterloo Estate (South)

Figure 6 in the Scoping Proposal
shows the proposed concept SSDA Scope and shown possible locations for
different housing types.

At the REDWatch October meeting
Stockland said that the locations of the 7% affordable housing in perpetuity
would be shown separately from the 13% affordable housing that may not be in
perpetuity. The map in the Scoping Proposal does not draw that distinction.

Indicative stages for
Waterloo Estate (South)

Figure 5 (page 17) of the Scoping Proposal shows a colour
coded map of the development blocks in Waterloo South. The report text says
“The first detailed SSDAs will relate to Block 8 and Block 9, being the first
of six indicative stages of the Waterloo South development illustrated at
Figure 5”.

Studies and Issues to
be looked at in the Rezoning and the Concept Plan SSDA

The Planning Secretary’s Environmental Assessment
Requirements (SEARs) set out the concurrent Study Requirements for both the
Rezoning and for the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIS) for the Concept
State Significant Development Application (SSDA). It includes a long list of
studies that need to be undertaken or revised to support the proposals put
forward in the Concept Plan and rezoning. It also includes issues that need to
be addressed in the studies, rezoning or Concept Plan SSDA. REDWatch has noted at least 61 studies or issues that need
to be addressed.

REDWatch has asked Stockland to make public details of the
studies and the consultants responsible for their preparation.

In addition, the 2022 planning controls and the 2022 design
guide sets out requirements like showing where different sorts of housing will
be located across the site and other site wide issues that need to be
determined before any individual Development Applications are made.

Social Impacts to be Assessed and Managed

The SEARs request the proponent to: 

• Provide a Social Impact Assessment (SIA) prepared in accordance with the Social Impact Assessment Guideline for State Significant Projects. Social Impact Assessment in accordance with the guidelines
• Provide a Preliminary Social Impact Management Plan (SIMP) to identify and mitigate impacts from the development on local communities. Preliminary Social Impact Management Plan.

Given historical concerns about the social and health impact of the redevelopment of a major public housing estate and the relocations on tenants, the inclusion of this study requirement allows tenants and agencies to raise a wide range of foreseeable positive and negative impacts and to suggest how these can be impacted through a Social Impact management Plan. The 2019 Health Impact Assessment, recently made public is a good starting point.

This overview of the Homes NSW Stockland Scoping Proposal of
20 August 2025 was produced by REDWatch and updated 20 October 2025