The suburbs of Ultimo and Redfern – presently divided by the
rail line – would be connected, the city’s southern boundary would be
extended and up to 1 million square metres of floor space would be
created in a redevelopment plan double the size of Barangaroo.
Planning Minister Brad Hazzard said the government
would call for expressions of interest from around the world for the
project.
Planning Minister Brad Hazzard said on Friday that global
expressions of interest would be sought to renew three kilometres of
under-utilised rail corridor, which would create thousands of new jobs
and apartments and could include putting rail lines underground.
”We are asking for the world to come knocking on our door
and let us know what … we can do with an area that has been much
ignored but has much opportunity,” he said.
”We have a dead space, we need a new heart … It presents an
engineering and redevelopment challenge that has not existed in Sydney
for decades.”
A rail corridor between Central and Eveleigh will be built into high rises and the space over rail lines will be developed.
It continues the O’Farrell government’s top-down approach to
infrastructure provision, which began by inviting private-sector ideas
for the redevelopment of Darling Harbour, and allows it to pass on the
cost and risk of the project.
Building over rail lines is expensive, also raising the
prospect that very tall buildings – perhaps about 70 storeys – would be
required to make the project viable.
Central and Redfern stations would be redeveloped, parks
would be created and the project would allow for hotel development and
university expansion.
Mr Hazzard said the 15- to 20-year project would create more
homes and jobs close to transport links and eradicate the ”Berlin
Wall” effect that had divided suburbs on either side of the rail
tracks.
Similar projects have been carried out in London, New York
and Paris, and proposals to build over rail lines and develop rail land
in Sydney are not new.
But Mr Hazzard said that Sydney was ”now in a global city market where this is an economic likelihood”.
He said the return to taxpayers for handing over public land
would depend on the type of development proposed. Putting rail lines
underground was a possibility, he said.
Sydney lord mayor Clover Moore said the project would help
connect the city and provide future capacity for employment,
productivity and growth.
But she said the plan will ”take years and it needs a strategic approach to succeed”.
She said: ”A major proposal like this needs to go through a proper public process.”
Geoff Turnbull, head of the Redfern-Waterloo residents group
REDWatch, said the community had not been consulted on the plan,
undermining the government’s promise of more consultative development.
Urban Taskforce chief executive Chris Johnson said the plan
was a ”bold move” that would change the character of the southern end
of the city.
”The government must champion this dramatic change as local
action groups will almost certainly want to reduce the impact of new
development,” Mr Johnson said.
Demand for offices at the southern end of central Sydney is
lower than elsewhere in the city and commercial space can offer lower
returns to developers than residential space.
But creating employment land near the city’s burgeoning
residential population is considered vital and Mr Hazzard said the
government would ”strike a balance” between the two.
The government said the project would allow new infrastructure to support rail services.
But Greens MP John Kaye said the plan would strain Central Station’s capacity and make future upgrades more difficult.
The government’s development agency UrbanGrowth NSW will lead
the project. Expressions of interest will be sought later this year.