Redfern North Eveleigh Strategic
Vision on Exhibition until 26 March
A quick overview of the Vision
Some initial observations and
concerns on Strategic Vision
Responding to what has gone
before
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.
Redfern North Eveleigh
Strategic Vision on Exhibition until 26 March
Transport for
NSW (TfNSW) has released its Strategic Vision (PDF, 12.05
MB) to guide the renewal and redevelopment of the Redfern North
Eveleigh Precinct. Feedback is requested up until 26 March 2021 and more
information can be found on Redfern
North Eveleigh Precinct Renewal webpage. You can speak to the project team on 1800 684
490 or email projects@transport.nsw.gov.au.
A livestream
information session will be held at: 6pm-7.30pm Thursday 18 March and will
be uploaded to the TfNSW project page after the presentation. At the
information session, you can hear more about the Strategic Vision and speak
with the project team.
Please spread
the word to your friends and neighbours about this exhibition.
A quick overview of the
Vision
The area
covered by the Vision document covers an area from Redfern Station to Pines
Estate Newtown; bordered by the railway line to the South, Iverys Lane to the
west and Little Eveleigh and Wilson Streets to the north.
The Strategic
Vision breaks the site into three precincts with the following character
statements:
- The Clothing Store Sub-Precinct (towards Macdonaldtown
station): will have a residential character that is integrated with
community and commercial uses to create a vibrant inner?? what??? - Carriageworks Sub-Precinct (in the middle): will
continue to be the creative and cultural heart of the Precinct and will
provide new community and creative spaces. This Sub-Precinct will focus on
delivering community spaces and effective public domain, while integrating
new opportunities for local businesses. - Paint Shop Sub-Precinct (Redfern Station end):
will be a key component in the innovation future of Sydney, with strong
links to tell the past innovation story. With a future innovation district
character and direct connection to Redfern Station, the Paint Shop
Sub-Precinct will be a fusion of employment, housing, retail and
hospitality, interspersed with a variety of both permanent and adaptable
pop-up recreation uses.
The Vision
document does not set out options for massing or the built form, it simply
tries to establish the vision and principles TfNSW will consider in the
redevelopment.
It does talk
extensively about the adaptive reuse of heritage buildings and the inclusion of
active uses into the heritage fabric of these buildings, including at
Carriageworks.
One of the
problem on the North Eveleigh side is that there is little other than the buildings
to tell the heritage stories. Much work needs to be dome to bring the people
and processes stories to life. Before UrbanGrowth was disbanded, it was working
on a site wide Conservation Management Plan that aimed to ensure that both
sides of the former Eveleigh Railway Workshops were interpreted as a whole
site. Resurrecting this proposal and engagement with ex workers and heritage
practitioners familiar with this site will be crucial if the community is to
end up with the heritage benefit possible from this site and not just some
adaptively reused buildings.
The document
advises that the North Eveleigh Masterplan is still in effect, as a result of
the construction of the Platform Apartments. However, the UrbanGrowth proposal
for the Macdonaldtown end of the site has lapsed.
The Strategic
Vision states: “Changes to the planning controls are likely to be required.
Following finalisation of this Vision, further work will be undertaken to
determine the extent of change required to the existing planning controls.
Amendments to the planning controls will be investigated through the
preparation of a State Significant Precincts Study with associated technical
analysis, and community and stakeholder consultation”.
Commenting on
this document is important because it can influence the next part of the
planning process. The earlier community members make their priorities clear,
the easier it is to defend these if they go missing and aren’t included in
later planning.
Some initial observations
and concerns on Strategic Vision
Connectivity
The Vision
statement is weak on connectivity other than to Redfern Station. For example,
it says “Investigate a direct pedestrian connection between the Precinct and
Redfern Station and the feasibility of a pedestrian crossing over the railway
corridor”. Because a connection over or under the railway line to South
Eveleigh is only a “feasibility” the analysis of the site in the document has
no north south desire lines or possible movement corridors. Gone too is
anything other than the prospect of Iverys Lane as a connection to Macdonaldtown
Station.
The TfNSW
strategic vision is not seeking to integrate with South Eveleigh, be that in
terms of immediate connectivity or leveraging movements from Waterloo Metro and
Alexandria to Sydney University and RPA Hospital. It also is not looking at how
it integrates with the high tech tenants at South Eveleigh and how that might
improve agglomeration and incubation. And while it uses many heritage photos
from the Southern side of the former Eveleigh Railway Workshops there is little
indication it is signing up to an integrated heritage interpretation which
compliments what is happening at South Eveleigh.
Much is made of
bike paths and of the use of walking and riding in the precinct. The focus
however is purely on the Wilson Street Cycleway and while the “opportunities
and challenges” Diagram 2 shows a bike path in South Eveleigh, it is not
connected by other than the Southern Concourse, on which TfNSW has ruled out a
bike connection.
The problematic
movements from buses and the Waterloo Metro to the precinct is brushed over by
saying “A bus interchange area is located immediately east of the station,
providing services to a range of locations across Sydney. The new Waterloo
Metro Station, due to open in 2024, is located within a 15-minute walk from the
Precinct”.
By their
glossary, TfNSW must be referring to the station having an “adjoining bus stop”
as it certainly does not cover how people connect from the new Southern
Concourse to South bound buses across two arterial roads some distance from a pedestrian
crossing. The Vision report says the nearest arterial road to the site is “the
Princes Highway, approximately 230 metres to the north”.
Finally on
roads, the document proposes to open up “access to the eastern half of the
Precinct by extending Carriageworks Way as a key connecting access spine”.
No mention is made about the eastern access to the site with that entrance just
shown as currently a “private service access point”.
From the days
of the Redfern Waterloo Authority, tackling the barriers created by the railway
line and the twin arterial roads has been seen as the key to delivering
connectivity and to opening up the potential for North and South Eveleigh to be
reconnected.
TfNSW has
failed to envisage North Eveleigh as part of the wider precinct connected
across these barriers.
Aboriginal Affordable
Housing
The Redfern Waterloo Aboriginal Affordable
Housing Campaign has
called for 10% Aboriginal Affordable housing on the development of all
government owned land in Redfern Eveleigh Darlington and Waterloo. While the
report acknowledges the community asked for “dedicated Aboriginal housing and
tenancies” the vision on for all affordable housing is to “deliver at least
5%-10% affordable housing”. On the Waterloo South site, the City of Sydney is
proposing 20% be affordable housing with half that being dedicated to
Aboriginal affordable housing.
The vision
statement has a lot to say about involving the Aboriginal community in the
development especially around the Government Architects’ “Designing with
Country” and “Cultural Design Principles”. Given the significance of the area
to the Aboriginal community, one of the key ways to respond to Country is
surely to ensure that Aboriginal people continue to live in this area of such
great significance to them. Aboriginal affordable housing has to be at the
centre of this.
Responding to what has
gone before
Many people
living in the area will have been involved in earlier consultations about this
site. You might be interested in a section towards the end of the report where
TfNSW seeks to show how what you said was taken up in its precinct renewal
principles. You might like to see if your concern is mentioned and to look at
if it has been picked up in the rationale for the principle.
It is also
useful to look back at earlier work on the site. While UrbanGrowth never
delivered its Affordable Housing Study or its Transport study, it did recommend
10 Key Moves. It is worthwhile looking back at those moves and to see how the
TfNSW strategic vision responded to them.
The Vision
report deals with the bits it likes from the Central to Eveleigh Urban
Transformation Strategy on the last page of its analysis (page 54) but avoids
others. UrbanGrowth’s Key Move 3 to “create walking and cycling connections
across the railway corridor” is missing. Such a connection was a part of the
RWA’s North Eveleigh Concept Plan.
Key Move 2 was
to create a green network, but in the current proposal is mentioned only in the
context that Wilson Street is part of broader green network identified by City
of Sydney Council. The Vision statement retains the large park towards Newtown,
but only talks about pocket parks being proposed in the Redfern Station end. No
relief looks imminent for Darlington’s over loved Charles Kernan Reserve.
During the 2020
consultation, the issue of the impact of some events at Carriageworks on
surrounding residents was raised as an issue. Concerned residents might want to
look carefully at aspects in the strategic vision that are guided by the NSW
Government vision for a 24-hour global city strategy (page 15) and a night-time
economy.
Make your submission
REDWatch
encourages you to download the Strategic Vision (PDF, 12.05
MB) document, have a read and to make any comments you wish to TfNSW by
email at projects@transport.nsw.gov.au
or call 1800 684 490.
Geoff
Geoffrey Turnbull
REDWatch Co-Spokesperson
Ph Wk: (02) 8004 1490 Mob:
0418 457 392
email: spokesperson@redwatch.org.au
web: www.redwatch.org.au
FB: www.facebook.com/RedfernEveleighDarlingtonWaterlooWatch/