Some background for the community and the consortium on the Waterloo Redevelopment

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This background covers the following area:

  • Questions for Homes NSW and the Consortium
  • What should planners, architects and development professionals learn from Redfern-Waterloo?
  • Where do we start the Conversation with the Consortium?
  • The approved Planning Proposal
  • Stage 1 (concept) development application
  • Application and Scoping Report for Development Application
  • Studies will include a Social Impact Assessment
  • Community lead Health Impact Assessment (HIA)
  • Healthy Higher Density Living for Families with Children

Questions for Homes NSW and the Consortium

In
preparation for the meeting REDWatch has collected questions from our members,
tenants and agencies that they would like answered now that the community can
talk with the consortium. These questions have been supplied to Homes NSW and
the Consortium and you can see the questions on the REDWatch website as Initial
Questions for Homes NSW Portfolio and Consortium Partners – Waterloo South
Redevelopment May 2025.

What
should planners, architects and development professionals learn from
Redfern-Waterloo?
In early May REDWatch spokesperson Geoff Turnbull was asked to give a 5-minute
input into the Australian Architecture Conference 2025 from a Redfern-Waterloo
perspective. His advice, which applies to the Consortium as they come into the
area can be seen on the REDWatch website as What should planners, architects and development
professionals learn from Redfern-Waterloo?

Where do we start the Conversation with the
Consortium?

At the last
Waterloo Redevelopment Group there was discussion about how we needed to go
back and remind people where we are in the planning process given the 2.5 years
gap since the planning proposal was approved. So below, in the lead up to the
Consortium meeting, we thought this was a good opportunity for a bit of a
Waterloo planning refresher.

The approved Planning Proposal

The starting
point for the Consortium is the Approved Planning proposal which sets the
Planning Controls that the Consortium need to address in its plan. You can see
the outcome of that in summary form  at Waterloo
South – Priority growth areas and precincts page and with more detailed
requirements in
the final package of the Waterloo (South) Planning Page site. The most
recent documents are:

The first
four of these are the most important and for non-planners start with the Final
planning proposal and the Final Design Guide.

Stage 1 (concept) development application

The Planning
Proposal references a Stage 1 (concept) development
application as being the first Development Application (DA). That is not a
DA for the first area to be developed, but rather a concept DA for the entire
site. The consortium could submit a DA for the first area to be redeveloped at
the same time as the Stage 1 (concept) DA.

The Design
Guide sets out what the concept DA needs to cover:

4.2. Stage 1 development application

(1) A Stage 1 (concept) development application is required for land
that is owned or managed by the Land and Housing Corporation within Waterloo
Estate (South) as of 1 January 2021.

(2) A Stage 1 (concept) development application is to:

  (a) be informed
by a detailed survey;

  (b) subdivide
existing landholdings to establish:

    i. streets,
through-site links and parks, in accordance with Figure 4: Land dedication and
easements; and

    ii. street
blocks and building lots, in accordance with Figure 3: Street blocks and
building lots;

  (c) identify how
the floor area is to be distributed across street blocks and building lots,
including any floor space allocated for social housing, affordable housing,
community facilities, childcare facilities, health care facilities and other
non-residential uses. This allocation is to be generally in accordance with
Table 1: Indicative floor area distribution on LAHC owned land, by street
block, which provides an indicative allocation of floor space available under
Sydney LEP 2012 across Waterloo Estate (South);

  (d) resolve any
flooding and contamination issues on the site, identifying any necessary flood
and stormwater management works and remediation works and required
contamination works to ensure flood and contamination risks are appropriately
managed for new development, adjacent sites within the Estate, and in adjoining
localities;

  (e) provide an
indicative staging plan and delivery sequence for development and the provision
of public space, local infrastructure, flood and stormwater management works
and remediation works;

  (f) provide an
updated Design Excellence Strategy if needed, that is, if the proposed pattern
of subdivision, staging or built form distribution does not follow that
provided by this Design Guide;

  (g) provide a
Preliminary Public Art Strategy to coordinate public art across the precinct;

  (h) include a
landscape plan that:

    i. allocates the
total quantum of deep soil required for each street block amongst the building
lots;

    ii. identifies
significant trees that are required to be conserved and those that are proposed
to be removed;

  (i) address any
other matters, including wind and acoustic matters, required to be resolved in
a Stage 1 development application by this Design Guide, by Sydney DCP 2012 or
Sydney LEP 2012.

Application and Scoping Report for Development
Application

The first
step to obtaining a DA is for the developer to make an application, including a
scoping report, to the Department of Planning for the Secretary’s Environmental
Assessment Requirements (SEARs). That application must:

  • include a simple but accurate description of the
    project
  • identify the relevant strategic and statutory
    context
  • summarise the findings of any early community
    engagement and describe the engagement that will be carried out during the
    preparation of the EIS
  • identify matters that require further assessment
    in the EIS and how they will be assessed

The
department will publish the scoping report online and seek advice from key
government agencies, including relevant councils, during the preparation of the
SEARs. When issued the SEARs are also made public so people know what the
developer has been asked to do.

The community
normally becomes aware of the detail of the scoping report either because of
early community engagement mentioned above or when the SEARs application is
made public by the Department of Planning.

Studies will include a Social Impact Assessment

Due to
changes in the Department of Planning study requirements, this project will
require the first Social
Impact Assessment to be undertaken for the Waterloo redevelopment. You can
see more about Social Impact Assessments in Look
before you leap: A community guide to social impact assessment by Alison Ziller
PhD February 2024.

Community lead Health Impact Assessment (HIA)

Preparations
are underway for a community lead Health Impact Assessment (HIA) in Waterloo.
Part of the HIA will involve tenants being trained in doing a health impact
assessment by people from the University of NSW, and supported in working on
collecting information from the community. The model is like the Peer
Navigators who have been active in Waterloo talking to people about health
issues. If any tenant is interested in being involved, please contact Elle at
Counterpoint’s Factory ASAP or email her on info@counterpointcs.org.au to
discuss the possibility. This project involves Counterpoint Community Services,
Groundswell NGOs, the Waterloo Redevelopment Group and the UNSW Health Equity
Research and Development Unit (HERDU). REDWatch is a member of Groundswell and
attends Waterloo Redevelopment Group meetings.

REDWatch has
also been involved in getting the 2019 HIA, Healthy Waterloo, in the public
domain. Following feedback from Homes NSW and discussions with Sydney Local
Health District and HERDU, the 2019 study will be made public by HERDU soon.
The dated recommendations that were negotiated back in 2019 have been deleted,
but the rest of the document and its literature review and data will now be in
the public domain.

Healthy Higher Density Living for Families with
Children

There have
been several studies recently that highlight the problems families with
children have in finding suitable family unit accommodation. Part of this is
about there not being enough three-bedroom apartments, but it is also about the
non-bedroom apartment size, amenities provided by developments and how they fit
into the surrounding community.

In
partnership with City of Parramatta, the Centre for Population Health’s Health
Promotion Team in Western Sydney Local Health District has been
exploring the health impacts of living in high density housing, with a
focus on families with young children. Their research has lead to the
production of a Healthy
Higher Density Living for Families with Children: An Advocacy, Planning and
Design Guide. This guide is being picked up by councils and it would be
good to explore how the guide might also be applied to Waterloo to deliver more
family friendly homes into the mix.

One drawback
for the Waterloo redevelopment might be that the guide suggests the need for
more larger units. This might create a problem for Homes NSW and Stockland who
will have calculated the number of units they can deliver based on the Planning
Proposal which may not have factored in as many three-bedroom units and larger
family units as proposed in the guide.

Even so, if
the redevelopment is to deliver a successful high-density precinct, then there
needs to be a mix of people and units including housing that works for families
with children.

Source: REDWatch Email Update 27 May 2025