Ms
Annie Leung
Planner
NSW
Department of Planning & Environment
OBJECTION: SSDA 17_8517
and SSDA 17_8449
I wish to register the strongest objection to the proposed changes as outlined in the
State Significant Development Applications 8517 and 8449.
The
intrusion of penetrations and services (including travelator and
delivery/loading dock) necessary to facilitate the provision of a supermarket
within the Locomotive Workshop will give rise to unacceptable adverse impact on
the heritage significance of the fabric of the building.
In
addition, the proposed location of a loading dock in Bays 1 -2 will mean that
the public is no longer able to appreciate the scale and grandeur of the Davy
Press assemblage, which is unique in Australia, and the proposal to separate it
from its furnace and the proposed location of the loading dock are unacceptable.
The
inclusion of a travelator in terms of its scale, character and location is
inconsistent with this State significant industrial place, and will irreparably
erode the engineering, aesthetic and cultural significance of the place to an
unacceptable degree.
The
assertion that vehicular traffic will be removed from Locomotive Street to
result in a ‘more pedestrianised’ route does not acknowledge the fact that semi-trailers
and other vehicles must continue to use Locomotive Street access to reach
Channel 7, Global TV and RailCorp lands at the western end of the site.
The
proposed destruction of the original scale and space of Bays 1 and 2 and Bays
10 – 13 (Exhibition Hall), will remove the only remaining vestiges of the
original cavernous and exceptional workshop spaces, precluding any future
understanding of the original aesthetic, architectural and engineering intent
of the building or its former use to build and repair locomotives (with associated
highly significant cranes).
The
reduction in spaces of original height, scale and proportion is an unacceptable
outcome of the proposed development. In
addition, the signage proposed to the exterior of the building is excessive and
unnecessary. It will result in excessive
impact on views to the Locomotive Workshop and unnecessarily diminish the
character of this State significant site.
The
proposed development includes the relocation, deaccessioning and storage of
considerable parts of the Moveable Collection.
These steps are irreversible and will lead to a permanently and
significantly diminished Collection. It will also irreversibly diminish the
potential for research and interpretation of our shared cultural, social and
working history. The Eveleigh Collection
is enormous and the expertise available to understand it diminishing due to the
ageing cohort of former workers.
Many
items are part of assemblages that need to remain intact. Much of the
information on this Collection has been garnered to date through the generosity
of former Workers and volunteers. No
mention is made of these people and how their intellectual property will be
protected and documented to achieve the interpretation outcomes proposed and to
maintain the link for future generations.
The
ATP movable heritage collection derives much of its significance from its
relationship and proximity to the Park and the wider Eveleigh Railway Workshops
precinct. Removing items from a place
will diminish or damage the significance of the built heritage, Collection and
the place.
Continued use of the significant blacksmithing
machinery is essential to maintain the significance of this equipment and the
place in general. While the proposed development purports to provide
opportunities for this to occur, it actually endangers continued blacksmithing
activities into the future by co-locating these activities with incompatible
retail and interpretation/museum type uses. As blacksmiths are required to
wearing hearing protection, will retail workers customers also be required to
do so?
The
proponents have not provided details of how they have complied or propose to
comply with the Public Heritage and Access Covenants that apply to the site. These include:
·
The
status of the Draft Management Plan for the Moveable Collection;
·
The
update to the s170 register to demonstrate real impacts of the proposed
development on the Collection;
·
The
conduct of priority heritage works identified in the draft MCMP, including
conservation of the Davy Press assemblage, conservation of the forges;
·
The
preparation of an updated Heritage Asset Management Strategy.
Compliance
with these covenants must be the foundation of any development proposal – not
an afterthought.
The
proposed delivery and service vehicle route through the top of the ATP site and
Innovation Plaza present unacceptable impact on public access and public safety
within the site. This is the main route
into and out of the site for pedestrians, and also the main route through the
site for pedestrians and cyclists accessing Redfern and the Railway
station. To propose such a dangerous
conflict of uses at the entrance and the most pedestrianised part of the site
cannot be justified.
The
heavy reliance within the application documentation on ‘cultural heritage
tourism’ with this use and strategy for making a successful destination totally
undocumented does not provide any certainty that future operations will be able
to meet the requirement for public access so important for a site with this
level of State significance.
The
proposed development should not be approved until the proponent and Consent
Authority can demonstrate publically that the proposed development should not
be approved until the proponent and consent authorities including the Heritage
Council ensure:
1.
The
supermarket and associated loading bay and travelator are relocated to another
part of the site, as they cannot be accommodated in the Locomotive Workshops
without unreasonable adverse environmental and heritage impacts
2.
The
ongoing safe and convenient public access to the site and the moveable
collection
3.
The
existing movable heritage collection is conserved and interpreted, without
storage and deaccessioning except under circumstances where exceptional
heritage outcomes can be demonstrated.
4.
The
ongoing use of the blacksmithing equipment and workshop and safeguard this
continued use from conflict with proposed alterations such as the retail pod
insertions in Bays 1 and 2 and proposed retail uses in adjacent bays.
5.
Compliance
with the Heritage and Public Access Covenant can be fully demonstrated to the
public including update of the s170 register to demonstrate the real actual
impact of the proposed development on each element of the Collection
6.
Compliance
with the most recent final Management Plan for the Collection, The Eveleigh Workshops Management Plan for
Moveable Items and Social History prepared by Godden and Mackay in 1996
7.
Preparation
of an interpretation strategy and cultural heritage tourism business pan in
collaboration with community and stakeholders
In all, the approval should not proceed because
of the following issues are unresolved in the application:
·
It
fails to meet the guidelines set out by the NSW Government Architect ‘Better
Placed’ for Government Departments and State Significant Developments in
information, options or clear outcomes
·
It
fails to meet the previous conditions set out in any former approvals (backlog
works)
·
It
fails to protect the significance of Bays 1 & 2. For items of State level
significance by physically and visually separating systems of machinery.
·
It
does not convey the real impact of proposed changes to Bays 1, 2, 3 & 4a
and makes assumptions that it has no heritage impacts where there clearly is a
physical, historical and visual change proposed.
·
It
has not included or considered the comments made by the community at the public
consultations.
·
The
inclusion of new structures within Bays 1 & 2 for new and unrelated
purposes (garbage & deliveries) lowers the significance and the study has
not investigated alternatives to transept these important bays that demonstrate
the Davy Press system that forms the main feature in Bay 1 North but the same
issues are relevant to the buildings Annex areas.
·
It
does not include the impacts of garbage or delivery trucks using the public
space in Innovation Plaza.
·
The
new structure divides the historical functionality of the Davy Press and its
furnace, which lowers the significance of each item within Bays 1North as well
as the place as a whole.
·
It
does not indicate the impact of blacksmithing functionality when penetrations
are made through the acoustic wall separating bays 1 & 2 from Bay 3.
·
No
new alterations should be allowed that further diminish the future use of currently
operating machines, other machines or operational restoration of other machines
within Bays 1 & 2. This should be included with the assessment of uses of
Bays 3 & 4a as well as Annexes.
·
An
Archaeological Study should be carried out prior to any works particularly in
Bay 3 region as no previous study has been carried out for any potential underground
structures.
The Blacksmith Workshop at Eveleigh is of very
high cultural heritage significance at State level and recognised
internationally as one of the best intact worldwide industrial blacksmith
shops.
The State significance is partly formed by the
maintaining the industrial systems used within the Blacksmith Shop. These
systems were historically throughout the entire workshop but were only
preserved in Bays 1 & 2. Any
disruption of the industrial systems within these bays is detrimental to the
intactness displayed within the Blacksmith Shop.
While the preservation of the Eveleigh Rail
Workshops has had a very fraught past it is expected that the few remaining
intact spaces be preserved in the highest order. While better interpretation
does and will improve the site, interpretation should not be in lieu of
degrading the historic intactness.
The submission State Significant Development Application SSDA 8449 Environmental Impact Statement should not be approved until all the matters above are resolved collaboratively with the community and relevant stakeholders.
Sincerely
Name: _______________________________________________________________________
Address: _______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Email Address: _______________________________________________________________________
I confirm that I have not made any reportable
donations and agree to the Department’s Privacy Statement.