Evelyn Reynolds

The City of Sydney has unveiled an alternative scheme for the redevelopment of the southern part of the Waterloo public housing precinct, which includes more social housing and fewer tall towers than the state government’s proposal.
Councillors voted unanimously in support of the suggested changes to the NSW Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC)’s scheme on 22 February. The council scheme calls for a 23 percent increase in social housing on the estate, from 749 to 920 dwellings, as well as a mandated floor of 20 percent affordable housing for new developments in perpetuity, including more housing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The LAHC scheme has been prepared by a design team comprising Turner, Turf Design Studio, Roberts Day, Tribe Studio, and Breathe Architecture.
LAHC has already advised the council that they do not support the recommendations, citing impacts on assumed revenue as their predominant concern, according to a council report. This is just the latest disagreement between the council and state government, who have been trading blows over the redevelopment of the housing estate since the government unveiled its proposal in 2018. In 2019 the council endorsed another alternative proposal for the precinct that Matavai and Turanga public housing towers at the centre of the We Live Here campaign. Since then, the precinct has been divided into three areas, and the proposal now being considered is for the “Waterloo South” precinct.

View gallery

The Land and Housing Corporation proposal, designed by Turner, Turf Design Studio, Roberts Day, Tribe Studio, and Breathe Architecture.

Sydney mayor Clover Moore said the council’s proposed scheme would now be presented to the community for an extended public consultation. Her statement came after comments from housing minister Melinda Pavey blamed the council for delaying the delivery of social housing projects.
“Throughout this long and complex process, the City has listened to and advocated for good outcomes for the Waterloo community,” Moore said.
“Our emphasis has always been on increasing the amount of social and affordable housing as part of the redevelopment, ensuring high quality streets and public spaces, maximizing access to sunlight, and delivering sustainable and accessible buildings.

“The City has attempted to forge a path that achieves the housing yield stipulated by the state government, while improving amenity and social and environmental outcomes for existing and future residents.
“Our amended proposal, a collection of mostly medium-rise buildings, provides a safer, more accessible and greener design. It increases the number of social housing dwellings without reducing the overall number of homes created.”
The council’s urban design program manager, Peter John Cantrill, said the state government’s plans to build nine towers of 20 to 30 storeys would lead to poor outcomes for residents.

“We believe the changes we have made will lead to a better living environment for residents, without reducing the number of homes built,” he said.

“The city has proposed just three high rise towers, with mostly medium rise buildings and the creation of two parks to better meet the needs of residents.
“Our plan provides more sunlight and less windy streets in the area, with reduced overshadowing, by placing the three proposed high-rise towers more widely spaced at the south end of the estate.”

The council’s move has angered NSW housing minister Melinda Pavey, who noted that the LAHC plan was the product of an extensive redesign and more than 12 months of negotiations with the council.
“The behaviour by the council is both disingenuous to the local community and delays work to deliver new homes for those most vulnerable,” she said.
“The political agenda of council should not be preventing the state from creating jobs and delivering new and better social housing for the Waterloo community.” More

A multi-tower mixed-use development designed by Elenberg Fraser has been approved by an assessment panel in Perth, overturning an earlier decision to reject the proposal.
The $320 million project at 97-105 Stirling Highway in Nedlands was initially refused by the Metro Inner North Joint Development Assessment Panel in July 2020 because it failed “to meet the vision for a new activated and vibrant Nedlands Town Centre.”
But after an appeal to the State Administrative Tribunal and a significant redesign informed by four separate mediation sessions, the same panel gave it the green light on 8 February.

The originally proposed four towers will become three, with the 11-storey inner-east tower removed from the scheme and the remaining towers all reduced in height.
The changes reduce the number of dwellings from 301 to 231, and the number of office spaces and restaurants on the ground floor has also been reduced.

“The modified proposal is representational of the existing character of the area through the fine grain finishes and landscaping which are incorporated into the overall design,” a report prepared by Urbanista Town Planning states. “The proposed modified design has carefully considered, and fully addresses the reasons for refusal, resulting in a more sympathetic and improved design.”
The City of Nedlands opposed the proposal, with mayor Cilla De Lacy telling the assessment panel, “A development with two tower elements around twenty storeys does not positively respond to the desired future scale and character of the street as defined by the Strategy. In fact, a development of this height would sit totally out of context with the only adopted desired future scale of 3-9 storeys.”
The assessment panel voted 3-2 in support of the amended proposal.

Related topics More

Tamworth Regional Council is beginning the search for a lead architect to design a $128 million performing arts centre and cultural precinct.
The performing art centre was first proposed in 2017 for the town, which is known as Australian capital of country music. A business case and concept design by William Ross Architects were approved in 2019. The Council will vote on a functional and technical design brief on 23 February 2021, and it is also preparing to launch an expressions of interest process for the lead architect.

The concept plan includes provisions for a 600-seat proscenium theatre with a full fly system, a 200-seat variable-format studio theatre and a 100-seat salon recital room.
The centre will include a rehearsal/dance studio to match the main stage, a recording studio and a functions space and café. It would also become the new home to the Tamworth Conservatorium of Music and the local ABC Studios and the adjacent library and art gallery would be expanded as part of the project.

View gallery

Tamworth Performing Arts Centre and Cultural Precinct concept design by William Ross Architects.

“It will create a suite of venues which will meet the social inclusion, performing arts, creative industries, conference and events needs of the Tamworth community well into the future,” integrated planning officer Sonya Vickery wrote in a report to council. “Its integration with the existing Tamworth Regional Gallery and Tamworth City Library, and with the inclusion of other creative commercial tenants, will create a vibrant and exciting Cultural Precinct which is of national significance.”

The centre will be co-located with the existing Tamworth Library and Tamworth Regional Gallery to create an arts and culture precinct that will meet the needs of the community and region.

The council has been leasing the Capitol Theatre for use as the town’s performing arts venue. The council notes that the Capitol Theatre has proven the demand for performing arts activity in the Tamworth community and that demand now exceeds capacity. “The theatre is fundamentally constrained and inadequate due to its origin as a cinema, with major functional limitations and lack of necessary spaces,” states the report.

Facility planning has identified that the new building will need to be around 10,900 square metres to 13,500 square metres. The concept design prepared by William Ross Architects was conceived as a multi-storey “shopfront” of activities expressed through their form and displayed to people in the street.
Council will now prepare a detailed expression of interest document using the functional and technical design briefas a guide. It expects the expression of interest phase for the lead architect to take two to three months to complete. More

The Australian parliament’s standing committee on public works has recommended that the redevelopment of the Australian War Memorial proceeds despite considerable submissions against the project.
The public works committee considered a range of issues including the need for the project, scope of the project and cost effectiveness of the project.
“The Committee finds that the proposed works are appropriate to meet the identified need, and that these works should proceed,” it said in its report.

The committee heard that “heritage considerations emerged as perhaps the major controversy in the evidence to this inquiry. Many submitters took serious issue with the proposal to replace Anzac Hall in particular.”
According to the Australian Institute of Architects, four out of five of the submissions received by the committee opposed or raised concerns about the development.

View gallery

The proposed new southern entrance designed by Scott Carver will be created below the existing forecourt.
Image: Synthetica
The committee reported that “the proposed replacement of Anzac Hall is also of concern to the Committee. [However] Anzac Hall was constructed as a bespoke building, intended to serve a specific purpose. As outlined in the identification of the need for these works, the space requirements at the AWM is shifting and the facilities available need to shift along with it.”

The Institute’s spokesperson for the “Hands Off Anzac Hall” campaign Clare Cousins said, “This final committee report reveals the government is intent on pushing ahead with this development, regardless of the opposition, the cost and the unanimous expert advice that the project, including the demolition of ANZAC Hall, will irrevocably damage the heritage values of the AWM.

“The Government’s own heritage expert report confirmed the adverse impact ANZAC Hall’s demolition will have on the nationally significant site.”
The committee also noted that the $498.7 million project was not expected to generate any revenue.
The redevelopment of the Australian War Memorial has broad bipartisan support from both sides of politics. However, in a dissenting report, Labour members of the committee recommended that the government “consider alternative approaches that do not involve the complete demolition of the existing Anzac Hall.”
An alternative approach could also mean a significant reduction in the cost of the project.
Labor noted that a 2019 paper by a former memorial official stated the AWM could meet all of its current and future needs at the Mitchell precinct Treloar Resource Centre site at a cost of around $100 million, or 20 percent of the cost of the currently proopsed project.

View gallery

The proposed new southern entrance with a cone-shaped occulus designed by Scott Carver.
Image: Synthetica
The Labor members recommend that the Government “should consider a range of lower cost options that would still meet the stated purpose of the proposed works, while achieving better cost-effectiveness and value for money for the taxpayer.”
The Australian War Memorial is situated within the Parliamentary Triangle in Canberra which means that the National Capital Authority will also conduct its own assessment of the project.
“We look forward to the National Capital Authority promised consultation and the opportunity it provides to right the evident wrongs in the approval process to date,” Clare Cousins said. “We will continue to advocate for the project to be rethought and for ANZAC Hall to be saved from demolition.
“We will not be silenced on the proposed demolition of ANZAC Hall. How could we stay silent when we know without doubt that this unpopular and inappropriate development will negatively impact one of our nation’s most significant monuments.” More

Queensland architect Neville Twidale, known for his significant refurbishment projects, has died.
Twidale began studying a Bachelor of Architecture at the University of Queensland, Brisbane in 1965 and graduated in 1970. He played in the Architectural Revue Band from 1967 until 1970, performing annually at the Avalon Theatre in St Lucia as part of the Architecture Student Revues.
While studying, he began working for the Queensland State Government Department of Community Works, and was for a time acting principal architect for the Queensland Region, according to the Digital Archive of Queensland Architecture.

While forking in the department, Twidale undertook design work on refurbishment projects including the Brisbane General Post-Office and buildings by renowned Brisbane architects Robert “Robin” Smith Dods (1868-1920) and John H. Buckeridge (1857-1934).
In a 2013 interview with Ralph Tyrell, Don Watson and Janina Gosseye, he describes how he developed an appreciation for architectural heritage through his work, despite an education in the 1960s that “completely disregarded” architectural history. “It was treated more or less with contempt, because you weren’t even concerned about keeping old buildings, they could all be bulldozed and something better could be put up,” he said.

“I spent seven years working in the GPO. But, that was something I garnered through the years of working, respect for older buildings, rather than something I actually learnt at university.”
David Cox, director of Cox Architects, who first met Twidale as participants in the Architecture Revues, said Twidale left a “wonderful legacy of architectural practice, humanity and the arts.”
The two worked together as architects and became lifelong friends.
“Our last collaboration together was our submission for the 2020 Venice Architecture Biennale which, together with another revue participant Lindy Morrison, we attempted to incorporate the essence of these revues in a new production for the Biennale,” he said. “Unfortunately, it never happened but the spirit was still well and truly there despite the passing years.
“As well as his architectural legacy, his purple velvet suit and wonderful bass guitar sound will be sorely missed by many, together with his great humanity.”
Twidale died of an aneurysm early on Sunday morning, 21 February. He is survived by his wife Carol and sons Zac and Kel. More

A hot springs wellness centre proposed for the banks of the Derbarl Yerrigan (Swan River) would bring bathers back to a site once popular for late-night skinny dipping.
Tawarri Hot Springs, designed by Plus Architecture with landscape by Aspect Studios, would be built at the western end of the Nedlands-Dalkeith foreshore, halfway between central Perth and Fremantle.
The proposed site was once home to the Dalkeith Hot Pool, built by locals out of limestone in the 1920s after a pipe burst in a 500-metre-deep artesian well to the Yarragadee aquifer, bringing hot water to the surface. From the 1930s, the pool developed a reputation for attracting nude swimmers and “being ‘hot’ in more than one way.” In 1953 it was closed and filled in due to the “misbehaviour.”

Plus Architecture’s wellness centre is envisioned as being closer to spa facilities than its steamy predecessor.

View gallery

Tawarri Hot Springs, designed by Pus Architecture with landscape by Aspect Studios.

The centre would comprise a number of pavilions that incorporate locally sourced limestone and it would include outdoor pools. The architects also note that the site is significant for the Nyoongar people as a traditional hunting ground. Tawarri is a Noongar word that translates as “evening breeze.”

“Through intensive investigation and design process the masterplan has [been] developed [to] be sympathetic to and build upon opportunities presented in the surrounding landscape and public facilities,” Plus Architecture states in planning documents. “The project aims to create a design that is both elegant and timeless while also being sufficiently robust to withstand future design changes that may be required.”

In addition to the outdoor pools, Tawarri Hot Springs would include indoor pools, saunas, a restaurant, a café and a two-storey treatment centre.
The pools would be filled via a bore to the Yarragadee aquifer with the warmth coming from geothermal heating. The groundwater would be injected back into the aquifer.
The site was a Strategic Tourism Attraction by the state government in 2019, with Tourism WA given oversight of the project. A design competition was held for the project, with Plus Architecture beating out three other firms.

In a letter of support submitted as part of the planning application, Tourism WA chairman Nathan Harding says the project “builds upon the rich history of the site, which included the community use of hot water pools in the area.”
“There are numerous public benefits to this development which include construction and operational jobs, the generation of lease revenue to the State and City of Nedlands for maintaining and improving the foreshore reserve, increased length of stay and spend by visitors to Western Australia, and public access to a world class wellness facility,” he states. More