February 12, 2018

Help stop the demolition of Sirius: Responding to Sirius SEPP

Introduction 

The government is rushing with indecent haste to prepare for the demolition of Sirius. This is described by the government as giving back the skyline. 
 
The NSW Department of Planning has prepared a draft State Significant Precinct State Environmental Planning Policy (SSP SEPP) for the Sirius site.
 
The SEPP is open for comment until 16 February 2018. We are hoping people and organisations make submissions — well considered or brief, either is fine as long as there are many and varied submissions.

Details of the draft policy including a heritage impact assessment and urban design report are available at http://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/siriussepp

The draft site specific State Environmental Planning Policy amendment (Sirius SEPP), for 36-50 Cumberland Street, The Rocks, fails to appropriately address the heritage significance of the site. By excluding relevant information, an informed decision on the likely impacts to changes in land use and redevelopment of the site cannot be undertaken. Without making appropriate reference to the Sirius Building, a recognized item of heritage significance, the Sirius SEPP merely trivialises the planning process.

The need for such a SEPP is certainly in question. In the two-and-a-half years since the current NSW State Government announced its decision to sell their public housing ‘stock’ in The Rocks and Millers Point to ‘fund’ more social housing elsewhere in the city, the Sirius building has been politicized through ingenuine government motive. This is certainly demonstrated in the way the Minister for Heritage chose to ignore the professional advice of their department’s recommendation to include the Sirius building on the State Heritage Inventory by favoring a flawed divestment strategy; one that would demonstrate that the Sirius building is certainly not surplus to requirement. If the argument is to provide affordable housing then surely retention of the Sirius building would satisfy this aim?

Accompanying the Sirius SEPP are two documents: Appendix A – Urban Design Report and Appendix B – Heritage Report. These documents omit relevant information and prevent us from reaching an informed decision about the redevelopment of the site.

Save Our Sirius believe the SEPP is fundamentally flawed, as it does not consider the acknowledged heritage significance of Sirius.

Below is a summary of our objection to the SEPP.

 

Making a Submission

We encourage everyone to review the plans, and make a submission.

Submissions can include attached documents, and are made online at

http://planspolicies.planning.nsw.gov.au/index.pl?action=view_job&job_id=8966

 

Save Our Sirius Objection to Sirius Site SEPP

Save Our Sirius is preparing a detailed objection to the Sirius Site SEPP, the below topics are covered in more detail in a report by Anne Warr which you can read here:

Our submission will address the following points;

  • The Sirius SEPP fails to recognise the heritage significance of the Sirius building
  • The Government is ignoring it’s own guidelines for management of assets. NSW Property has failed to manage Sirius as required under Section 170 of the NSW Heritage Act.
  • The Heritage Impact Statement is inadequate
  • The Urban Design Report in incomplete
  • Conservation Management Plan is required

 

The Sirius SEPP fails to recognise the heritage significance of the Sirius building

An important failing of the Sirius SEPP is that it has not undertaken any assessment of heritage impact upon the demolition and/or retention of the Sirius building. Such an assessment would certainly conclude that any demolition would have an adverse and negative heritage impact; and by also not having any conservation management policies in place this too would have an adverse heritage impact. By not including any heritage impact assessment on the Sirius building, recognised as significant by its listing under the Section 170 of the Heritage Act and recommended listing by the NSW Heritage Council in 2015, the Sirius SEPP has failed to incorporate the necessary ‘check and balances’ for such an important planning instrument.

 

The Heritage Impact Statement is inadequate

As the proposed SEPP allows for 2 scenarios for the future of the Sirius site – retention of the existing building, or demolition and new construction following new planning controls – it seems inadequate that the Heritage Impact Statement (HIS) has addressed only one of these scenarios; – ‘the potential impact any new development may have on the heritage items in the vicinity’ (AP HIS Nov 2017: 5). The heritage impact of removing the Sirius building should have been addressed.

Read more about this in Anne’s submission

 

NSW Property has failed to manage Sirius as required under Section 170 of the NSW Heritage Act

The Land and Housing Corporation listed Sirius as a heritage item on its Heritage and Conservation Register, under Section 170 of the NSW Heritage Act.

Since the early 1990s, the NSW Premier’s Department, NSW Treasury and NSW Department of Commerce have worked together to develop Total Asset Management (TAM) Guidelines, including Heritage Asset Management Guidelines, to help NSW Government Agencies manage their asset portfolios and to fulfil their obligations under Section 170 of the Heritage Act.

However, the government has not followed their own guidelines;
• Sirius is not a surplus asset as defined by the TAM Guidelines
• The disposal process for Sirius has not followed the TAM Guidelines

Read more about this in Anne’s submission

 

Sirius is recognised as significant heritage

The Sirius building is of widely acknowledged heritage significance including by the following;

  • Heritage Council of NSW who recommended Sirius for state heritage listing
  • The National Trust who nominated Sirius for state heritage listing
  • ICOMOS
  • Docomomo
  • The World Monuments Fund
  • The Australian Institute of Architects
  • The City of Sydney

 

Making a Submission

We encourage everyone to review the plans, and make a submission.

Submissions can include attached documents, and are made online at:
 http://planspolicies.planning.nsw.gov.au/index.pl?action=view_job&job_id=8966

If you have any questions, please contact Save Our Sirius hello@saveoursirius.org