Friday, 12 December 2025

In this Edition...

1. At last – the draft Sydney Plan, plus an industrial lands policy

2. 2025 – The year of the YIMBY!

3. YIMBY Champions for 2025

4. Hall of shame – 2025 NIMBYs and the Gold NIMBY

...and much, much more.

5. Transforming Wentworth Park to support more housing
6. We’ve got a feeeees-ibility problem
7. HAFF – Round 3 and the signs are positive from the Government
8. Building regulation reform needs to enshrine mediation
9. At last (part 2) DPHI finally updates the Housing Supply Dashboard
10. KPMG analysis shows housing dream slipping away from many
11. Usual LGA suspects falling way behind housing targets
12. Council watch
13. ALAND chosen to develop Cherrybrook metro precinct
14. Woolloomooloo Wharf awarded global honour
15. Members in the news

1.  At last – draft Sydney Plan, plus an industrial lands policy

Capping off a busy year for the NSW Planning Minister, this week Paul Scully released for consultation the long-awaited draft Sydney Region Plan, along with a draft industrial lands policy.

It's moment to celebrate: GONE are the final vestiges of the glossy marketing brochure created by the team of overpaid executive “thought leaders” at the Greater Cities Commission (GCC). "Metropolis of Three Cities" has been removed from strategic planning parlance, other than as marker of the low point of the strategic planning profession.

It was a "city of three cities" – with the third one only serviced by a Metro, with no funded plans for anything else (but they had a bunch of MoUs)!!!

To paraphrase and mis-quote the Spice-Girls classic …

"Tell me what you want, what you really, really want …"

“A Metro between St Marys and Bradfield as the first piece of infrastructure to support the new Airport precinct” … is a dream that has never been had by anyone outside the GCC! Thank goodness it is gone.

Anyway – back to the new draft Plan.

The draft Sydney Plan is now on public exhibition until 27 February 2026.  DPHI has advised that it is very open to feedback and comment. 

The relevant documents are:

Draft Sydney Region Plan

Discussion Paper on the Government's new approach to Strategic Planning

Draft Industrial Lands Policy

Interactive industrial land map

The old Region Plan was way out of date and was holding NSW back. This is because the entire planning system was and is bound to ensure that all decisions were consistent with the “Region Plan”.  

The new Region Plan is less prescriptive, more flexible, and aspirational. Flexibility is critical to allow the Plan to cater for changing circumstances, as we have seen since 2018. It is not perfect – but we welcome the public exhibition and the opportunity to comment.

Greenfield Development and the MRA

There will be a pathway opened for planning proposals for land in the Metropolitan Rural Area. Land release for greenfield development will be prioritised according to planned and funded infrastructure, with an associated precinct release list published.

Unlike the old 2018 Region Plan, the maps and technical appendices will be regularly updated to reflect new infrastructure commitments and changes to government policy throughout the life of the new Plan.

Housing Accord Targets

National Housing Accord targets will be embedded in the Region Plan, and councils will be required to develop a Local Strategic Planning Statement (LSPS) to support their delivery by making changes to their LEP.

Rationalising the Strategic Planning Framework

District Plans (or City Plans as they were more recently known) have been scrapped.

The government has now carved into stone the primacy of housing supply through changes both to the Act and to the new Region Plan – something that was almost an afterthought under the previous regime.

Minister Scully chisels housing supply into the planning system 

BUT it’s not perfect … yet.

Both DPHI and the Minister’s office have been at pains to advise that these new plans are DRAFT plans.  They have implemented a long period of public exhibition (27 February 2027) and are keen to receive feedback before the documents are finalised.  

Draft Industrial Lands policy

The "Protect/Retain and Manage" industrial land policy has been scrapped and a more flexible classification approach adopted.  It has the potential finally to break the deadlock created by the old flawed policy that has done so much damage to the sensible transformation of redundant industrial zones scattered across Sydney. But there are some issues.

While DPHI has tried to map all industrial land sites, it readily agrees that there are errors and anomalies that require feedback from those on the ground. This is particularly the case in relation to the interactive Industrial Lands maps, which may be inconsistent with TODs or with decisions already taken by the HDA to consider housing on Regional Industrial Land sites (where this draft plan would lock out residential development). DPHI wants feedback on any such matters.

If landowners disagree with their classification, DPHI wants to receive submissions on this too.

An initial observation is that far too much industrial land has been classified Regionally Significant rather than Local.  This seems to be a DPHI default setting , more reflective of the former GCC’s failed policy. However, a more flexible approach to mixed use development is available under the Locally Significant Industrial Land classification.

Further, the designation of parts of White Bay as State Significant Industrial Land is bizarre.  While it may reflect the Government’s existing policy, it also demonstrates the excruciatingly slow pace of government decision-making on this site. Very soon, there will be a Metro Stop there … but nothing else!

That said, the revised Industrial Lands policy appears far more flexible than its predecessor and should benefit both industrial, retail , and mixed-use development for areas where industrial land zoning is no longer fit for purpose, or where mixed uses can successfully co-locate, as they do in the UK, many cities of Europe, Japan, the USA and even in the inner south of Sydney. Who doesn’t love a local sorbet factory store, micro-brewery or gin distillery?!?

There needs to be an appeal mechanism included in this Industrial Lands policy, where a case can be made for a change to a classification. This would allow flexibility to deal with future changes in industrial manufacturing, storage, and distribution, along with demands for homes that are co-located with employment. Any appeal mechanism must allow a landowner to present evidence that can be measured against a set of criteria, much as is the case with the HDA. We cannot have a case where the Region Plan once again becomes a blockage against the sensible transition of tired old industrial sites that could deliver more jobs and homes through a mixed-use designation.

Centres Policy

The 2014 Region Plan included an important new initiative. It was explicitly recognised on page 139 of that Plan that higher density housing was a critical component of Strategic Centres.  As a result, NSW saw the best housing approval and supply numbers in the 4 years that followed.  Yet, in the 2018 GCC Sydney Region Plan, the reference to housing in Strategic Centres was removed. It is no coincidence that this led to a sharp decline in housing approvals and housing supply (even before COVID).

The new draft Region Plan has not yet corrected this GCC error of 2018, despite the fact that the HDA and the New South Wales Government have been keen to see increased housing in all areas, including in CBDs, commercial centres and retail centres.  It must be explicitly recognised that high density and high-rise residential development assists the feasibility of commercial development and helps to create an active ground plane and vibrant nighttime economy.

 All this is going to take far too long!

This all feels a bit like business as usual.  We have a housing supply crisis now! 

The NSW Government needs to make sure that local council planning departments don't abandon their day-to-day planning responsibilities in favour of rewriting local strategic planning statements.

This is what occurred under Rob Stokes when the former Government forced Councils to divert scarce resources into strategic planning, while simultaneously limiting rate increases through a cap.  Approvals plummeted.  DPIE under the then Secretary did nothing. This is a lesson worth learning from.

The current plan (for the Plan) is for this draft to be exhibited until the end of February. 

Then DPHI will review feedback and take the final Plans to Cabinet for its signoff.  Once finalised, councils will be required to re-draft their Local Strategic Planning Statements, which will then guide changes to Local Environment Plans.

It seems to us that this will not be finalised until the very end of the Housing Accord period.  This is simply too far away.

The Government has said that it will continue to take the lead with State led re-zonings, and that is very welcome.  It also said that it would step in where councils were not working realistically to achieve their targets (but we have heard that before).

Urban Taskforce suggests that once the Region Plan is finalised, some of the changes should take immediate effect. All existing LSPS clauses that are not consistent with the new Plan should be over-ridden by the new Plan to the extent of the inconsistency.

A Standard Instrument Approach to definitional matters (applied to LSPS’s rather than LEPs) should be adopted to ensure this consistency.

2. 2025 – The year of the YIMBY!

Industry and political pundits will look back at 2025 as the year that the broad pro-housing philosophy of Yes-In-My-Backyard (YIMBY) firmly entrenched itself in the political and bureaucratic milieu.

Wow - how the times have changed!

2026 in the Chinese zodiac is the Year of the Snake – signifying wisdom, transformation and cleverness. All three traits have been needed with the significant planning and housing reform that occurred over the course of the last 12 months.

Urban Taskforce Australia has been at the head of the charge for change. We were even accused by a former DPIE Secretary, (now Federal bureaucrat) of whipping up a needless scare campaign and sloganeering when we were the first to call out the “housing supply crisis” (Imagine being accused of sloganeering by a highly paid, T-shirt wearing public servant – the irony!!!)

This year started with a campaign by the Daily Telegraph and Urban Taskforce, which secured bipartisan support for critical reforms to the EP&A Act. It ends with housing supply entrenched in the amended planning laws and draft Sydney Plan, positioning it now as a central narrative for the Minns Government and the NSW Opposition.

3. YIMBY Champions for 2025

Premier Chris Minns, Planning Minister Paul Scully and Housing Minister Rose Jackson – the Premier has continued to rail against forces that see themselves as somehow outside the statewide need for new housing. In this, he has been ably assisted by the Planning Minister Paul Scully, who has racked up an impressive list of reforms. Housing Minister Rose Jackson, as the youngest member of Cabinet, continues not only to call out vested interests, but to emphasise the urgent need to unblock the housing supply pipeline.

Former Leader of the Opposition Mark Speakman and Shadow Planning Minister Scott Farlow – it takes two to tango, and the bipartisan approach to planning reform was a game changer in terms of getting significant reform embedded into the Act. The Opposition (despite a few internal ructions) has declared itself to be a party of YIMBYism – and this looks set to continue under new Leader Kellie Sloane.

Sydney YIMBY – the scourge of NIMBY councils everywhere, this band of younger folk which diligently writes submissions and turns up to council meetings to argue for more well-connected housing where people (especially young people) want to live. Gone are the days when council consultations were crowded out with the bleatings of older residents who were desperate to maintain the status quo.

Federal Minister for Housing Clare O’Neil – has taken on the housing portfolio with gusto. Stared down the Greens and the Liberals and looks like putting the Housing Australia Future Fund on a more even keel.  She understands that without the private sector there will be little to no housing supply.

Mayors Darcy Byrne (Inner West) and Will Nemesh (Waverley) – Darcy Byrne is close to the PM and has ushered in a cultural shift at the hitherto NIMBY enclave of Inner West. The Fairer for Our Future plan for Inner West TODs was driven by the Mayor, who espoused housing as a “moral cause”.  Now that he has been elected President of Local Government NSW, we are looking forward to a big change of attitude across the LGAs.  In the east, Waverley Mayor Will Nemesh has similarly started the hard work of changing attitudes in the once notorious Not-In-My-Back-Yard Waverley Council. The Vision for Bondi Junction – a centre that for decades was allowed to whither on the vine – is a clear statement of intent from Mayor Nemesh.  There are now signs that councils like Willoughby are also following suit.

Peter Tulip – every campaign needs brain and brawn. Peter Tulip, formerly of the RBA, has been indefatigable in setting out the economic underpinnings of the housing supply crisis and detailing how Governments can solve it.  By drawing from economic theory and practice across the globe, Peter has helped to shape debate about the why and how of planning reform. The AFR even included him as one of the five most powerful property people in September this year. 

4. Hall of Shame - 2025 NIMBYs and the Gold NIMBY

The “We need more infrastructure but not that infrastructure” Award

Woollahra Council  

After trying the "we need more housing, but we need infrastructure" schtick for the past few years, Woollahra Councillors must have collectively choked on their cornflakes organic raw granola when the Minns Government announced plans to complete the Woollahra station to support 10,000 new homes.

At its present housing approval rate under the Accord, Woollahra Council would take almost 75 years to approve 10,000 new dwellings …

They have been sulking ever since…

The “Apartment dwellers reduce social cohesion” Award

ROLBO - Residents Opposed to Lavender Bay Overdevelopment 

ROLBO was alarmed that new arrivals to North Sydney were not just a threat to their village character, but would threaten social cohesion. Apparently, cohesion is something only achieved through long term residency and ridiculous amounts of wealth used unproductively to oppose housing.

Do these people ever stop and reflect??? Check your privilege.

The “We have never listened to professional advice” Award

North Sydney Mayor, Zoe Baker

The Mayor actually said this at a Council meeting: “The only advice we have is, preliminarily, that this wouldn’t meet the requirements for heritage listing. But that has never stopped me, and that has never stopped this Council.”

An interim heritage order was issued forthwith… 

The “It’s the vibe" Award

Ku-ring-gai Council  

Although it cut a deal with the Minns Government on the four TOD precincts, it still had to wrestle with the LMR policy. Part of its response was to insert vague local character area statements into a new DCP, where developers must now try to second guess what Council sees as the quintessential character of the specified area.  

A subjective farce…

The “I keep punching myself in the face” Award

NSW Treasury

Stubbornly stuck to its anti-housing tax regime, which stifles feasibility, thwarts new housing, and actually stops Treasury coffers filling with all that stamp duty.

Duh!

The "John McEnroe, you cannot be serious” Award

Parramatta Council

After sacking its latest CEO, and shortly after an ICAC raid, tried to argue that it should be exempt from the HDA and should have its own Planning Act.

Yeah…. Right…

The “Did I say the quiet bits out loud?” Award

An elderly Mosman Resident who, in taking the Government to court on its LMR policy, told anyone who would listen that:

“Yes, we are entitled because we’ve worked hard to live here.
I am entitled to live here.”

 But few else, it would appear.

Apparently her lawyers are doing nicely out of the whole affair…

The “Blatant undermining of State Government housing policy” Award

Northern Beaches Council

Its new DCP states “Council has adopted DCP amendments to protect the unique character of the Northern Beaches in response to the NSW Government’s state-wide housing policy which permits more medium and high-density residential development in large parts of the Council area.”

That’s the attitude we need (not).

The “We’ve only been asked to deliver 100 new homes a year but it’s the end of the world as well know it” Award

Mosman Council

Really gave its confreres at Woollahra a run for its money in terms of naked NIMBYism. You could have been mistaken that its reaction to LMR was more akin to a declaration of war than accommodating a few more dwellings in its leafy streets. 

A lot of cashed-up boomer outrage is appearing along the northern shores of the Harbour!

The “Never look a gift horse in the mouth” Award

The Australian Turf Club

Voted against selling Rosehill Racecourse – which would have netted billions to reinvest elsewhere while turning Rosehill into a well-located suburb. It was a close-run thing for the "I keep punching myself in the face" Award, with Treasury officials seen nervously stalking Martin Place throughout the last week. The ATC behaviour was not strictly NIMBY, but more … small minded and stupid …

Just sayin' …

In a hotly contested field, we could not go past the efforts of Woollahra Mayor, Sarah Dixson who led the charge against more housing in Sydney’s east:

• opposing development around a train station at Woollahra
• suggesting that too many underground car parks was turning the region into a sinkhole
• handing out anti-housing leaflets at citizenship ceremonies
• including misleading images showing the alleged impact of the Government’s LMR policy with the annual Council rates notice
• falsely claiming that more housing in Woollahra would work against affordability (our economists are still shuddering at that one)
• claiming that pedestrian amenity would be impacted (for reasons unclear)
• trotting out the typical NIMBY lines about preserving “local character”, “overshadowing”, “housing density” and “heritage conservation”. 

But she really went the extra mile (and claimed the Gold NIMBY) with a vague reference to “the unique challenges faced by each area” in the Woollahra municipality (somehow said with a straight face!)

5. Transforming Wentworth Park to support more housing

Last week Urban Taskforce called for a reimagining of Wentworth Park in Ultimo – turning an underutilised, 1930s greyhound racing track relic into green space that could support more housing.

This week the NSW Government responded saying that it would not renew the greyhound racing lease agreement, which expires in 2027, but would turn the park into a 14-hectare precinct for community sporting activities, public green space, and community festivals.  

CEO of Urban Taskforce, Tom Forrest, congratulated the Minns Government for its vision:

While the local community has been pushing for the end of greyhound racing at Wentworth Park (and beyond) for decades now, linking the new greenspace to support up to 7,300 new homes may not be exactly what the established locals were after.

6. We’ve got a feeeees-ibility problem

Along with being shortlisted for the pun of the year, CEO Tom Forrest wrote a piece for Sourceable on challenges to housing supply, represented by the cumulative impact of Government fees, taxes, and charges.

Combined they are eroding development feasibility and blocking housing starts.

While planning reform and new pathways for high value, high yield projects were leading to an uptick in approvals, the greatest challenge to supply and to meeting the National Housing Accord targets (based on actual completions) was the staggering amount of taxes, fees, and charges placed on the supply of new housing.  

You tax a product you want less of – cigarettes, alcohol, pollution etc. Taxing housing is like taxing a baker in times of a bread shortage.  

Our research from earlier this year showed that the impact of housing taxes was considerably worse in NSW than other parts of the country.  

The idea of slugging new home buyers (many of whom are struggling to break into the housing market) for the cost of new infrastructure (including affordable housing for the lucky few) is inequitable and undercuts the NSW Government’s mantra around being a pro-housing regime.

7. HAFF – Round 3 and the signs are positive from the Government

Federal Housing Minister Clare O’Neil continues to impress with the Albanese Government moving clearly into partnership mode with round 3 of the HAFF.

The Availability Payments for turnkey dwellings for affordable and social housing will be between $17,500 - $23,500.

The object is to deliver 21,000 social and affordable homes and have them all completed before June 30, 2029.  EOIs from CHP applicants (in partnership with private financiers, builder and developers) can be submitted any time from the end of January 2026, when the detailed criteria will be published by Housing Australia.

There is also a significant program to support First Nations Housing.

HAFF Round 3 is a positive move by the Federal Government and will assist the feasibility for market housing supply by effectively under-writing part of the development with a secure take-out partner – the CHP supported by the HAFF Availability Payments, paying no land tax or stamp duty, and incurring no marketing and sales costs. 

There is a lot to get across with the HAFF, but it appears that the Government has learnt the lessons from HAFF Round 1 and is getting smarter about working with the private sector.

Urban Taskforce members interested in the HAFF can seek the assistance of Urban Taskforce Secretary/Treasurer, David Tanevski for advice on potential partnerships with interested stakeholders.

8. Building regulation reform needs to enshrine mediation

Last month the Legislative Council Public Accountability and Works Committee handed down its report on the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 and the Residential Apartment Buildings (Compliance and Enforcement Powers) Act 2020. 

Of particular interest was the Committee’s Recommendation 4, which stated: 

Urban Taskforce strongly supports moves towards mandatory mediation, which we see as an important way to reduce the incidence of ambulance-chasing lawyers pursuing developers over defects. 

A mediation process would allow issues to be resolved long before having to head to the courts, which will reduce costs and frustrations for all concerned. 

We have met with Minister Chanthivong’s office to discuss mediation and to recommend a system similar to that used in Queensland, receiving positive responses, and we look forward to working further with the Minister’s team in the new year to resolve this potential area of conflict. 

Building productivity reform is urgently needed to supplement the broader planning and housing reforms introduced over the last 2 years. It will aid efforts to convert housing approvals into housing commencements and completions. Mediation and resolving disputes quickly with minimal fuss and cost (and fewer ambulance chasing lawyers) is a good start.

9. At last (part 2) -DPHI finally updates the Housing Supply Dashboard

After an 18 month hiatus, DPHI has finally updated its Housing Supply Dashboard with the launch of a new webpage. It's a Christmas miracle! 

Urban Taskforce has been calling for the update since last year. As the Minns Government keeps saying - what gets measured gets done, and the Dashboard is a useful way of tracking the planning performance on an LGA and statewide basis. 

We shall be pouring over the data contained within in the coming weeks. 

10. KPMG analysis shows housing dream slipping away from many

To add more food for thought within the gilded halls of the NSW Treasury, KPMG analysis this week showed that housing affordability was having significant repercussions for the national demography – with higher and higher housing costs leading to young couples facing “choices” between a home or kids.

According to KPMG analysis, the share of homes within budget for an average first-home buyer has fallen dramatically across the country. Today, first home buyers with an average annual household income of $180,000 can only afford to buy 12% of the housing stock, in 2019-20, first home buyers had an average income of $150,000 but had access to about 30% of housing stock.

While Sydney has not moved the dial in terms of affordability (a mere 5% of homes in NSW are now considered affordable) the fact that NSW has half the affordable stock as Victoria, and a third of what Queensland offers, should give policy makers here in NSW something to think upon over the Christmas break.

Source: KPMG

Meanwhile, Governments are simply lumping new housing with more fees, taxes, and charges. It’s madness and it’s making a difficult situation even more so.

If the NSW Premier really wants to avoid a city with no grandchildren, reducing the tax load on new home buyers needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

11. Usual LGA suspects falling way behind housing targets

This week’s ABS housing approvals data, broken down on a LGA basis, proved the theory that those councils making the loudest anti-housing supply noise are the ones who are performing the worst.

The question that will present itself to the Minns Government more strongly in 2026 is what to do with the errant councils that refuse to shoulder a fair share of housing.

What it did verify was the “inversely proportional” hypothesis (stumbled upon by the Urban Taskforce research division back in the turn of the century) - where the amount of noise emitted by a NIMBY Council is inversely proportional to its housing supply performance, as shown in the following equation:

12. Council Watch

Mosman – can we have our own plan?

We noted the resolution at the last meeting of Mosman Council that it resolved to spend $300,000 on a long term strategic Masterplan that seeks to refine and replace the LMR planning controls.

When the primary concern is incompatibility with the topography and the village character of Mosman – you know where this is going…

DPHI has told Council that any outcome must meet or exceed the housing that could be delivered through LMR.  The existing policy will continue to operate in the meantime.  

Unfortunately, all this does is create risk and uncertainty.  At the very least those who have already responded to the Government’s LMR policy in good faith should be protected from the impact of any future council plan.

Of considerable concern is a proposal to whack new developments with a 4% additional infrastructure tax, along with a proposed affordable housing levy.

Mosman Council continues to be a favourite of Council Watch, and will be closely scrutinised throughout 2026. This is a Council that was a no-go area under the former Government and has simply sat back and thought the housing supply crisis was a problem for someone and somewhere else.

It has been caught napping and now wants to spend another year on consultant reports to try to tweak a policy that was put in place precisely because councils like Mosman refused to play ball when it came to a fairer share of housing.

The Hills are alive with the sound of moaning ... 

A multi-billion metro is a massive investment, so the idea of restricting development around a metro station is ludicrous.

Yet this is what the Hills Shire Councillors seem to be demanding – resolving to seek a meeting with the Planning Minister to somehow get him to pull back on Government plans to maximise the housing and employment returns from such a massive investment. Good luck with that!

The Minister’s comments to the SMH this week shows that he is determined to push ahead with a plan that was frankly undercooked when the former Coalition Government put it out for consultation back in 2022. The Cherrybrook Metro precinct was out on display last month, with DPHI now reviewing feedback A final rezoning proposal will be considered by the Minister in 2026.

Cherrybrook straddles two LGA – The Hills and Hornsby. The latter has supported the housing and job numbers contained in the revised proposal in principle.  The former?  A lot of angst ...

These are councils with strong Liberal sympathies - which shows that the NSW Opposition will still have to deal with considerable internal dissent as it tries to present itself as a party of YIMBYism.

Waverley endorses Bondi Junction Vision

Good news for anyone wanting to see Bondi Junction move on from its sorry state – with Waverley Council unanimously endorsing the Bondi Junction Vision Statement. We understand there was no coriander served during the Council meeting, which de-escalated any simmering tensions amongst the Councillors.

The Vision statement will now feed into a draft Masterplan – yet another document to watch out for in 2026.

Willoughby (and this is another good news story!)

And we end this year on a more positive note. The Council watch team is a glass-half-full kind of team, constantly shocked by the brazen attempts by NIMBY councils to block or stymie housing supply.

To the team’s pleasant surprise, we have detected a faint whiff of YIMBYism in that old NIMBY enclave of Willoughby Council.

We understand there has been a changing of the guard in terms of council staff at Willoughby, led by a relatively new GM with a decidedly private sector background.

Chatswood is one of the most well-connected parts of Sydney – yet Council has historically pushed back on more housing, clinging to outdated concepts like the Chatswood commercial core. 

But, the first signs of a change in approach have been observed in the recent announcement by Council calling for a partnership to tackle housing supply.

Will Willoughby join the Inner West as a former NIMBY council that has now seen the light in terms of well-located housing? Again, we shall keep an eye on developments in this regard in 2026.

It certainly puts the actions of Woollahra and Mosman in stark relief.

13. ALAND chosen to develop Cherrybrook metro precinct

Urban Taskforce member ALAND has been awarded a contract to develop part of the Cherrybrook Metro Station precinct.  

The site awarded to ALAND will become the heart of the Cherrybrook Station Precinct.

Its location beside the Metro means that the community will benefit from transport access, leafy pedestrian links, and a mix of local amenity.  

Subject to rezoning, development approval is anticipated in 2027, with staged delivery to follow over an eight-year program.

14. Woolloomooloo Wharf awarded global honour

Woolloomooloo Wharf, brought back to life by Walker Corporation late last century, has become the first Australian project to receive the Urban Land Institute’s Asia Pacific Legacy Award.

Marked for demolition, it was saved when Lang Walker bought the site in 1996. A $400 million restoration transformed the site into one of the iconic landmarks of Sydney, Australia, and now the world.

The overhaul included a 100-year maintenance plan and the replacement of the original timber piles with reinforced concrete.

It is now a bustling precinct with residential apartments, restaurants, and open public spaces.

Another worthy tribute to the legacy of the late Lang Walker.

15. Members in the news

“… Ceerose, founded by Edward Doueihi nearly three decades ago, has filed plans for 154 apartments above ground-floor retail at 307-315 Parramatta Road, a key corner site near Norton Street, the main high street strip in Leichhardt… read more ...                               

                                            Apartments.com.au, 4 December

“… Holdmark is upscaling its plans for its Macquarie Park Transport Oriented Development (TOD) project, 400 metres from the new Macquarie Park metro station… According to the Design Report by Studio.sc, formerly Scott Carver, the proposal “integrates podium and tower forms to optimise solar access, views, and permeability”… read more ...                               

                                            Apartments.com.au, 4 December

“… Bridgestone Projects has been given the go-ahead for its dual-tower North Shore luxury project that was rejected by a planning panel last year… read more ...                             

                                           The Urban Developer, 5 December

“… Leading Sydney developer Deicorp has recorded a strong market response at the launch of The Avenues, its $874 million East Zetland precinct… read more ...                              

                                            Apartments.com.au, 8 December

“… Mr Goodman’s listed company, the Goodman Group, has transformed from a warehouse owner and developer into a global funds manager, with a focus on building data centres in key capitals ... read more ...                                

                                           The Australian, 8 December

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