The dramatic reversal amounts to an admission that,due to COVID-19 led public health restrictions,the union was unable to enforce the green ban that until now had stalled Willow Grove’s dismantling and relocation to a new Parramatta site.
It paves the way for the construction of the second Powerhouse Museum on the bank of the Parramatta River,a project expected to generate thousands of direct and indirect jobs and take until 2024 to finish.
In a statement,the NSW CFMEU said it had received commitments from the government to establish a committee to oversee the dismantling,relocation,rebuild and reuse of the villa and its ongoing maintenance. The government had also guaranteed the villa would be kept in public hands,funded and utilised for the Parramatta community,the union said.
It was unclear if these commitments superseded existing public pledges made by the Berejiklian government last October to dismantle and re-erect the 19th century Willow Grove elsewhere in Parramatta and keep and restore the original heritage portion of St Georges Terrace.
The NSW CFMEU said it would ensure that the dismantling process was undertaken in accordance with best-practice heritage conservation without stating how it intended to do so.
It wanted Willow Grove rebuilt at a location to be chosen with the local Parramatta community and stakeholders as soon as possible.
The North Parramatta Residents Action Group had lobbied for the green ban to save the only remaining example of a riverside villa in Parramatta CBD and had challenged the development process in the NSW Supreme Court.