Central Barangaroo is the final stage of the NSW government’s $8.7 billion Barangaroo urban renewal project.Credit:James Brickwood
The government agency said it was finalising plans for Central Barangaroo with its development partner Aqualand,and had consulted a range of stakeholders including the City of Sydney council and Sydney Observatory.
“We look forward to the plans going on public exhibition in the coming months,when everyone will be encouraged to have their say,” it said.
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A Millers Point residents group said it was “shocked and disappointed” about the plans for the residential tower,which it described as “tantamount to heritage vandalism”.
“The views of Observatory Hill and much of Millers Point have rightly been maintained for cultural significance. To even obscure these views was previously banned,and we’re very concerned,” Millers Point Community Resident Action Group president Bernard Kelly said.
The group commissioned designers to produce artist’s impressions of Central Barangaroo based on the proposed building envelopes,including the impact of views to and from Observatory Hill.
Mr Kelly said the original plans for Central Barangaroo were designed to limit development to protect views from public spaces to and from Observatory Hill.
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“The building heights will totally obliterate those public views. We do not want to see another Blues Point Tower in Sydney,” he said.
Apart from obscuring views to and from Observatory Hill,the residential building will tower over the six-storey Palisade Hotel,which is the tallest building in the historic Millers Point. The proposed envelopes contrast with original plans for buildings at Central Barangaroo to reduce in height the closer they were to the northern headland,creating a step-like appearance.
Infrastructure NSW is expected to lodge a modification to the concept plan,which will include the plans for Central Barangaroo,next month.