St Leonards Telstra Exchange

The Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (the department) placed an Explanation of Intended Effect (EIE), draft Design Guide and an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on public exhibition between Tuesday 30 January and Monday 26 February 2024.  

These documents relate to the state-led rezoning and State Significant Development (SSD) of the Telstra Exchange site located at 530 - 542 Pacific Highway, St Leonards. 

For more information on the Environmental Impact Statement (SSD application), please visit the Major Projects section of the NSW Planning Portal. 

The state-led rezoning for this site was finalised alongside the Crows Nest Transport Oriented Development (TOD) program rezoning and new planning controls came into effect on 27 November 2024. To view the combined finalisation documents for both proposals, please visit the Crows Nest TOD rezoning proposal page on the NSW Planning Portal. 

It was determined that the St Leonards Telstra exchange rezoning is consistent with the principles of the St Leonards and Crows Nest 2036 Plan. The rezoning enables development of a 43-storey mixed-use building that features Build to Rent (BTR) housing, affordable housing for key workers, serviced apartment accommodation and retail premises, while retaining the existing Telstra Exchange building and the critical infrastructure housed within it. 

Throughout the public exhibition period we received 50 submissions from the community, Councils and other government agencies. The department would like to thank those who took time to provide their feedback on this proposal. 

Several changes were made to the proposal following feedback received throughout the public exhibition period. These include: 

• the introduction of a new baseline maximum building height at Relative Level (RL) 202.3m or 35 storeys to ensure consistency with the St Leonards and Crows Nest 2036 Plan. 
• the application of an ‘incentive height’ up to RL 235.8m or 43 storeys through a local provision. This requires the consent authority to be satisfied that development will provide at least 10 homes on the site for affordable housing for 15 years to access this height increase. 
• a requirement that the maximum building height is mapped as a RL to better suit the conditions of the site. This will provide greater certainty to the built form outcomes. 

You can find more information on how we responded to issues raised during the public exhibition period by viewing the finalisation report located on the Crows Nest TOD rezoning proposal page on the NSW Planning Portal.