Campbell's Stores Reuse

The glass box is completely out of character with the area in terms of shape , building materials and scale.
The rocks is one of the few heritage areas on Sydney and needs to be preserved .
The Hyatt is a sympathetic building for the area - plonking a glass cube between it and the warehouses destroys the links between the two. With the planned redevelopment of the ferry wharves the Campbell warehouses and the glass cube the Campbell warehouses will be seen from the harbour foreshores as a quaint isolated "old" building rather than part of the rocks


The photo montage of the view from the opera house shows the building obscured by 2 trees - but trees die (eg Hyde Park) in which case the cube would be clearly seen from the opera house promenade.

Department of Planning and Environment

Remediation, Renewal and Adaptive Re-Use of Campbell's Stores, The Rocks. SSD 7056

I strongly object to the four-storey building included as part of the Campbell's Stores Development Application. It is good to see some plans for the Stores' renewal but NOT if
the cost is the long-term loss of the heritage setting for this important heritage-listed building. The grounds for my objection are:

* Campbell's Stores should be visible from all four sides and not partly obscured. This is a unique opportunity to achieve this.

* Having a building or any other structure between Campbell's Stores and the Park Hyatt Hotel is entirely inappropriate. It is publicly-owned land and should only be used for landscaping and foreshore access.

* The design of the proposed building undermines and devalues The Rocks' heritage character.

* The proposed building interrupts the historic streetscape along this section of Hickson Rd and also the heritage of Harbour foreshore

* The proposed building contravenes the 2014 Campbell's Stores Conservation Management Plan which the Heritage Council endorsed (esp. 7.5.5). The plan clearly outlines the area that needs to be retained around Campbell's Stores. This includes the area now proposed for this completely unsympathetic glass building. Approving it would destroy Campbell's Stores historic setting.

* The Conservation Management Plan states that the one-storey structure that exists on this land now should be removed (see 7.6.1). This was intended to free up the land NOT to create space for a building four times as high.

* A building like this is contrary to everything that people value about the 1960s and 70s campaign to save The Rocks. It is also an eyesore.

* We need to correct address the problems created by past poor decision-making in The Rocks, NOT compound them by allowing the construction of this unsympathetic glass building right next to one of The Rocks' most significant heritage buildings.

I have not made any political donations in the last two years.

V. Elton

Adaptive reuse is one thing but building a complete new 'Glass Box' building on public land purely for someone to make a profit is definitely not something I would support. How can you even consider something so out of keeping with this heritage site? The open space it would occupy is often so busy with people watching events like NYE, Aroma festival, Vivid etc Please leave this limited space open for such events which are so popular for Sydney.

The restoration of Campbell's stores is welcome and overdue, however, I write to oppose the building of the structure known as Bay 12. It is completely inappropriate for the area where it is planned. It is not at all sympathetic to the surrounding buildings in shape, form or materials. I understand the need to distinguish old from modern but this building is utterly at odds with the area and does nothing to enhance its surroundings. That its partial obscuring by a large tree is counted as a plus proves that its negative intrusiveness is recognised and understood. On this ground alone, it should not go ahead. The Rocks is an important heritage and tourist area. Why build something that detracts from these? Please do not proceed with Bay 12

Re: Remediation, Renewal and Adaptive Re-Use of Campbell's Stores, The Rocks. SSD 7056

I strongly object to the four-storey building included as part of the Campbell's Stores Development Application. It is good to see some plans for the Stores' renewal but NOT if
the cost is the long-term loss of the heritage setting for this important heritage-listed building. The grounds for my objection are:

* Campbell's Stores should be visible from all four sides and not partly obscured. This is a unique opportunity to achieve this.

* Having a building or any other structure between Campbell's Stores and the Park Hyatt Hotel is entirely inappropriate. It is publicly-owned land and should only be used for landscaping and foreshore access.

* The design of the proposed building undermines and devalues The Rocks' heritage character.

* The proposed building interrupts the historic streetscape along this section of Hickson Rd and also the heritage of Harbour foreshore

* The proposed building contravenes the 2014 Campbell's Stores Conservation Management Plan which the Heritage Council endorsed (esp. 7.5.5). The plan clearly outlines the area that needs to be retained around Campbell's Stores. This includes the area now proposed for this completely unsympathetic glass building. Approving it would destroy Campbell's Stores historic setting.

* The Conservation Management Plan states that the one-storey structure that exists on this land now should be removed (see 7.6.1). This was intended to free up the land NOT to create space for a building four times as high.

* A building like this is contrary to everything that people value about the 1960s and 70s campaign to save The Rocks.

* We need to correct address the problems created by past poor decision-making in The Rocks, NOT compound them by allowing the construction of this unsympathetic glass building right next to one of The Rocks' most significant heritage buildings.

Declare whether or not you have made any reportable political donation (i.e. totalling more than $1000) in the last two years.

This is an insane project to dump a glass house among heritage buildings. It will stand out like a sore in this beautiful foreshore. The drawings do not even look good on its own. Why are we even considering this project? A park in place will be wonderful if the fig tree is dead or dying and needed to be removed.

1 The gap between the Hotel and Stores is necessary to differentiate between the two buildings and maintains the import scale and architectural language of two buildings of two different periods of history
2 A gap between building shouldn't be an invitation to build, gaps in a streetscape is part of the language of a cities development
3 The scale of the proposed building will overwhelm the Campbell Stores
4 the submission notes the glass box will be transparent. Services structure blinds internal partitions and the like will result in anything but a transparent building.

The preservation of this site as public open space was a vital part of the approval of the adjoining Hotel site and integral to the detailed master planning undertaken at the time. To compromise it now for simple commercial gain would represent development creep at its worst.
Laurie Brereton

I object to the submission on several grounds including the fact that it changes the streetscape of this unique, historical area and that a private developer will benefit financially from using public land.
This sets a precedent for the future that the city does not want nor need.

I object to the application and am now submitting the web link to a petition I put up on change.org

The petition is addressed to the Planning Minister, The Honourable Rob Stokes asking that he reject SSD 7056

This is the text of the letter:
We ask that you reject State Significant Development Application 7056 on the grounds that the glass building the developer wants to construct is totally inappropriate on public-owned land right next to the heritage-listed Campbell's Stores Building:
* It is totally at odds with the Hickson Road streetscape, of predominately 19th century buildings, which extends from George St to Towns Place.

* It is right opposite the Opera House, from where visitors can currently look across at the remains of Sydney's everyday colonial past. We cannot afford to lose this outlook.
* Its proposed uses - bars and upmarket retailing - are commercial activities that do not justify compromising the heritage significance of Campbell's Stores.
* The location is public owned land within the space designated as part of the Stores' heritage setting. We need to protect the heritage value of Campbell's Stores by not allowing a modern glass block building to intrude into the Stores' heritage setting and hide the northern side of the building.
Please protect the heritage of The Rocks' 19th century streetscapes and reject approval of this glass building. Any other decision would create a precedent for ongoing compromises that would just turn The Rocks into a theme park for rampant commercialism and destroy all that makes this area loved and appreciated.

It has been on the net for 2 weeks and as of now (11.55 pm 18 December 2015) it has 175 signatures. Most are from people in NSW; there are some from other states and also from people in the US, England and France.

Some will have lodged submissions; All of them have a valid viewpoint to offer

I will send a copy of the petition to Ashley Cheong via email.

I wish to confirm my previous objections to this proposed development. I am totally against ANY development on this site which should clearly remain open and available to the public now and for the future.
The Rocks is an heritage area and a very popular destination. Its main draw card is the fact that it has maintained its heritage in context, and continues to be a fine reminder of Sydney's past. This proposal is a "slap in the face" to that concept.
Even the revised proposal will still block the northern end of Campbell's Stores - which should be allowed to stand in their own space.
Certainly the existing building next to Bay 11 should be removed

I have often come to this area to watch New Year's Eve fireworks and for other festivities. I object to this site being developed in this way which will remove an important park from Sydney. The proposed building is completely out of character with a heritage area. I cannot see the point of a having heritage area when such ugly glass monstrosities are permitted within it.

I am against any further new developments in the Rocks area... the city of Sydney has shamefully lost so many of our historical buildings/areas...learn from the past and leave it alone!!

I genuinely love the idea of the refurbishment to the main Campbell's Stores buildings, but the new glass 'box' at the northern end is a dreadful idea that is surely set to be an economic, social and cultural disaster. When the existing illegal structure on the side of Campbell's Stores is removed, instead of replacing it with a building destined to become a desolate high end shopping mall with no tenants and fewer shoppers (surely any economic modelling of the space would show this to be an inevitable outcome), why not open the space up as was originally intended? Preserve the public green space that makes the area so valuable to residents and tourists alike.

The amendments to the DA change the structure only very slightly and do not address the main issues with the 'box' building, including the fact that it is not in keeping with the heritage streetscape of Campbell's Stores, which will actually be significantly obstructed by this new structure. Despite the stilts, the building will block off access to the water from Hickson Road, and ruins the symmetry of the current warehouse, which was designed with public space on both sides.

Refurbishing the building is a must, but please don't destroy some of it's best features at the same time. We need more green space and we need public land to remain open for public use. The Rocks should be celebrated for it's historical origins, not suffer a fate where those origins are obsured by new and unsympathetic structures.

Please don't build the box. Keep the open space genuinely open and green.

See attachment Campbell Stores 2 pdf

See uploaded attachment.

Johanna Josepha Antonia Janssen
5/8 Hickson Road, The Rocks
Sydney 2000 NSW
Email: [email protected]

Re: Remediation, Renewal and Adaptive Re-Use of Campbell's Stores, The Rocks. SSD 7056

I am writing you to strongly object to the four-storey building as part of the Campbell's Stores Development Application being build.

My family in law lives in the Rocks. In my opinion the Rocks is a beautiful area of Sydney. I really love the historical buildings in The Rocks, and I would be really disappointed if a fully modern four-storey building would be build. It just simply does not fit within The Rocks.

You should also strongly consider the hinder and disturbance the new building would bring along for the habitants living in the rocks. The new building will bring in more people, loud noise, disturbance etc. Currently the living environment in The Rocks is very pleasant. The new building will seriously damage the quality of their living environment, just making it unpleasant for people to live.

My parents in law have a beautiful view over the most beautiful part of Sydney I would be so disappointing if this amazing view would be ruined by a new four storey building that does not fit within The Rocks anyways.

Other grounds for my objection are:

* The design of the proposed building undermines and devalues The Rocks' heritage character.

* The proposed building interrupts the historic streetscape along this section of Hickson Rd and the Harbour foreshore

* The proposed building contravenes the 2014 Campbell's Stores Conservation Management Plan which the Heritage Council endorsed (esp. 7.5.5). The plan clearly outlines the area that needs to be retained around Campbell's Stores. This includes the area now proposed for this completely unsympathetic glass building. Approving it would destroy Campbell's Stores historic setting.

* The Conservation Management Plan states that the one-storey structure that exists on this land now should be removed (see 7.6.1). This was intended to free up the land NOT to create space for a building four times as high.

* A building like this is contrary to everything that people value about the 1960s and 70s campaign to save The Rocks.

* We need to correct address the problems created by past poor decision-making in The Rocks, NOT compound them

So for the above reasons I strongly advise against the four-storey building you are planning to build.

I declare that I have not made any reportable political donation in the last two years.

Kind Regards,

Johanna Janssen
Date: 07-12-2015

Hendrica Wilhelmina Maria van Keijsteren
Rooije Hoefsedijk 56
5421 XP Gemert
The Netherlands

Re: Remediation, Renewal and Adaptive Re-Use of Campbell's Stores, The Rocks. SSD 7056

I strongly object to the plans for the four-storey building as part of the Campbell's Stores Development Application being build.

I have lived all my life in the Netherlands and have been traveling overseas a bit more over the last years. My daughter is married to an Australian who lived in Sydney for many years and who's parents still live in the beautiful Rocks. I travelled to Sydney a few times and especially love the historical part of Sydney, the Rocks.

I strongly object to the plans for the four-story building as part of the Campbell's Stores Development Application being build because in my opinion it would take away a lot of the historical beauty of the the Rocks.

It would be very pityful if the four-storey building would be build as it does not match with the other buildings in the Rocks. It will also transform the Rocks from a peaceful, quiet area to a noisy, super busy area. I already find the main streets of Sydney too busy, I can`t imagine this also happening to the beautiful Rocks.

The four-storey building would be taking up land that now is used to flow of traffic to and from events in the harbour. What would happen during events like New Year's Eve and the light show Vivid? It could get overcrowded and disasters could happen. And what if a terrorist attack would occur?

Other grounds for my objection are:

* The design of the proposed building undermines and devalues The Rocks' heritage character.

* The proposed building interrupts the historic streetscape along this section of Hickson Rd and the Harbour foreshore

* The proposed building contravenes the 2014 Campbell's Stores Conservation Management Plan which the Heritage Council endorsed (esp. 7.5.5). The plan clearly outlines the area that needs to be retained around Campbell's Stores. This includes the area now proposed for this completely unsympathetic glass building. Approving it would destroy Campbell's Stores historic setting.

* The Conservation Management Plan states that the one-storey structure that exists on this land now should be removed (see 7.6.1). This was intended to free up the land NOT to create space for a building four times as high.

* A building like this is contrary to everything that people value about the 1960s and 70s campaign to save The Rocks.

* We need to correctly address the problems created by past poor decision-making in The Rocks, NOT compound them


So for the above reasons I strongly advise against the four-storey building you are planning to build.

I declare that I have not made any reportable political donation in the last two years.

Kind Regards,

Hendrica Wilhelmina Maria van Keijsteren
Date: 11-12-2015

Kees Kuijpers
Rooije Hoefsedijk 56
5421 XP Gemert
The Netherlands

Re: Remediation, Renewal and Adaptive Re-Use of Campbell's Stores, The Rocks. SSD 7056

I strongly object to the plans for the four-storey building as part of the Campbell's Stores Development Application being build.

I have lived all my life in the Netherlands and have been traveling overseas a bit more over the last years. My partner's daughter is married to an Australian who lived in Sydney for many years and who's parents still live in the beautiful Rocks. I travelled to Sydney a few times and especially love the historical part of Sydney, the Rocks.

I strongly object to the plans for the four-story building as part of the Campbell's Stores Development Application being build because in my opinion it would take away a lot of the historical beauty of the the Rocks.

It would be very pityful if the four-story building would be build as it does not match with the other buildings in the Rocks. It will also transform the Rocks from a peaceful, quiet area to a noisy, super busy area. I already find the main streets of Sydney too busy, I can`t imagine this also happening to the beautiful Rocks.

The four-storey building would be taking up land that now is used to flow of traffic to and from events in the harbour. What would happen during events like New Year's Eve and the light show Vivid? It could get overcrowded and disasters could happen. And what if a terrorist attack would occur?

Other grounds for my objection are:

* The design of the proposed building undermines and devalues The Rocks' heritage character.

* The proposed building interrupts the historic streetscape along this section of Hickson Rd and the Harbour foreshore

* The proposed building contravenes the 2014 Campbell's Stores Conservation Management Plan which the Heritage Council endorsed (esp. 7.5.5). The plan clearly outlines the area that needs to be retained around Campbell's Stores. This includes the area now proposed for this completely unsympathetic glass building. Approving it would destroy Campbell's Stores historic setting.

* The Conservation Management Plan states that the one-storey structure that exists on this land now should be removed (see 7.6.1). This was intended to free up the land NOT to create space for a building four times as high.

* A building like this is contrary to everything that people value about the 1960s and 70s campaign to save The Rocks.


* We need to correctly address the problems created by past poor decision-making in The Rocks, NOT compound them

So for the above reasons I strongly advise against the four-storey building you are planning to build.

I declare that I have not made any reportable political donation in the last two years.

Kind Regards,

Kees Kuijpers
Date: 11-12-2015

Damian Lucas
70 Middle Street
Kingsford NSW 2032
TO: Department of Planning and Environment

Re: Remediation, Renewal and Adaptive Re-Use of Campbell's Stores, The Rocks. SSD 7056

I strongly object to the four-storey building included as part of the Campbell's Stores Development Application. It is good to see some plans for the Stores' renewal but NOT if
the cost is the long-term loss of the heritage setting for this important heritage-listed building. The grounds for my objection are:

* Campbell's Stores should be visible from all four sides and not partly obscured. This is a unique opportunity to achieve this.

* Having a building or any other structure between Campbell's Stores and the Park Hyatt Hotel is entirely inappropriate. It is publicly-owned land and should only be used for landscaping and foreshore access.

* The design of the proposed building undermines and devalues The Rocks' heritage character.

* The proposed building interrupts the historic streetscape along this section of Hickson Rd and the Harbour foreshore

* The proposed building contravenes the 2014 Campbell's Stores Conservation Management Plan which the Heritage Council endorsed (esp. 7.5.5). The plan clearly outlines the area that needs to be retained around Campbell's Stores. This includes the area now proposed for this completely unsympathetic glass building. Approving it would destroy Campbell's Stores historic setting.

* The Conservation Management Plan states that the one-storey structure that exists on this land now should be removed (see 7.6.1). This was intended to free up the land NOT to create space for a building four times as high.

* A building like this is contrary to everything that people value about the 1960s and 70s campaign to save The Rocks.

* We need to correct address the problems created by past poor decision-making in The Rocks, NOT compound them

I have made no reportable political donation in the last two years.

Yours sincerely
Damian Lucas