Modification 2 - Extended Construction Hours

Submission Objecting to Proposed Modification of Construction Hours
Re: 500 Harris Street, Ultimo
Whom It May Concern,I strongly object to the proposed modification seeking to extend construction hours to:7:30am to 3:30pm on Saturdays; and6:00pm to 2:00am Monday to Friday between August 2026 and June 2027, for up to 20 occasions and up to two consecutive nights at a time.While I appreciate the importance of completing major infrastructure projects, the proposed extension of construction hours would have severe and unreasonable impacts on surrounding residents and significantly diminish our ability to peacefully enjoy our home.My household includes an elderly couple in their eighties and family pets. We are already experiencing significant disruption from the current construction activities. The noise generated by jackhammering, heavy machinery, reversing alarms, trucks and other construction equipment frequently commences early in the morning and has become extremely difficult to tolerate. The current level of disturbance is already having a substantial impact on our quality of life.The proposal to permit construction activities until 2:00am is particularly concerning. Residents should be entitled to reasonable periods of peace and quiet during evening and overnight hours. Extending noisy construction works well into the night would interfere with sleep, rest, health and wellbeing. For elderly residents, adequate sleep is essential to maintaining physical and mental health, and repeated sleep disruption can have serious consequences. In addition, household pets are highly sensitive to loud and sudden noises. The ongoing use of jackhammers, heavy equipment and construction vehicles already causes distress and anxiety. Extending these activities into evenings and overnight periods would further exacerbate these impacts. The proposal would also undermine the fundamental principle of residential amenity. Residents chose to live in this area with the expectation that construction noise would be restricted to reasonable hours. Allowing works until 2:00am effectively transfers the burden of project scheduling onto local residents, who have no ability to escape the associated noise and disruption.I am also concerned about the cumulative impacts. Although the application states that extended hours would occur on a maximum of 20 occasions, this still represents up to 40 nights of potential disturbance over the proposed period. Such a level of disruption cannot reasonably be described as minor or occasional.The applicant has not demonstrated why construction activities requiring extended hours cannot be undertaken during approved daytime periods, nor has sufficient justification been provided to outweigh the significant adverse impacts on nearby residents.For these reasons, I respectfully request that the proposed modification be refused. At a minimum, any approval should be substantially restricted, with no high-noise activities such as jackhammering, concrete works, demolition, excavation, use of heavy machinery or truck movements permitted outside standard construction hours. Residents deserve the right to sleep, rest and peacefully enjoy their homes. The proposed construction hours would result in unacceptable impacts on residential amenity, particularly for vulnerable residents such as the elderly, and should not be approved.
Yours faithfully,
Yu Cai
99C William Henry Street Ultimo 2007

I object to the earlier time on Saturdays for the proposed Powerhouse modification. We already have people working on that site illegally before 7am and way past bedtime. To give them permission to start at 7:30am will just encourage illegal working hours.
This construction has been and continues to cause great inconvenience and disrupted sleep due to the loud trucks, machinery and so on, even when I only want quiet time from 9pm to 8am.

The so-called "revitalisation" of the Powerhouse Museum appears to be nothing more than wanton destruction of a world-class museum.
It is an agreed, easily verified, fact that no person with significant museum knowledge and experience has been involved in the basic planning of developments to the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences over the past 14 years. Recent developments in regard to the suspension of the employment of the CEO add considerable weight to the view that supervision of the project leaves a lot to be desired: this person has been the designated spokesperson for the Government since being appointed in 2019.
Over the whole process, the Government has not produced any evidence of appropriate investigation of alternatives and of independent examination of the benefits and financial soundness of the project. The overwhelming consensus of the Museum / Arts community, and the general public is that it should not have been allowed to proceed. World-renowned expert Kylie Winkworth has stated that better outcomes for Ultimo would have achieved by spending a few million dollars on basic maintenance to the wonderful 1988 establishment and burning the remaining $298 million that is scheduled to be spent.
Deficiencies in process have been pointed out to the Government since the very beginning of the actions taken since November 2014, but these well-supported assertions have been completely ignored.
I expect that this Government will continue to ignore these well-founded objections, but this submission has one final plea: please, if there is anything left of the modifications to the steam gallery housed in the original 1899 Powerhouse, kindly ensure that they are retained. This was easily one of the top 10 such displays in the world, made more significant by being housed in such an appropriate building. Experts hold grave fears fpr the safety and future display of the machinery, but it is feared that they have already been moved to storage. Destruction of the superb woodwork of the mezzanine floor would be an act of vandalism of the highest order, but it has probably already been trashed, but maybe the reproduction light fittings could be retained as a symbol of what has been lost.
Tom Lockley, retired teacher and volunteer at THE Powerhouse MUSEUM 2008 until its closure.

Submission: OBJECT
SSD-67588459-Mod-2 – Powerhouse Ultimo Revitalisation – Modification 2 – Extended Construction Hours

Hello,

I am a neighbouring Ultimo resident living in close proximity to the Powerhouse construction site. I object to Modification 2, particularly the proposal to allow construction activities between 6pm - 2am Monday to Friday (between August 2026 - June 2027) and 7:30am to 3:30pm on Saturdays (no capped time period specified).

I am also raising this objection with concern for other neighbouring residents who may have limited ability to participate in the consultation process, including elderly residents, residents for whom English is not their first language, and residents who may not have received the notification letter in their mailbox. Given the significance of the proposed change to night-time construction hours, I ask the Department to consider the needs of members of the community who may be under-represented in this process.

I recognise that the approved Powerhouse Ultimo redevelopment must be constructed and that some exceptional out-of-hours work may occasionally be necessary. My objection is not to the redevelopment itself. It is to the substantial extension of construction activity into night-time residential hours and the cumulative impact this may have on residents already affected by major development and infrastructure activity in this part of Ultimo.

1. LOSS OF EVENING AND NIGHT-TIME RESPITE
The existing construction programme already exposes neighbouring residents to significant daytime construction activity. Evening and night-time currently provide an important period of respite.

Extending construction beyond the existing approved hours represents a significant change to residential amenity because it affects sleep, rest and the ordinary use of nearby homes.

The Department should assess not only whether individual activities comply with numerical noise criteria, but also whether residents retain a reasonable period of respite from major construction activity each day.

2. CUMULATIVE IMPACTS WITH CONSIDERATION FOR: 549 Harris St and 390–422 Harris Street, Ultimo NSW
The Powerhouse proposal should not be assessed in isolation.

The exhibited acoustic assessment contains a section on cumulative impacts, but that section appears to consider only concurrent works at the data-centre site at 549 Harris Street, identified in the assessment as the Optus Data Centre.

I ask the Department to also consider all cumulative impacts including the nearby DigiCo SYD1 site at 390–422 Harris Street. The data-centre site formerly operated as Global Switch is now the DigiCo SYD1 site and is subject to an approved expansion.

Residents experience the combined effect of noise from nearby developments, rather than each project separately. The assessment should therefore consider:

(i) existing operational data-centre noise;
(ii) construction activity that may be subsequently associated with the DigiCo expansion;
(iii) Powerhouse construction activity; and
(iv) whether different projects may undertake extended-hours activity on overlapping or consecutive nights.

The cumulative result may leave residents with very limited evening and night-time respite, even if each project is assessed individually.

3. PEDESTRIAN SAFETY & CONSTRUCTION TRAFFIC
Extending construction hours may also extend the period during which workers, plant, service or other construction-related vehicles enter and leave the site. This may increase the period during which pedestrians and construction-related traffic interact within the surrounding streets.

On 12 May 2026, an elderly pedestrian was crossing the road at the intersection of Macarthur Street and Harris Street when she was fatally struck by a truck and dragged along Harris Street. NSW Police attended and established a crime scene for investigation. The event was witnessed by people working and living in the Macarthur Street–Harris Street area and remains a serious concern within the local community.

The Macarthur Street crossing is an important pedestrian route through Ultimo, linking residents and visitors with Chinatown/Darling Square, The Goods Line and Darling Harbour.

The Department should therefore consider the public-safety implications of any additional worker, plant, service or construction-related vehicle movements associated with the extended-hours works in a location with day and night pedestrian movement.

4. NATURE AND IMPACT OF THE PROPOSED NIGHT WORKS
The exhibited documents clarify that the proposed 6 pm - 2 am works are concrete slab finishing works involving equipment including petrol-powered helicopter floats, hand tools and potentially a petrol-powered concrete vibrator.

The acoustic assessment predicts that these works will exceed night-time Noise Management Levels at almost all surrounding residential receivers when works occur on upper levels.

I ask the Department to take these predicted exceedances into account when assessing whether the proposed night works are compatible with reasonable residential amenity.

5. WHY ARE WORKS UNTIL 2AM NECESSARY?
The applicant has explained that the proposed extended hours are required to allow continuous finishing of large monolithic concrete pours.

However, I ask the Department to consider whether extending these works into night-time hours is necessary at all, and whether alternative sequencing, methodology, mix design, earlier commencement or other construction approaches could achieve the required outcome within, or much closer to, the existing approved hours.

6. TWENTY NIGHTS OF WORKS UNTIL 2AM
The Modification Report clarifies that concrete finishing works are proposed for a maximum of 20 nights, generally with only one occurrence in a week, although up to two consecutive nights may occur.

Twenty separate nights of construction extending until 2 am remains a significant change for neighbouring residents. I ask the Department to consider whether extending these works into night-time hours is necessary.

7. SLEEP DISTURBANCE AND NIGHT-TIME NOISE
Despite the predicted night-time exceedances, the acoustic assessment states that because the works are not planned to extend for two or more consecutive nights, sleep disturbance requires no further consideration.

I ask the Department to reconsider whether this is sufficient. A single night of construction continuing until 2 am may still disturb sleep, particularly where noise is clearly audible above the night-time management level.

The assessment should therefore consider the practical sleep impact of each proposed night-work period, including intermittent and maximum noise events as well as average noise levels.

8. REQUESTED OUTCOME
My primary request is that the proposed extended hours not be approved.

If some limited out-of-hours work is considered genuinely unavoidable, I request that it be substantially narrowed and subject to clear restrictions, including:

(i) Reduced and limited night works limited strictly to the concrete finishing activities assessed in the exhibited documents, with no other construction activity permitted under the extended-hours approval;
(ii) advance notification of the date, hours and nature of any night work;
(iii) appropriate noise monitoring and review where actual impacts exceed those predicted; and
(iv) a clearly defined maximum number of individual night-work periods.

CONCLUSION
The Powerhouse Ultimo redevelopment is located within a densely occupied inner-city environment already affected by major development, infrastructure activity and heavy vehicle movements.

I ask the Department to consider the real cumulative impact on neighbouring residents and pedestrians, including noise, sleep disturbance, loss of respite and the consequences of extending construction traffic into evening and night-time periods.
I therefore request that SSD-67588459-Mod-2 not be approved.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide this submission.

I support the proposal

The proposal from the developer is to extend construction hours to 7.30AM to 3.30PM on Saturdays and 6PM to 2AM Monday to Friday for a maximum of 20 times no more than two consecutive nights each time. This submission strongly opposes the proposal to extend construction hours as outlined.

Since the initial Powerhouse development occured in the late 1980s, considerable residential development has been constructed around the site. To the West of the site, the former Entertainment Centre was demolished and 4 high rise residential towers were constructed. To the South of the Powerhouse, a medium height residential complex was constructed behind terrace houses in Macarthur street. To the East of the Powerhouse, further residential development were contructed behind terrace houses on Harris Street. The Powerhouse therefore is now bordered by dense residential living on three sides. There is no justifcation to extend construction work hours such that it would be running 18 hours per day mostly likely on consecutive days. This is not an essential services project unlike utilities, hospitals and transport and should not inconvenience a large residential community.

The project has no social licence to operate and has been the subject of critical attention during Parliamentary Estimates due to a raft of expensive budget overshoots and poor project management mainly but not exclusively in Parramatta. The site has already caused disruptions to the area due to poor management of particulate matter during the demolition phase at the Ultimo site. The 'discovery' of asbestos contamination in the Ultimo site is an example of the cost overrun that apparently was not foreseen. This is of course, nonsense as the Ultimo site, given its time period would have asbestos used and this could have been easily predicted. Statements by developers for this site are taken with a grain of salt.