Pyrmont Metro OSD - Residential Tower

The current proposal for the building over the Pyrmont Metro Station (East) is for a height of 120 RL (31 storeys). This is totally out of character with Pyrmont which has had maximum height restrictions of eight storeys until recently. The building will destroy the existing ambience of Pyrmont by itself; worse, by its very presence, it will encourage other future high rise buildings in Pyrmont.

There are a number of high rise building areas in Sydney, such as the CBD, North Sydney and Chatswood. Pyrmont has a unique mixture of terraces, low and medium rise buildings, residential and commercial, affordable housing and multi million dollar dwellings, parks and the harbour foreshore. This incomparable environment should not be destroyed.

The broad design was put in place by the previous government, and there is no reason for the current government to repeat the mistakes of the old.

It is appreciated that there is a housing shortage. However, Pyrmont is currently the second densest suburb in Sydney, and hence is "doing its bit" for housing supply.

The Minns government has recently put forward a proposal for low and medium housing near transport hubs. I strongly support the over the station development being consistent with this strategy. To do so would send a strong message to Councils that the government was serious about such a strategy.

I wish to voice my concerns, which are echoed by most people I talk in the area, regarding this development and the negative impact it is thought will have on our community.
The following are some of my concerns that have also been expressed to me by others in the immediate area of the Metro Over Sight Development:

1. The height of the tower at 31 stories will cause overshadowing of the residences along Pyrmont Bridge Road and probably Harwood Street.

2. The privacy currently enjoyed by apartment dwellers will be compromised by the sheer height of the future apartment tower

3. There appears to be no soft landscaping proposed around the development giving concerns about a future slum aspect of buildings almost abutting each other.

4. The proposal for about 160 apartments, presumably of varying sizes but with the select larger ones taking the upper floors and a plan for only a third of these to have car parking is not realistic.

5. The Podium will presumably house retail businesses which will require deliveries and create more traffic congestion in the primarily residential area. Also will there be provision for shopper parking which is already limited.

6. There hasn’t been any information on the height of the proposed Podium.

7. Street parking in the immediate area is already at a premium and the lack of residential parking in the development will create a nightmare for delivery and trades vehicles.

8. If the proposed building is indicative of the Pyrmont Peninsular future then there needs to be more planned infrastructure such as schools and hospitals as more and more families are occupying apartments in Sydney.

This Project is WAY oversize for Pyrmont.
It does NOTHING to fit in or integrate with the general height of the surroundings.
It over towers all around it...there is no height & scale.
The Shading caused by this monstrosity is abhorrent.
It does nothing to conserve any heritage value of the area.
a maximum of 8 stories should be its Height limit
In essence ..it's a visual 'sore thumb'.

I STRONGLY object to the height of the residential tower above the mixed-use podium. It seems the only reason for the tower to be built there is to benefit the Star Casino. The height is way above the zoning laws for the Pyrmont Bay area. If this tower and other towers intended for the Pyrmont Bay area go ahead, the result will be a dark, seedy and ominous and end up being the CRIME precinct of Sydney. There is enough development going on at Harbourside already which will cause overcrowded streets and jammed traffic conditions similar to spaghetti junction at Rozelle.
The only acceptable situation would be if the zoning height for all of Pyrmont Bay is limited to 15 stories.
Thank you for the opportunity to object.
Kind regards
Janette Egger

The Owners Corporation of SP 57970 are objecting to the development application as the height of 31 levels is far too high in comparison to surrounding buildings. This proposed development will block the views of Hardwood Street and Bunn Street buildings as their height is only 11 levels. Other buildings need to be taken into the consideration of this development application as owners have invested into neighbouring buildings and do not see this as fair or equitable.

I think the tower is too tall , and the podium should be talker with the tower reduced.
I am very concerned about over shadowing
I consider this development should have space allocated for a police station
I feel social and affordable housing should be included

I remain concerned that another residential tower is envisaged when Pyrmont does not have a primary or secondary school - this should be mandatory

I am concerned our bus transport is not adequate particularly when we are told the 501 route is being considered to not travel through Pyrmont .

Please build as much residential high-rise as possible. Please expand the building envelope as much as possible. Please cram as many units into the building as possible. Sydney is in urgent need of as much housing as possible and if the NSW government can shoehorn this through it would alleviate some of that burden. Pyrmont is an excellent place to live and should have more dense, residential high-rise so that more Sydneysiders can experience that value.

Build Form

While it is good that the tower over the Pyrmont Metro Station has been reduced to 30 levels or 120m rather that to 180m tower proposed for the Star Casino southern high rise development in 2020, this height is still out of proportion for the surrounding areas. I strongly suggest that height for the over station development be further reduce to fit in with the environment

The architecture of the building other than this is a good design and not just a block of concrete and glass.
Visual impact
Appendix P – Visual Impact Assessment contains several errors and understates the impact of a 120m Tower in the location. Particularly view from Union Square (Figure 36 - Viewpoint 09 photomontage) which is in its current form still represents Pyrmont in the early 1900s. This site has been used as a movie set due to its unique and original character. I would maintain that Section 5 is wring in its assessment of the impact. For VP 9 it should have a High Public Domain View Place Sensitivity due to its unique and original streetscape; a Low Physical Absorption Capacity; a Low Compatibility with Urban Context and Visual Character; leading to a High Overall Rating Of Significance of Visual Impact Not medium.
Figure 39 -
Viewpoint 10 photomontage should show at least a Medium impact NOT low.

Noise and vibration
Appendix T wrongly identifies 50 Murray St as a Hotel in Figure 4-1 Site map where it is actually a residential block. This error is in other figures of the EIS. This error has led to underestimating the impact on higher levels of this site which are in direct earshot of construction cranes.
This situation is a repeat of the station construction noise and vibration errors. Level above 8 experience noise from the existing tower crane that exceed environmental noise levels for construction.
This error should be corrected and R-14 reassessed whether it reflects the noise at floor 8 and above.

The provision for on-site parking is untennably low!
The commercial and retail uses will need adequate parking to to be commercially viable.
The residential component, despite being well served by public transport etc. will only achieve dramatically reduced sales revenues because of insufficient parking. Given the resulting reduced sales revenues the financial feasibility will not support the level of amenity and finishes proposed in the Concept Design.
Government doesn't need a financially unfeasible white elephant on its hands here!
I strongly recommend you reduce area dedicated to other uses, to enable increased parking provision, comensurate with normal ratios..

As a Sydney resident working in Pyrmont, whose daily commute from the Inner West will be directly served by the new Metro line and its Pyrmont station, I would like to strongly support this project. The 31-storey residential tower will support sustainable, car-free inner city living and local businesses around Pyrmont. The retail space in the tower will provide more dining and shopping opportunities to the entire area. The proposed design with its red brick and glass facade is beautiful, thoughtfully designed and fits well with the surrounding area.

This is an excellent project for the area. The one drawback is that the building is too short. More and taller buildings need to be built around train stations to fix our housing crisis.

Whilst I am in support of the project. I would however, like to see the residential tower made higher so it can allow more housing in the area. Also I wish to see more and other housing developments made part of the project and strategy.