Sydney Terminal Building Revitalisation

Whilst I support the project, I object to the use of large glass panels in the roof of the terminal which will make the concourse hot in winter and extraordinarily hot in summer. There is a good reason why the current roof has opaque panels as these let in light without letting in too much heat. I submit these comments for your respectful consideration for adoption.

My Greatest concern, in light of recent vandalism, is the retention of the historic building, its architecture, inclusions and atmosphere.
It is sad to see that already the heritage notification boards are gone as are many of the historical items at all train stations.
Sadly I am worried that it will just end up a "Modern interpretation" of the historical and loved "Central".
Other world cities value their history, whereas NSW is not. With what happened to Willow Grove and the ugly Milk Crate Museum to be built, I am saddened for future generations that will be left with ugly, modern soul-less edifaces.

I don't agree with the alterations to Eddy Ave. To disrupt the existing business of CJ's is really disappointing - I have been a customer for over ten years now and the owners and their staff are excellent. CJ's provides affordable, fast and friendly food of all varieties from fresh sandwiches to hot meals and cold drinks. They often open pre-dawn to make coffee and food available to early morning visitors to Central Station - there is literally nobody else within the station offering this level of service and diversity of offerings. Futhermore, moving the retail areas forward forces people walking from the station to the street to walk out in the open, rather than undercover as they can do now. This makes it hard for people when it is raining. I would urge the current custodian of Central Station to reconsider these plans, consult with local successful businesses and come up with a better solution. Please don't hurt my local cafe.

The current purpose of the cafe site at the bottom of the stairs provides valuable service to staff and passengers alike transiting Sydney Terminal. It is a long standing bastion of railway culture that provides goods and services at times most other vendors are closed.
The friendly nature of the staff and welcoming gestures make the place somewhere you want to go.

Any further gentrification of the Sydney Terminal site renders the area out of touch. Upgrades to the exisiting facilities should be prioritised over removal of long standing tenants.
The attempts at ‘glorifying’ the terminal with expensive food and drink options takes away from the travel experience of so many and forces them to leave the site in order to find affordable refreshments so as not to be taken advantage of.

The current tenants in the cafe site CJs provide valuable services to the homeless and in need in the area by way of food and refreshment availability when possible. This should be commended, not castrated from the area.

The project is an opportunity to provide seamless integration between cycling and public transport for commuters, thus promoting active and mass transit and reducing climate and air pollution. I note that the project talks about a minimum of 50 bike parking spots in the Eddy Avenue plaza with additional bike parking around retail outlets. I would strongly support more bike parking than the planned number of spaces to meet latent demand, as cycling commuting becomes more popular due to infrastructure projects within the city. I would also advocate for bike parking in Chalmers St by the entrance, as many cyclists arrive at Central via Prince Alfred Park.

50 bike spaces is not nearly enough spaces to accomodate the amount of riders in sydney

Overall, this project in fantastic and definitely needed for central station. The improvements to the Eddy Ave Plaza, better utilisation of space within the building and ground floor, as well as better pedestrian connections to the surrounding streets are all fantastic improvements. Well done and thank you for pursuing this!

There are a few areas that I think need further refinement though.

- THE L1 LIGHT RAIL STOP:
I think cutting off the closer portal from the stop to the station gate line in favour of escalators down to street level is a mistake. The only reason to use this stop is light rail > trains or trains > light rail transfers – so the quickest and clearest connection between the stop and station gate lines should be maintained and connection down to street level moved to other portal.
The light rail stop should also be extended to cover the full length of the porte cochere (the diagram with a tram in it implies new platforms only the length of 1 tram?). Having a longer platform could allow a stopping pattern of letting off all passengers at one end of the platform, then shuttling down to the other end for pickups (which should then be clearly articulated in the design and signage of the platform). I used it the other day during heavy rain so a lot of people off trains came to the stop and it was beyond packed to the point where the few staff there to wrangle crowds were overwhelmed and just stood around wide eyed. When the tram pulled up and tried to unload all its passengers into the absolute mass of people waiting on the platform and surrounding area, it was just a crowd crush to the point we ended up leaving and walked in the rain!

COLOUR OF TRUSSES, CONCOURSE PLANTINGS, LIGHTS:
I don’t think the original red colour scheme for the trusses of the grand concourse roof actually works that well. Just because that was the original colour, doesn’t make it good! I think the current green colour works better than the proposed heritage red. The colour palette of the concourse is already rich earthy browns and oranges of the flooring, bricks and sandstone. Having the metal trusses painted red blends them in and impacts on the feel of the space. The green is a nice contrasting but complimentary colour to make them stand out and add dimension. In one of your documents you have a before and after picture of them and the before looks so much better!
The new planting on the concourse – I’m not onboard with this (no pun intended :P). Doesn’t fit in the space and clutters the scale and feel of the hall massively. If this progressed, I feel it would be a design mistake that would be addressed in future refurbishments, so maybe best avoid that but removing now. The new plants in the plaza though are great!
The current twin rows of lights down the concourse roof also add dimension and scale to the space, as well as being aesthetically pleasing. In the renders it looks like they have been removed? I think this would be a negative loss to the space – I love the increased skylight, but the current lighting rows also add to the overall design (again the before and after pictures, before looks better!).

TRAIN DISPLAY SCREEN AND INFO DESK:
From what I understand from the plans and descriptions, the current central information desk has been replaced by a café and moved to the new circular intrusion in the western corner of the concourse? I like the circle idea, similar to the desk in grand central NYC, but think it’s better placed in the centre where the current one is! You’d go to this desk to ask for train guidance but now have to absolutely leg it to the other end of the concourse to get to the gates once they give you your train advice haha! This seems counter productive to your goals of better customer movement and assistance.
It’s also not clear if you’re removing the big jumbo train info screen to replace with the standard in line info screens found in other parts of the station? If so, I think that would be a mistake. I like this large screen, and its heritage nod to the original large indicator board now with the powerhouse museum. It is more legible for customers than the other screens and its current location being centre of the large concourse space creates an important sense of place and atmosphere – one of a large train station with thousands of people shuffling about to various services all over the city, state and country. Regulating this info screen to just another standard, small in line set of screens found else would diminish this presence and negatively impact on the feel of this important space. This is the main board and should be of a scale fitting that, then the rest of the info boards in the station can be their current designs (like the new long one across the new northern concourse roof as you come up the stairs and escalators).
Also, is the clock hanging from the roof still there? I can’t tell in the renders? That is a must keep!

THE GRAND CONCOURSE:
Just in general with the plans for the grand concourse, I think you’re leaning too far into the cluttered side for this space. I saw in the documents some of the seating and new intrusions are movable for large events etc, but I think in general this space should be open and uncluttered and focused more on the train station aspect (signage, indicator boards, people moving through or waiting for trains etc) and less on the “Sydney’s civic room” vibe of your vision which is basically to clutter the space with random intrusions like a planting bay or a cafe!!
In a part of your documents there is a history collage of the grand concourse and you can see the shifts over time from vast open space (original), to cluttered, to open space again and now we’re proposing to clutter it haha! Leave it open, it’s okay to have this one big hall that is purely a waiting/transit space on a massive scale! With all the other areas of the station you’re improving and opening up, I think we have the seating and retail/events/attractions spaces covered – leave the concourse itself minimal please!

Hi there,

I am a resident who lives and owns property within 700m of the Central Precinct. On reviewing the proposal to the revitalisation, I had a couple of comments that I'd like to bring to the developers' attention.

The first is that, while I'm pleased to see a bullet point in the proposal stating a social services hub will be made to support rough sleepers and disadvantaged people, I think this should be a much higher focus than it currently appears. A clean needle clinic, community mental health clinic, refuge accommodation, and a large refettorio would help much of the transient community who conglomerate around Central Station. Building fancy apartments and shops will not magic their presence away, and so they should be considered in any development, thoroughly and thoughtfully. This is also an opportunity to improve the general safety of the area, so their inclusion ought not be an afterthought.

Separately but similarly, the 15% allocation of new development to public/affordable housing feels inadequate for the growing homeless population and wealth inequality exacerbated by the pandemic, specifically for this area. It would be a shame to see this space become a shiny elysium for Atlassian and high-wealth individuals and people in suits who like to wear spotless RM Williams boots but who've never actually lived chronic economic hardship. This is a genuine opportunity to see the disadvantaged included, in an advantageous location in the city. I hope the 15% allocation (which would ideally be much more than that) isn't just relegated to the dark, south-facing apartments right near the suburban train tracks that I saw on the computer render.

To truly revitalise this area, we have to grapple with the realities of this area. Half-assedly incorporating services, support, and housing for the disadvantaged and the transient community, which make up a large part of this precinct, will only exacerbate the problem and cause more inequality and lingering. It feels like a surreptitious motive of this project is to 'magic away the undesirables'. If that's the case, weirdly, only by fully including and accounting for these stakeholders will you achieve this, and in a genuinely helpful and healthier way - rather than proposing a half-baked solution that just forces them to relocate elsewhere and doesn't genuinely solve these social issues.

This is an opportunity to bring soul to the area. Not more shiny buildings that foist disparity onto the city. That course of development has so far seen more and more rough sleepers on the streets. It doesn't work. It's an airbrush solution to a much deeper issue. I don't want my hometown of Sydney to turn into a Los-Angeles-style hellscape of tents and needles, because of a development strategy that is blind to the plights of the disadvantaged.

Thank you.

I live and own property in Surry Hills 700m from the Central precinct. I work in Pyrmont so I regularly commute through central on the light rail. Overall it's great to see an update of an area that all Sydneysiders and visitors venture to at some point. My main concern is that the the rent will not be affordable to local and small/medium sized businesses that are already closing up shop nearby due to all their costs (energy, goods, wages and rent) going up at unprecedented levels. I hope that the same old multinational conglomerates and businesses like Woolworths, Coles, Soul Origin, McDonald's, Sushi Hub, Bread Top and the like aren't the only businesses that will be able to afford the rent. The same businesses in every train station. There should be opportunities in the form of grants and possibly within the marketplace area for local and smaller businesses to thrive, grow and offer something unique.

Hi, I am writing in regards to the new
development project at Central. I think
you should consider these following things

:- More seating

Using environmentally friendly energy sources

Drinking fountains (filtered water)

Cleaner toilets

A plaque with information on the history of
central & surrounding areas

An information booth that informs the
public of activities in the city, transportation,
& any other information that would help.

A bike stand for bike riders

Power points for patrons to use for devices &
seating next to them

Charitable donation coin slots available

A question & answer section on the website of
FAQ.

I would like to see a much more curvacious roof on Central Station. Something like Spencer Street Station in Melbourne but without the columns. Airports sometimes have very modulated roofs - Madrid. The foyer of the British Musuem has a modern transparent roof on an older building.

Please include access to the terminal for people on bicycles. This should include:
- Separated bicycle paths leading into the terminal from surrounding streets and coming from different directions (the city, broadway, Surrey Hills, Redfern, etc)
- Secure bicycle parking, preferably under cover
- Clear signage for cyclists entering and exiting the terminal

This is yet another cynical and inaccurately termed "revitalization" project, which aims to completely overshadow the historic Central Station with high rise development. It is completely inappropriate and will not in any way improve the area but will detract from the beautiful heritage architecture

This project is well overdue and will provide significant benefits to commuters and result in heritage conservation and enhancement.

I object to project as it will affect people using CJ Cafe to buying there meals & loss of jobs.

1 . Also underground toilets are unservallenced and are a terrorist target to place a bomb in and will cause major damage to the foundations off the iconic building . Please do not ignore what could be prevented .
2. The undercover pathway in front of Cjs should not be blocked off as in torrential or heavy rain it will cause a back up of people at the escalators and in eddy ave exit . NOT WELL THOUGHT THROUGH .
3. I am not understanding how heritage will allow the beautiful stone building in front of cjs to be covered up with a shop infont and also the awning above cjs on the country platform will also cover up a lot of the sandstone instead of enjoying the beautiful look of the building .WE NEED TO EXPOSE IT NOT COVER IT UP !!
4 . I am deeply concerned about the existing business in eddy ave ,In particular Cjs over 30 years of service .

Please see attached comments from the National Trust NSW.

See attached PDF (2 pages)