I am a homeowner and resident of Paddington and strongly object to SSD-97528708 for an 8-storey mixed-use development at 148–160 Oxford Street.
The proposed development is fundamentally incompatible with the Paddington Heritage Conservation Area. Paddington's built form is defined by 2–4 storey Victorian terraces and sandstone cottages — an 8-storey structure has no precedent on this section of Oxford Street and will cause irremediable damage to one of Australia's most intact 19th-century urban precincts. The site forms part of Little Paddington Village, with surviving cottages built to house the artisans who constructed Victoria Barracks in 1840. Their demolition would be permanent and irreversible. This is the first application under the Low and Mid Rise Housing reforms to affect the Paddington HCA and must be treated as a precedent-setting case requiring the highest standard of independent heritage assessment.
The neighbourhood amenity impacts are severe. An 8-storey building will cast significant shadow across the Oxford Street public domain and the mature Plane and Jacaranda trees that define the character of this precinct. These trees provide habitat, urban cooling and canopy shade central to the neighbourhood's ecology. Four levels of basement excavation poses serious risk to their root systems, and permanent overshadowing will threaten their long-term health. An independent arboricultural assessment under AS 4970-2009 must be required before any determination.
Years of construction traffic and deep excavation will subject the neighbourhood to sustained disruption on an already congested arterial road, with material structural risks to adjoining heritage buildings. Woollahra councillors have already raised concerns about homes cracking near other SSD excavations in the area. Once complete, 40 new households plus retail tenancies will place significant pressure on local infrastructure and traffic flow — compounded by the nearby Oxford and Verona Street SSD (SSD-87245208), whose cumulative impacts are not adequately assessed individually.
The affordable housing justification does not withstand scrutiny. The proposal demolishes 27 existing genuinely affordable studio apartments and replaces them with only 10–12 SEPP-designated units — a net loss of up to 17 affordable homes. Using affordable housing planning bonuses to achieve a net reduction in affordable supply directly contradicts the intent of the Housing SEPP 2021.
A 14-day exhibition period is also wholly inadequate for a development of this complexity. Community groups formally requested 28 days and were refused, contrary to the principles of participatory planning.
I request that the Department refuse consent to SSD-97528708, or refer it to the Independent Planning Commission for a public hearing. Any continued assessment must require independent arboricultural, geotechnical, heritage and traffic reports, and the applicant must demonstrate a net increase — not decrease — in genuinely affordable housing on this site.

Submission in Support
SSD-97528708 — Mixed Use Development with Infill Affordable Housing
160 Oxford Street, Paddington
16 March 2026

Dear Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure,
I write in support of the proposed mixed-use development at 160 Oxford Street, Paddington (SSD-97528708). While I understand the concerns raised by some residents, I believe this proposal represents a thoughtful and necessary contribution to Paddington's future. I make this submission as a Sydney resident who values heritage but also recognises the costs of refusing all change.

PADDINGTON NEEDS MORE HOUSING, AND PRICES PROVE IT
Paddington's real estate market is among the most constrained in Sydney. The suburb is approximately 1.6 square kilometres, overwhelmingly built out, and commands some of the highest property prices in NSW. This is not an accident - it is the predictable result of extreme supply constraint in a location with high amenity and excellent access to the CBD.

As Alain Bertaud, the urbanist and author of Order Without Design, has argued, when housing prices persistently outstrip incomes, the responsibility of policymakers is to understand and address the supply-side distortion - not to blame developers or preserve the status quo. Sydney's price-to-income ratio, which Bertaud has estimated at 9–12 times median income, did not emerge overnight. It built gradually while supply was rationed.

The proposed 44 apartments - including 12 affordable housing units managed by a community housing provider - will not singlehandedly solve this problem. But each well-located development that adds supply in an infrastructure-rich area moves the needle in the right direction. Blocking such proposals only entrenches the scarcity that makes Paddington unaffordable to all but the wealthiest purchasers.

THE BUILDING WILL ENHANCE, NOT DIMINISH, PADDINGTON'S CHARACTER
This proposal is designed by Smart Design Studio, one of Sydney's most awarded architectural practices. The ground-floor retail activation, landscaping, and the retention of prominent Oxford Street trees all demonstrate care for the street environment. This is not a generic apartment block - the design quality is commensurate with the suburb.

Lucy Turnbull AO, former Chair of the Greater Sydney Commission, has made the point that people visit Paris, Rome and London because those cities are beautiful - and that the same design ambition should be brought to bear on Sydney's evolving urban fabric. Turnbull has also argued that high-density housing's poor reputation in NSW is partly a product of past building quality failures, and that restoring public confidence through genuinely high-quality projects is essential to enabling housing supply. This proposal, with its architectural pedigree and design ambition, is exactly the type of project that can help rebuild that confidence.

NEW RESIDENTS AND RETAIL WILL SUPPORT OXFORD STREET'S REVIVAL
Oxford Street, Paddington has struggled in recent years with retail vacancies and declining foot traffic. The proposed development directly addresses this by adding approximately 44 households to the immediate catchment and delivering three new ground-floor retail tenancies.

Bertaud's framework is instructive here: cities are fundamentally labour markets, and the vibrancy of a commercial strip depends on the density of people within walking distance. New residents living directly above Oxford Street's shops and cafés, combined with the foot traffic they generate, provide precisely the demand signal that commercial tenants need.

The Paddington Society and other opponents have understandably focused on what this proposal changes. But the question of what happens to Oxford Street if nothing changes deserves equal weight. A commercial strip that continues to lose foot traffic and gain vacancies is not a heritage outcome anyone should be comfortable with.

SUBURBS ARE NOT MUSEUMS - THEY ARE LIVING PLACES
The most interesting and enduring suburbs in the world are defined by the diversity of places and periods they represent. Paddington itself is proof of this: its terrace rows, its Victorian cottages, its Federation-era additions, and its mid-century apartment buildings all coexist. The suburb was not frozen at a single moment - it evolved, and each layer of that evolution is now part of what people value.

To treat Paddington as if it must never change again is to deny the very process that created its character. The monoculture that results from refusing all new development benefits no one - it produces a suburb that is economically exclusive, demographically narrow, and commercially stagnant.

This is consistent with what Turnbull found when the Greater Sydney Commission ran citizens' assemblies across Sydney: when given the opportunity to deliberate rather than simply react, communities consistently prioritised walkability, proximity to jobs and services, and diversity of housing types. These preferences naturally lead toward well-designed medium-density development in established areas - precisely what this proposal delivers.

Bertaud reinforces this from a different angle: good planning expands the range of choices available to people. It does not impose a single preferred lifestyle or freeze a suburb at the preferences of its current residents.

THE RIGHT BALANCE BETWEEN PRESERVATION AND PROGRESS
The idea that nothing should change in Paddington is as troubling as the idea that everything should. This development strikes a reasonable balance. It sits on a main road frontage, Oxford Street, not in the heart of a residential terrace row. It delivers medium-density housing of the type that Grattan Institute research, identifies as the form most acceptable to communities undergoing change. And it includes a genuine affordable housing component that provides opportunity for key workers - nurses at St Vincent's, hospitality staff, teachers - to live near where they work.

The NIMBYs have framed this as a "Paddington Tower." An 8-storey building on a main road with ground-floor retail is not a tower. It is the kind of contextually appropriate, medium-density infill that Sydney's most informed planning voices - from the Greater Sydney Commission to international urbanists - have identified as the most important and the most difficult housing type to deliver.

I encourage the Department to approve this application and, in doing so, to send a clear signal that well-designed, well-located housing with genuine affordable housing provision will be supported in Sydney - even in suburbs where change is unfamiliar.

I object to the proposed State Significant Development at 160 Oxford Street, Paddington (SSD‑97528708) on the grounds of traffic and access impacts, insufficient social infrastructure capacity, and unacceptable heritage impacts. While I recognise the importance of delivering additional housing, including affordable housing, this proposal in its current form raises significant concerns that have not been adequately addressed.

1. Traffic, Access and Road Safety Impacts
The proposal involves an eight‑storey mixed‑use development comprising approximately 40 apartments and ground‑floor retail, with vehicular access to multiple basement levels via Shadforth Street, a narrow local street already subject to congestion and competing residential uses. [planningpo...nsw.gov.au], [urbandigest.com.au]
Oxford Street is a major arterial road and bus corridor, while Shadforth Street and surrounding streets form part of a constrained local road network within a dense heritage precinct. The scale and intensity of the proposed development will:

Increase vehicle movements associated with residents, visitors, servicing and retail activity;
Concentrate traffic ingress and egress onto local streets that are not designed to accommodate additional volumes;
Exacerbate existing congestion, parking pressure and conflict between vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists;
Create heightened road safety risks, particularly for pedestrians accessing nearby homes, bus stops and local amenities.

Given the location and scale of the proposal, the traffic impacts are likely to be more than minor or localised and will materially affect surrounding residents. In my view, the Environmental Impact Statement does not sufficiently demonstrate that these impacts can be safely or acceptably managed.

2. Social Impacts – Childcare and Schooling Capacity
The proposal will introduce a material increase in residential density within an already highly built‑out part of Paddington. However, there is no clear or convincing evidence that existing social infrastructure, particularly childcare centres and local schools, has the capacity to absorb the additional demand generated by this development. [planningpo...nsw.gov.au]
Paddington and the wider Woollahra LGA already experience pressure on early childhood education and primary schooling. Additional dwellings—particularly family‑suitable apartments—will further strain:

Childcare availability and waiting lists;
Public and private primary school capacity;
Local community services that are already operating at or near capacity.

Without firm commitments or demonstrated provision to address these shortfalls, the proposal risks diminishing liveability and placing unfair pressure on existing residents and families.

3. Heritage Impacts and Local Character
The site is located within and adjacent to the Paddington Heritage Conservation Area, and directly opposite the heritage‑listed Victoria Barracks precinct. This is a highly sensitive heritage context defined by consistent low‑rise scale, fine grain streetscapes and historic built form. [urbandigest.com.au]
The proposed eight‑storey height, bulk and massing represent a significant departure from the prevailing character of the area and will:

Undermine the established heritage scale of Oxford Street and adjoining residential streets;
Weaken the visual and historic relationship between the Paddington Heritage Conservation Area and Victoria Barracks;
Set an undesirable precedent for overdevelopment within one of Sydney’s most intact heritage precincts.

While the provision of affordable housing is acknowledged, heritage impacts should not be disproportionately borne by a single locality—particularly one of recognised State and local heritage significance.


In conclusion, for the reasons outlined above, I respectfully request that the Department refuse the application in its current form, or at a minimum require substantial redesign to address traffic impacts, social infrastructure capacity, and heritage compatibility. Development outcomes in Paddington must strike a genuine balance between housing supply and the protection of local amenity, infrastructure and heritage values.

The impact of the height and footprint of the current design on the local heritage landscape will utterly and irrevocably change the character of this historic neighbourhood. The Verona building & Olympic Hotel adaptive reuse are excellent examples of how development can be sympathetic to the surrounding landscape & built heritage. This current development must not go ahead and the architects must revise the design to be aligned with the heritage values of the community.

Objection to Redevelopment Proposal – 160 Oxford Street


I have been living at 160 Oxford Street for the past five years. This place has been my home during an important period of my life, where I began both my studies and my career.
When I first moved here, it was during the COVID period, and only three units in the building were occupied by tenants. I still remember why I chose this place as an international student. It is close to my school and within walking distance to the CBD. At the same time, the area has a unique character with its historical buildings and boutique stores. It is a perfect location for students to live — quiet, calm, and full of character.
Speaking specifically about 160 Oxford Street, it is a three-level building with residents from many different countries and backgrounds. Most of us are students, including both international students and Australian students who have moved to Sydney from other states to study. I have never lived in a building filled with students that is this quiet and respectful. Everyone understands that after around 10:00 pm, especially on weekdays, the building should remain peaceful and restful for everyone.
Many of the residents have lived here for several years, which shows how comfortable and welcoming this building is. Some residents have even lived here for more than ten years, which is quite rare in a city like Sydney where people move frequently. Their long-term presence reflects how stable, supportive, and liveable this building is. These long-term residents also contribute to the sense of community in the building, often helping new tenants settle in and maintaining a respectful and friendly environment. It truly feels like a home and a stable community for people who have come to Sydney to study, work, and build their lives.
Hearing that the new owner plans to redevelop the building into a taller and more commercial development is very concerning for us and for the surrounding neighbourhood. Such redevelopment would likely force many long-term residents to leave a place they have called home for many years, disrupting an established community that has grown naturally over time.
Over the past five years, rent has increased gradually, which is understandable given the location. However, the building has remained suitable and accessible for students and young residents. In this area, where many universities are located, a simple studio unit is more than sufficient. We do not need luxury facilities such as swimming pools, gyms, or large commercial spaces. The CBD is already within walking distance, which allows residents to easily access shops, services, and gyms while also reducing unnecessary traffic and pollution.
Additionally, gyms and services in the neighbourhood are available to everyone, rather than only to residents of one building. This helps maintain a stronger community connection.
Paddington is known for its historical character, greenery, and human-scale streetscape. Introducing a much taller building with multiple commercial floors would not align with the existing character of the area. It risks disrupting the unique identity and visual harmony of the neighbourhood.
Personally, I prefer walking about 500 meters to buy groceries at the nearby Woolworths. The surrounding shops and boutiques already provide more than enough services. What makes this area special is that the shops are independent, unique, and part of the historical streetscape, rather than large high-rise commercial developments.
Constructing a high-rise building among these smaller historic structures would feel like placing a large concrete structure in the middle of a carefully preserved neighbourhood, which could harm the beauty and identity of Paddington.
Many afternoons after finishing my classes, I stop by Barracks Village and sit there for a moment. Looking around at the existing three-level buildings, I often think about how well they fit the historical character of Paddington without overwhelming it.
Even within our building, there is a small shared garden where residents sometimes sit and enjoy the city view. This kind of simple, community-oriented living environment is becoming increasingly rare, and I feel very grateful to have experienced living here.
For these reasons, I respectfully ask the council to carefully consider the impact that a taller and more commercial redevelopment could have on the existing community, the historical character of the area, the availability of simple and accessible housing for students, and the overall liveability of the neighbourhood.

I am a local Paddington resident and object to this proposal for the following reasons:
The loss of affordable housing options. While the proposal claims to include low cost units, it is only a small proportion.
The proposal is not in any way keeping with Paddington's heritage. Excavating for a car park is likely to impact nearby buildings and result in a loss of historical buildings.
The impact of the construction will have a negative impact on all the businesses nearby an create traffic issues along Oxford st. This will negatively impact residents and dissuade visitors coming to visit Paddington to experience its unique community feel.

The sheer out-of-scale height of the proposal makes it completely inappropriate for the location. The Visual Impact Assessment uses techniques such as cropping the top off the building and choosing fortuitous street locations, with trees that provide some masking, to downplay the dramatic visual impact that will be present over a very wide area. Due to the likely increase in use of street parking and especially around Naremburn Park, access to Naremburn Park on weekends for social and sporting activities is likely to be hampered, with consequent social impacts. Further details are in the attachment to this submission.

Please see attached letter has stated reasons of objection

I am concerned about most of the developing overshadowing the Francis Street face of 74-76 Dalleys Road, Naremburn block, the tennis club facing Talus Street and the Talus Reserve. I am also concerned about the potential traffic impact along Ella Street/Dalleys Road
The Talus Reserve is already significantly overshadowed by the four blocks of 15 & 15a Herbert Street, St Leonards.
The major tower (135 metres above the level of the North Shore Railway, which is at the same level of the 76-76 Dalleys Road entries along Francis Street) appears to be roughly three times higher than the 15 & 15a Herbert Street development and would therefore excessively overshadow Francis Street.
The minor tower (53 metres above the level of the North Shore Railway, which is at the same level of the 76-76 Dalleys Road entries along Francis Street) would substantially overshadow the 74-76 Dalleys Road block.
Even the podium would be 19 metres above the North Shore Railway and would be closer than the towers to Francis Street.
Furthermore, the proposed development would generate a significant amount of vehicular traffic along Herbert Street and Ella Street & Dalleys Road, which is the only direct connection between Herbert Street and Willoughby Road between St Leonards and Artarmon shopping centres. However, no ameliorative measures have been proposed for the Herbert Street/Ella Street intersection