3 OUR FORUM ON INNOVATIVE APARTMENTS HAD THE MAYOR OF BURWOOD AND THE ACTING NSW GOVERNMENT ARCHITECT PRESENTING www.burwood.nsw.gov.au  | www. governmentarchitect.nsw.gov.au JOHN FAKER, MAYOR OF BURWOOD John Faker, the popularly elected Mayor of Burwood, has had a policy of ensuring new high rise development only occurs in the town centre around the train station and that this will protect the low rise suburbs. As he has been re-elected a number of times it appears that his policy is being supported by the community. But John expressed concerned that there is a sameness around the design of apartment buildings in Sydney when he addressed an Urban Taskforce forum on Innovative apartments in September 2018. John had recently returned from a trip to Italy where he had seen many innovative apartment buildings and he is keen to get some of this design approach occurring in Burwood. He was supportive of a new planning stream being developed that supported projects that demonstrated design excellence. OLIVIA HYDE, ACTING GOVERNMENT ARCHITECT NSW Olivia presented the many policies and reports that have come from the Office of the Government Architect that support design excellence. Design has recently been incorporated into the objectives of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act and a series of policy documents have supported this. Better Placed is a document that outlines the policy in detail where it defines the importance of design under a series of headings: This Burwood apartment building was NOT approved by Burwood Council but by the courts. - OBJECTIVE 1: BETTER FIT (contextual, local and of its place) - OBJECTIVE 2: BETTER PERFORMANCE (sustainable, adaptable and durable) - OBJECTIVE 3: BETTER FOR COMMUNITY (inclusive, connected and diverse) - OBJECTIVE 4: BETTER FOR PEOPLE (safe, comfortable and liveable) - OBJECTIVE 5: BETTER WORKING (functional, efficient and fit for purpose) - OBJECTIVE 6: BETTER VALUE (creating and adding value) - OBJECTIVE 7: BETTER LOOK AND FEEL (engaging, inviting and attractive) Olivia agreed at the Innovative Apartments forum that despite government statements that the Apartment Design Guide did not need to be followed that it seemed that many council planners were treating the document as tick the box controls. Olivia expressed support for processes that would support more innovative apartments and avoided too many design rules.