18 April 2013
At the very time the NSW planning system is being modernised, the Department of Planning and Infrastructure are operating from a dysfunctional 1870s building, says the Urban Taskforce.
A modern state of the art planning system needs to be driven by planners using the latest technology and the latest workplace practices, says Urban Taskforce CEO, Chris Johnson. I worked for 4 years in the sandstone monolith designed in the 1870s by Colonial Architect, James Barnet, and it was not an environment that encouraged interaction or even modern thinking. In its day Barnets building was a progressive, modern office building but those days were about bowler hats, ink drawings on linen and fireplaces to keep staff warm in winter.
If NSW is really going to lead the country with its planning system the major state planning agency must work in an environment that is about the future and about growth. It needs staff to feel part of an exciting workforce who can share ideas and get to meet other members of the office. The current layout is long empty corridors with small rooms behind solid cedar doors. The only large space is the old map room with its double height but virtually no windows.
Just imagine the planners for the state in a modern open plan office with stairs through voids linking floors and breakout spaces for group meetings like most Sydney workplaces now have.
The current Lands Department building that Planning is located in would make a perfect boutique hotel with the grand corner rooms as VIP suites and new dining areas replacing the old map room. Some years ago plans were drawn up for just such a use so these could be dusted off and used as a base case to test the market for other uses.
The Department of Planning could even look at returning to the modern building it had specially built at Lee Street at Railway Square or perhaps move to a new building along the Parramatta Road City Shaper renewal area.
