29 August 2014
The announcement by Premier Baird and Minister Goward of plans for the delivery of 6,000 new apartments at the North Parramatta precinct is good news, says the Urban Taskforce.
“While the heritage buildings on the North Parramatta site are important to preserve through adaptive reuse there are large areas on the 146 hectare site where apartment towers can be built,” says Urban Taskforce CEO, Chris Johnson. “The NSW Government has got the balance right with apartment towers up to 30 storeys high on those parts of the site remote from heritage and only low rise buildings nearer to the heritage precinct.”
“Sydney’s trend towards apartment living is having a big impact on Parramatta which is booming with new projects. Urban Taskforce members are currently building towers as tall as 53 storeys in Parramatta and the city is becoming a preferred place to live with its bustling cafe society and street life.”
“The NSW Government is to be congratulated for making the North Parramatta precinct State Significant so that the state can manage changes to heritage buildings while ensuring that significant development including apartment towers occurs on cleared parts of the site.”
“The involvement of UrbanGrowth NSW on difficult sites like North Parramatta is clearly working well as it appears that the community and business have been involved and a result has been achieved that balances commercial feasibility with heritage concerns.”
