SHFA and the Miracle of the Five Stories

People on the Ultimo-Pyrmont peninsula are still scratching their head over the miraculous increase in the height of the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority’s planned tower on the former Water Police site from 8 storeys to 13 storeys.

The tower’s transformation puzzled locals even more than the way in which SHFA conducted its so-called community consultation process and architectural competition for the commercial and residential development.

The eventual winner’s design went into the finals at the beginning of 2003 with an eight storey tower that would turn the bottom end of Harris Street into a shady canyon.

Imagine how that outraged the locals, given that the former Planning Minister, Andrew Refshauge promised the community that no building would rise above the top of the heritage-listed sandstone escarpment, effectively limiting the height of any building to three or four stories.

Suddenly in a SHFA “fact” sheet in May 2003 the tower had miraculously grown to 13 stories. Pretty good when you consider that SHFA’s own master plan had a height limit that would only permit an eight story building!

On 11 November 2003 SHFA unveiled its plans for the Water Police site and other spots on the peninsula. Sure enough, the eight story tower is now 13 stories, and nobody seems able to explain how the transformation occurred. And, to drive home the message that SHFA doesn't give a hoot about promises to the community, an explanatory note next to the sketches proudly proclaims: “Most of the buildings will be below the height of the bottom of the buildings on the cliff top.” (Emphasis ours.)

Broken promises, flagrant violation of planning guidelines and mysterious goings on behind closed doors all seem to standard operating procedure for SHFA.