‘Forced from their homes’: Inner city threatened by luxury apartment developers

Federal Teal MP Allegra Spender has weighed into Sydney’s heritage wars, siding with inner-city residents seeking to thwart efforts by developers to bulldoze ageing residential blocks for luxury apartments.

The Potts Point Preservation Group wants stronger heritage protections for the area’s Art Deco and Modernist buildings in Potts Point and Elizabeth Bay.

Potts Point Preservation Group members Anne McCormick and Sally Davis want to stop developers ;knocking down older residential blocks for luxury apartments.Credit: Louise Kennerley

Spokeswoman Anne McCormick said the precinct was an important part of Sydney that “should not be ripped apart to satisfy just one demographic”. The group estimates five projects which are currently the subject of development applications would lead to the loss of more than 100 studios and one-bedroom apartments.

The group has the backing of Sydney Independent MP Alex Greenwich and Spender, who said a state heritage listing of the suburbs is “important for preserving access to more affordable housing and to retain the character of the area”.

But developers have dismissed the campaign as weaponising heritage in an attempt to lock people out of desirable suburbs.

In letters sent to Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore and Heritage Minister Penny Sharpe, Spender said the kind of low-rise, high-density living in Potts Point and Elizabeth Bay should be replicated across Australia to address the housing affordability crisis.

The prevalence of affordable studio and one-bedroom apartments had allowed the “flourishing of certain communities, such as single people, artists, creatives, LGBTIQA+ people, and migrants who have lived together in this rich melting pot, with a sense of safety not felt in other neighbourhoods”, she said.

Spender said the suburbs were a significant tourist destination because of its social fabric and distinctive architecture. Yet the precinct has “very little heritage protection, despite the abundance of 20th century architecture of note, particularly Art Deco and Modernist”.

Developers have submitted several building proposals to replace older residential blocks in suburbs such as Potts Point with luxury apartments.Credit: Louise Kennerley

Greenwich said elderly and low-income residents were being forced from their homes to provide fewer, larger, luxury apartments.

“In a housing affordability crisis, it is unthinkable that we would let developers reduce affordability and density for profit,” he said. “Most of these buildings are functioning and have aesthetic value.”

Potts Point and Elizabeth Bay are currently covered by heritage conservation areas, which require the City of Sydney to assess the impact of building proposals on heritage significance of buildings.

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the council was considering an upgrade of heritage protections for post-war apartment buildings. The council also wants to change planning rules to prevent residential development from reducing the existing number of dwellings.

The Potts Point Preservation Group wants to stop the demolition of older apartment buildings in Potts Point and Elizabeth Bay with affordable studio and one-bedroom units.Credit: Louise Kennerley

However, a council spokeswoman said the Minns government had forced the council to add a provision to prevent the proposed rules applying retrospectively to development applications already lodged.

Sharpe said she supported community groups seeking to preserve heritage and would consider the protection of cultural landscapes when the state’s heritage strategy is released.

The campaign is backed by NSW National Trust conservation director David Burdon, who said the area contained one of the best collections of Art Deco and Modern buildings in Australia. Burdon said heritage protections traditionally focus on colonial or Victorian-era buildings, but may not adequately acknowledge the importance of 20th century heritage.

But developers lobby group Urban Taskforce acting chief executive Stephen Fenn said the most effective way of providing more affordable housing was to reduce planning regulations, not impose restrictions on the rights of property owners to redevelop buildings “many of which have reached the end of their economic life and face high maintenance costs”.

“The misuse and weaponising of heritage laws to try to engineer desired social and political outcomes and prevent more people from living in some of the best locations in the nation is completely inappropriate,” he said.

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