‘We will end up like Green Square’: Erko goes berserko over one extra storey

Neighbours of the state’s biggest build-to-rent housing project fear the addition of one extra storey and a decorative baroque roof will turn their “village” suburb of Erskineville into another Zetland.

A City of Sydney council committee will determine on Thursday whether Coronation Property can add an eighth storey, along with a “mansard roof”, to an already-approved concept design for part of its $2 billion mega-project on Mitchell Road.

An artist’s impression of the building, which is part of a 1300-unit build-to-rent development in Sydney’s Erskineville.

Council documents tally 78 public submissions, including from acclaimed documentary filmmaker Anna Broinowski, who warned traffic, amenities and infrastructure in the area were already under serious strain.

“Adding even more residents and their cars is an unconscionable betrayal of the agreement that was reached between developers, the City of Sydney and the Erskineville community,” she said. “Enough is enough. The balance between the liveable ‘villages’ the City of Sydney promotes and developer greed needs to be kept in check.”

Another resident, Hannah Pemberton, said people chose to live in Erskineville instead of Zetland or Waterloo because of the lower building heights and community feel.

“It’s devastating to imagine what a future Erskineville will look like, with buildings that are creeping up in height and creating a concrete jungle like neighbouring suburbs,” she wrote.

Residents fear Erskineville will turn into Green Square if developers are granted further increases to permitted building heights.

Shane Turner was concerned the extra height would set a precedent for other developments “and in no time we will end up looking like Green Square” – while Adam Giles, then a senior partner at the NSW Planning Department, feared approving additional height could create “potential for another catastrophic event akin to Mascot Towers”.

Many neighbours were concerned about plans to reduce the setbacks of the building’s upper levels, which will now be retained in response to the submissions. The remaining changes would increase the total building height by 2.8 metres, to 30.9 metres.

The City of Sydney is poised to wave through the modifications, with a report by planning director Graham Jahn saying they are “substantially the same as was originally approved” and “considered appropriate in this instance”, and recommending approval.

Coronation Property head of urban transformations Aras Labutis said most of the additional height was due to the roof, which came in response to a council-mandated design excellence competition. Of the objections, he said: “It’s an active community.”

The buildings in question will contain 141 apartments. They belong to one of nine blocks in the 1300-unit development on Mitchell Road, which received concept approval in 2017 and is being progressed in stages.

If the entire site remains build-to-rent – where the developer retains ownership and leases the dwellings itself – it will be the largest such project in NSW, and possibly Australia.

But the site, known as the Ashmore Estate, has become part of a wider community debate about Erskineville’s future as former industrial sites are replaced by housing, albeit at a lower scale than nearby Waterloo or Zetland.

Those high-density suburbs have become divisive, with former premier Dominic Perrottet once describing Zetland as “like something’s arrived from another planet”. Lord Mayor Clover Moore, however, believes it is a triumph of design.

Erskineville is served by multiple train stations at different ends of the suburb, but concerns remain about traffic and parking.Credit: Kate Geraghty

Erskineville grew by about 20 per cent between 2016 and 2021, adding 1150 dwellings and 1650 people. It is five kilometres from the CBD and served by multiple train stations.

Coronation pledged 200 of 1300 apartments at its Mitchell Road project would be dedicated as affordable housing, managed by community housing provider Evolve.

While developers frequently seek additional height after a concept design has been approved, especially on large projects, many objecting residents said this was “greedy” and they should be required to stick to the original plans.

Not all submissions were against the height increase. Bradley Johnson of Mitchell Road said he welcomed greater density on the site and in Erskineville more broadly.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.