Planning commissioner’s old firm JPW architects signs letter against the Ritz-Carlton tower
One of three planning commissioners deciding the fate of the Ritz-Carlton tower is on the staff list of a firm of architects that signed a protest letter arguing it should not go ahead just a day before the panel meets to decide its fate.
NSW
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One of three planning commissioners deciding the fate of the Ritz-Carlton tower was a founding director of a firm of architects that signed a protest letter arguing it should not go ahead.
Adrian Pilton is one of three members of the Independent Planning Commission who will on Tuesday begin considering 22 submissions about the $500 million luxury hotel development.
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But he is still listed as a founding member on the staff page of JPW Architects, which provided three architects and another founding member as signatories to a protest letter in Monday’s Sydney Morning Herald. Mr Pilton did not sign the letter.
“Adrian Pilton is the P in JPW and I worry about his independence on the commission in this regard,” former NSW government architect Chris Johnson said.
A spokeswoman for the IPC denied there was a conflict of interest.
“Mr Pilton was an owner of the specific firm, JPW, from January 2001 to December 2015. Mr Pilton ceased to have a financial interest at that time,” she said.
The protest letter was funded by Sydney City Council with ratepayer cash and was signed by 80 architects.
Mayor Clover Moore defended spending money that Reverend Bill Crews from The Exodus Foundation estimates could have paid for up to 20,000 meals for the homeless.
“I think to let people know about the future of the planning in NSW, the future of planning in Sydney, it’s a very important thing for us to do,” she said. “We took out the ad in order to defend proper planning here in our city,” Ms Moore said. “You’ll see from the names who have signed it — they are all very much people who are very much participating in the planning and architectural life of our city.”
However Mr Johnson, who is chief executive of the Urban Taskforce and will be addressing the IPC on Tuesday, said: “If you want to get approvals with the City of Sydney council — it’s clearly their preferred list.
“Most architects on there are for lower-scale buildings generally in the work that they do, rather than tall buildings,” he said.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian would not comment on Ms Moore’s advertisement but said: “We haven’t agreed on everything, it’s fair to say, in the past.
And she repeated her call for progress and growth.
“Our job is to make sure we present Sydney as a global city,” she said. “Projects like this, other projects around town, demonstrate that and we’re looking forward to getting on with the job.”
The Premier supported the independence of the IPC, which is expected to decide by the end of next month.
“It’s important to note those hearings are part of the current process that’s already going on,” she said.
She has called on the Greater Sydney Commission to review the planning rules around Pyrmont.
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Sydney Mayor Clover Moore’s social media campaign against the Ritz-Carlton has received significantly less support than her call to allow pets on buses.
Despite spending $6000 on a leaflet drop about the proposed 230m-high tower, Ms Moore’s call to arms appears to have fallen on deaf ears.
A tweet on Monday saying she would be addressing the Independent Planning Commission received just seven likes and was re-tweeted only once.
Ms Moore’s most successful Facebook post on the Ritz-Carlton was on August 16 after The Daily Telegraph pointed out that it was to be built on the site of the 100m-high smoke stacks of Pyrmont Power Station.
By contrast, her comment calling for pets to travel on public transport — again following a story in The Telegraph — received 1000 likes, 329 comments and was shared 108 times.