Project Sydney: Lack of sky-high developments hurting Sydney as others forge ahead
A leading former architect for the NSW government says Sydney is falling behind other major cities in building high-rise venues to help the economy.
NSW
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Sydney’s CBD has a height problem — it is trailing behind other global cities that are powering ahead with new sky-rise developments.
“The economies that are doing well are the ones that have greater density in their major cities and have high-rises to match,” former NSW government architect Chris Johnson said.
Marina Bay Sands in Singapore has made a contribution worth $5.75bn to the economy over the past 10 years and created 30,000 jobs.
“It is a unique design with its surfboard on the top of the towers and is somewhere people want to come and visit,” Mr Johnson said.
He pointed to global cities such as London which “have turned the corner and embraced high-rise buildings”, such as the 310m-tall Shard, to turn around their economies.
Toronto, with a population of just 2.7 million, has seven tall buildings over 250m, 25 buildings over 200m and the tallest, the CN Tower, at 553m.
In New York, 30 Hudson Yards, with a height of 387m, contributes the equivalent of $26bn every year to the city’s Gross Domestic Product and has brought over 55,000 jobs to the West Side of the city. It also generates the equivalent of $700m in tax revenue.
Mr Johnson said: “Sydney is in danger of falling behind, particularly when buildings such as the Ritz-Carlton Hotel tower in Pyrmont struggle to get approval.”
Sydney Tower, built in the 1970s, is still the city’s tallest building at 309m, with the new Crown Sydney trailing behind it at 271m. The Q1 on the Gold Coast is Australia’s tallest building at 322.5m tall.
The only highlight on the horizon is in Parramatta where a new $3.2bn development at Parramatta Square is delivering NSW’s second tallest office tower behind the MLC building.
“Parramatta is on track to become Sydney’s second largest city, and will soon contain more office space than both Macquarie Park and North Sydney,” developer Lang Walker said.
The precinct will provide 290,000sq m of office space, create 4000 construction jobs and pump an extra $500m into the NSW economy.
“We are turning Parramatta into a vibrant, cosmopolitan, and commercial precinct. The transformation is something special,” Mr Walker said.
“This is a great thing for all of Sydney, we are bringing jobs closer to people’s homes.”
Western Harbour Alliance chairman Geoff Parmenter said: “Sydney needs to think big and bold as we recover from the pandemic. That means reshaping areas to finally fulfil their huge potential as world-class destinations for tourism, hospitality and entertainment.”
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