Proposed building height changes for inner city suburb of Pyrmont

Taller buildings, higher density living and a New York Highline-style walkway on the fringe of Sydney’s CBD – Pyrmont is heading skywards with the state government indicating the low-rise suburb once regarded as a slum is set for major change.

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The days of Pyrmont being a low-rise suburb on the edge of the country’s biggest CBD appear numbered, with the state government officially flagging its intention to push the area skywards.

The government intends to improve public transport links, increase density and create a New York Highline style walkway on the city’s fringe.

The NSW Department of Planning document Directions for the Pyrmont Peninsula Place Strategy – which is a call for community feedback – says “new development, including taller buildings, must be in the right locations and designed to enhance Pyrmont’s dynamic, interesting and intimate places”.

A Pyrmont housing development in 2000 overlooking the Anzac Bridge.

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Planning Minister Rob Stokes has told The Sunday Telegraph the government wants to transform the area into an economic powerhouse over the next 20 years.

“We know there are areas of Pyrmont that can accommodate larger-scale development,” he said.

“A new masterplan to be released later this year will outline how these areas work together with the existing low rise and heritage parts of Pyrmont to create an even more vibrant and iconic destination at the footsteps of the CBD.”

The Pyrmont bridge that linked the suburb to the city in 1902.

Committee for Sydney CEO Gabriel Metcalf said the document represents “a step in the right direction for all landowners” and an opportunity to create more open space and jobs.

The call for taller buildings has significant implications for The Star’s $530m Ritz-Carlton tower in Pyrmont which was rejected by the Independent Planning Commission last year.

Changes to Pyrmont could include a Highline walkway in New York, pictured here at twilight. Picture: iStock

That rejection spurred Premier Gladys Berejiklian to call for a full review of the area’s planning controls, which is due out in July.

It also sparked a clean-out of the leadership team at the IPC.

Pyrmont was traditionally regarded as a slum area in the 19th century.

A low-rise apartment building in Pyrmont.

A spokesman for The Star said “we would welcome a place strategy that supports the move towards taller buildings for specific areas of Pyrmont”.

“From a design perspective we would only engage the finest architects as we did with the Ritz-Carlton tower project before it was disappointingly rejected,” he said.

“We will also work with government to ensure any projects we invest in continue to be not only interesting but inspiring.”