City of Sydney has ‘serious concerns’ over Sydney Swans HQ redevelopment plan
Plans to turn the Royal Hall of Industries into the Sydney Swans’ high-performance sport and admin centre have been opposed by the City of Sydney. Find out why.
Central Sydney
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The City of Sydney has raised “serious concerns” over plans that would redevelop Moore Park’s Royal Hall of Industries into the Sydney Swans’ new headquarters.
Draft plans for the $47 million proposal were released in July, detailing the “adaptive reuse” of the historic showground site into a high-performance training and administration centre.
Dubbed Sydney Swans HQ and Community Centre, it would be a base for the men’s AFL team, the Swans Academy, the NSW Swifts Netball Club and future AFLW side.
However, the council has made a submission to the Department of Planning and Environment over the State Significant Development, detailing “serious concerns” about tree removals and the heritage, traffic, accessibility, environmental and sustainability impacts of the development.
“The submission argued that the development should not be classified as State Significant or exempt from paying development contributions,” a spokesman for Lord Mayor Clover Moore said.
As Member for Bligh in 1992, Cr Moore introduced legislation preserving the showground site in public ownership and has advocated for protecting the site since.
“While the new tenant is a private entity, we are encouraged by many of the proposed uses for the site, and hopeful the facilities can be made widely available for genuine community use,” the spokesman said.
“We are also hopeful that concerns about heritage protection, impact of parking and tree loss will be addressed before work commences.”
In its submission, the council argues the project should not be considered as state significant as many of its proposed uses are either characterised as “permitted without consent” or “prohibited” under the State Environmental Planning Policy.
Under the plans the hall opened in 1913 would be adapted into a two-level building housing a 60m by 30m training field, medical facilities, a cafe, museum, gym, dining hall and men and women’s change rooms.
There would be significant alterations to the courtyard and surrounding areas, which would include the removal of trees.
A separate building is also proposed for the Swifts to be located at the corner of Errol Flynn Blvd and Lang Rd.
The project received multimillion-dollar funding grants from the state and federal governments in the lead up to the respective elections, totalling $35 million.
After a long courtship, the Swans was awarded a 27-year lease for the hall and Hordern Pavilion in October last year.
The pavilion will remain a live music venue in a $65 million revamp of the precinct.
The council was the only authority to formally object to the plans, but Centennial Park and Moore Park Trust in its submission raised the need for greater public access and activation to align with its own 2040 masterplan for the parklands.
It also flagged the need for a detailed lighting strategy and was “very concerned” about potential tree loss.
“The trust remains concerned that the detailed design of the NSW Swifts building establishes a potentially awkward and unsympathetic relationship between the strong symmetrical form and orthogonal geometry of the (hall),” its submission states.
