By Megan Gorrey
The National Trust is fighting a rearguard battle against plans to construct a 45-storey hotel and office tower beside Central Station, arguing a last-minute tweak to demolish more of a historic postal building beneath it would reduce the 111-year-old structure to a “mere postage stamp”.
Developer TOGA Group in February won approval for its $383 million proposal to partly dismantle the former Parcels Post building, which opened in 1913, and erect the tower above it at Railway Square.
The concept for the tower development, prepared by Bates Smart, won a design competition for the prominent site.
The trust had objected in the “strongest possible terms” to the plan, citing the “totally unnecessary” demolition of two-thirds of the old brick building’s eastern facade, including its south-east corner.
But the developer has since lodged a modification seeking a host of mostly minor changes to the plans, including removing and reconstructing a larger internal portion of the historic building, which it said was required to ensure its structural integrity.
The modification attracted objections from the City of Sydney and the National Trust of Australia (NSW). Trust conservation director David Burdon said in a submission he was “totally dismayed that such an important building could be demolished to such an extent as has been proposed”.
“The current proposal will relegate the Parcels Post building to a mere postage stamp at the base of this new tower.”
The new building, TOGA Central, will eventually rise beside tech giant Atlassian’s 40-storey hybrid timber office block, and the Central Place Sydney development.
The state government is reshaping 24 hectares around Central Station at the southern end of Sydney’s CBD, which forms the “western gateway” to the Tech Central jobs and innovation zone from Haymarket to South Eveleigh.
Planning documents said the request to amend the approved development followed “further design development and input from technical specialists”. They said additional investigations had revealed the Parcels Post building’s structural system was largely inadequate and needed to be replaced to comply with national building standards.
The plans propose to reconstruct the concrete floor slab and some structural elements to enable the construction of the hotel core, central atrium void and concrete columns to support the new tower.
“These works are required to be completed irrespective of the construction of the tower above,” the documents said.
The former Parcels Post building is a familiar sight to commuters who use the Devonshire Street Tunnel connecting the station to Railway Square.Credit: Alamy
A response to submissions, prepared by consultants Urbis, noted the trust’s objection but said the location and scale of the approved tower were “not the subject of this modification application”.
“This application is for minor alterations to the approved scheme which would generally result in a positive or neutral outcome.
“The approved scheme is clearly in line with the government’s ambitions for the Tech Central precinct, has been subject to an extensive consultation process and multi-stage approval process which has resulted in an appropriate response to significant [heritage] fabric.”
TOGA Central includes the adaptive reuse of the postal building – also known as the Adina Hotel – to include a commercial lobby and hotel concierge facilities, cafe and restaurant, co-working space, function and conference area, and a rooftop terrace.
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