Critics tear down plan to move and rebuild historic villa
A NSW government plan to dismantle and then ‘faithfully reassemble’ the heritage-listed Italianate villa Willow Grove elsewhere has been ridiculed at a parliamentary inquiry.
A NSW government plan to dismantle and then “faithfully reassemble” the heritage-listed Italianate villa Willow Grove elsewhere to make way for the Parramatta Powerhouse Museum has been ridiculed at a parliamentary inquiry.
The $840m science and technology museum was approved by Planning Minister Rob Stokes on Friday, giving the green light to demolish the former maternity hospital and rebuild it at a yet-to-be-determined location.
At a parliamentary inquiry on Monday, CFMEU secretary Darren Greenfield said if the relocation occurred, “it won’t be the same building”.
“You can’t really pull that building down and relocate it,” he said of the brick-rendered Willow Grove. “To actually pull it apart, you’d have to do it piece by piece … you can’t remove render.
“Do you tape it to the building? Do you glue it to the building?”
The CFMEU has issued a “green ban” over Willow Grove in an attempt to protect it from being demolished or dismantled. Mr Greenfield said members of the union would “picket the site with the community” if the government tore it down without appropriate consultation.
The relocation would take about eight to 12 months and cost $25m, according to Mr Greenfield’s calculations.
Arts Minister Don Harwin — who could not say how much the relocation might cost — promised the heritage site would be “faithfully reassembled”.
When Greens member of the NSW Legislative Council David Shoebridge pointed out that none of the 188 conditions of consent approved by the Department of Planning guaranteed the heritage building would be reconstructed, Mr Harwin doubled down on his claims.
“It will be in better condition than it is in now, it will be available for the people of Parramatta to use,” he said.
Mr Shoebridge said the heritage site would be “destroyed and a faux heritage item is going to be built at an indeterminate place at some point in the future”.
He described the proposed reconstruction as “the Las Vegas Willow Grove”. “You have permission to destroy it but no requirement to rebuild it and you couldn’t have a planning approval to rebuild it because you don’t know where you want to bloody rebuild it in the first place,” he said.
The site for the relocation of Willow Grove has not been decided but Mr Harwin said it would be determined once the community had weighed in.
More than $25m has been spent in consultant fees on the project since 2017.
Parramatta council member Donna Davis expressed fears the site would be relocated to Parramatta Park, labelling that outcome “disappointing”.
A feedback centre has been set up in Parramatta by the Powerhouse Museum to enable open discourse with the community. While numerous concerns have been raised over the relocation of Willow Grove, Powerhouse chief executive Lisa Havilah said once the plans were explained to any complainant, “everyone is satisfied”.
Ms Davis said that was “not my experience”.
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