Change of tack for metro station development on Sydney's north shore

The NSW government has split plans to construct a new metro train station on Sydney's north shore from the development of towers above it, in the wake of widespread opposition from locals.

The government ditched a tender for an "integrated station development" at Crows Nest last year and has since opted for a "construct-only package" for the new train station, leaving the scale of the buildings set to emerge above it still to be finalised.

The rationale for "integrated developments" is that offices, shops and apartments help to subsidise the cost of the train station below, which can run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

An early concept plan of the development above a new metro station at Crows Nest. Credit: Transport for NSW

The change of tack at Crows Nest comes as a recent report by the NSW Audit Office shows that the state's lead transport agency suffered a $258 million loss on integrated station development agreements for metro lines in Sydney in the year to June.

Transport for NSW declined to reveal how many bids it received last year for the integrated station development at Crows Nest before it scrapped the tender.

It said that separating the construction package at Crows Nest allowed the station to "progress while the NSW government considers community feedback about the development above the station".

But Labor's transport spokesman, Chris Minns, said the suggestion that the procurement package had been separated after "noting community concern seems particularly far-fetched".

"Other suburbs across Sydney have not been so lucky with major developments lumped on their communities after the government unilaterally rezoned the planning over their train lines," he said.

"The government should release the number of parties who were interested [in the integrated station development] rather than hiding by that old chestnut ‘commercial-in-confidence'."

While the transport agency declined to reveal the level of interest last year in an integrated development, it recently announced that it had shortlisted three companies – AW Edwards, CPB Contractors and Laing O'Rourke – for construction of the Crows Nest station.

The early concept plans for the development above the station had included two towers of up to 27 storeys, a 17-storey hotel and conference centre, and an eight-storey commercial building.

The vast majority of about 670 submissions from locals and councils were opposed to the plans.

North Sydney Council urged the government to "take on board" concerns about the size, height and overshadowing that had been previously raised about the development above the station.

The station will form part of a metro rail line budgeted at $12.5 billion which will run from Chatswood, under Sydney Harbour to central Sydney and on to Bankstown.

Martin Locke, an adjunct professor at Sydney University's Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies, said the number of companies interested in bidding to develop both the station at Crows Nest and the buildings above was likely to be "constrained" because a unique skill-set was required to do both.

However, he said separating construction of the station from the development above it would help widen the field of companies interested in bidding on either contract.

Mr Locke said integrated station developments were a way to help partly pay for the cost of a railway but were likely to be confined to central Sydney, North Sydney and Parramatta.

"They can only be pursued where the airspace property development rights are really valuable. This requires density and scarcity. Otherwise, developers are going to be disinterested," he said.