Urban Taskforce criticises suggestion to reduce size of Barangaroo

Calling Barangaroo an important precinct in Sydney, Urban Taskforce CEO Chris Johnson has said that the City of Sydney’s concerns prompting suggestions for the site to be reduced should be rejected.

Citing a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers report, that saw Sydney CBD as being low growth in economic output, compared to Melbourne and Brisbane, Johnson said that the City of Sydney Council’s reduction in scale ideas for Barangaroo should not become a reality.

“Melbourne’s annual economic growth was 4.7% a year, Brisbane’s 4.4% while Sydney’s was only 2.2%,” he said, arguing that Barangaroo is crucial for the future of Sydney. What Sydney will be like in 2050 was a recent topic of discussion on Property Observer.

“We need to get Sydney CBD back as the leading economic driver of Australia and that requires leadership from state and local government to encourage new development rather than trying to stop it,” he said.

Bold thinking that aims for growth, specifically in the CBD, is crucial, he explained.

“Barangaroo has 22 hectares of land and even the latest potential for 680,000 square meters of development is just over a three to one floor space ratio. Most of the city has buildings over 10 to one floor space ratios so Barangaroo is not excessive.”

He said that the Council should not be taking a negative position on this development, but should get behind the important precinct and help promote it.

However, significant changes have occurred since the Council’s initial involvement. Fairfax Media recently reported that the development has doubled in size since its conception, and that relations have recently deteriorated between the council and the government over the development.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia/Creative Commons.