Sydney’s architectural competitions are under threat from local councils that consider them too costly and unnecessary, preferring to waive them in favour of design panels.
Self-proclaimed ‘City of Innovation’, Wollongong, is expected to scrap the architectural competitions included in the City Centre Plan two years ago. Wollongong City Council has run not one competition over the past two years, instead granting exemptions where designs stay under the height limit.
The move could set a precedent for other city councils, especially Newcastle, Gosford, Liverpool, Penrith and Parramatta, the other city councils identified by the government under the metro strategy.
“It is in the context of deplorable decision on deplorable decision,” Sydney architect Philip Thalis told Architecture & Design.
“The six cities initiative was an appalling piece of bad planning, it was rushed, it was bungled, the choice of them is poorly thought through, the work that was done by the department of planning is uniformly condemned. And their sop to people was that they’d have these weak development competitions and the first sight of trouble and they abandon those. It’s a complete abdication of any quality agenda for these places.”
However, the proposed move has been welcomed by the Property Council, which claims competitions could be a disincentive for investing in the city centres.
In Wollongong the cost is “unsustainable”, Property Council NSW executive director Ken Morrison said.
“We’ve got to be mindful that the economics for centres like Wollongong are pretty tough … Design competitions are costly things to run and don’t stack up in Wollongong,” Morrison said.
“We’re not talking about Manhattan or Central London, we’re talking about Wollongong,” he said.
“Good design doesn’t need costly competitions,” Property Council Illawarra chapter chair Geoff Jones said.
The competition process across the six cities needs reform and strengthening rather than dilution or abdication, Thalis said.
“My question for the property council is: Is its only interest the short-term interests in the of the property industry, or the long term interest of major parts of the city?”?
