Brewery site plan is heritage threat: locals

Frasers Property, owned by the Singaporean developer Stanley Quek, wants the State Government to approve an additional 22,000 square metres of floor space for the 11-block development on the old Carlton United Brewery site, between Abercrombie and Regent streets. When completed, the development will dominate the city's southern skyline and match the height of tower at the University of Technology, Sydney.

An amended concept plan now before the Government also requested approval to extend the site's boundaries, increasing the height of the towers facing Broadway, lowering those that faced existing residential areas on the southern part of the site, and cutting car parking spaces to 2000 from 2440.

If approved, the additional space could add as much as $150 million to the capital value of the $2 billion project, based on the top average capital value for A-grade office space around Broadway, according to Colliers International Research.

People living in the area have praised Frasers for its energy- and water-saving designs and its plans to incorporate recycled materials into the development but they are dismayed by the scale and bulk of the buildings.

"It is very difficult to see, on a site that size, how that level of density will work and the [planned] park will miss out on a lot of light," said Lindsay Charles, a member of the Chippendale Residents Interest Group.

The number of parking spaces was also a concern, said a Greens councillor at the City of Sydney, Chris Harris. "This is the best served site in the city for public transport. A report done for council recommended 0.57 car spaces per unit, which, at 1400 units now proposed, would be 800 car spaces," he said.

"While I think the environmental initiatives by Frasers are praiseworthy, I am appalled they are following the usual path in Sydney of over-developing the site."

The extra floor area would be for commercial office space rather than apartments, said Fraser's chief operating officer, Nicholas Wolff, because the location - one of the gateways to the central business district - best suited office blocks rather than apartment towers. The space would be split evenly between office and residential use. "The site can take the additional density," Mr Wolff said.

The amended proposal will be on public display until September 1.

Photo: Bentley Systems Controversial … the concept plan of the CUB redevelopment.