Sydney University Lodges Abercrombie Street Campus Revised Plan

Revised plans for the University of Sydney’s new Business School at the Abercrombie Precinct in Darlington have been submitted to the NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure. The plans are expected to go on public display on the Department’s website within the next 2 weeks.

Features of the revised plans include a reduction of the overall bulk and scale of the proposal and a significant setback from Codrington Street and from the Darlington Public School, a major reduction in overshadowing, an increase in green space public access and an emphasis on pedestrian safety.

Project Director for the Abercrombie project, Mr Cris Johansen said the University welcomed the feedback it had received from the community and from groups such as REDwatch and RAIDD, as well as the constructive discussions held with the Darlington Public School, the Department of Education, the City of Sydney and the Department of Planning.

“The University listened carefully to the community and other groups and with their involvement we developed a set of principles to guide the new development,” he said.

The key principles of the project are to reducing the overall bulk and scale of the original proposal, significantly increasing setbacks to Codrington Street and Darlington Public School, increase pedestrian access throughout the development, integrating the joinery workshop building to keep a meaningful heritage connection to previous uses of the site, and maintaining the large Sydney Blue Gum tree as a key part of the landscape strategy.

The new plan provides for an underground car park for 82 vehicles, which will replace the existing car spaces in the area. The entrance on Abercrombie St has been moved away from the school, and will allow for service deliveries to be made to and from the building.

“We have been concerned to make this a safe area for school children and other pedestrians,” said Cris Johansen.  The plans include a new safe school drop off zone, a path across the site to the school which avoids the entry to the car park and fewer car spaces within the site than originally proposed to further reduce the number of car movements in and out of the precinct.

Complete details of the plans can be found at: http://majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au/index.pl?action=search&page_id=&search=abercrombie&authority_id=&search_site_type_id=&reference_table=&status_id=&decider=&from_date=&to_date=&x=0&y=0

In a subsequent email update from Project Director Cris Johansen he advised that:

A model of the proposed development will be on display in the foyer of the University’s Services Building at 22 Codrington Street during the exhibition period. The University will also be hosting a community information day at Eveleigh Markets over the coming weeks.