Quek's olive branch

But local resident Matthew Drake-Brockman has signalled he intends to appeal against a NSW Land & Environment Court decision against a motion to block the development, on the grounds that its approval by the Planning Minister did not take account of the development's impact on sustainable development and climate change.

Dr Quek, chief executive of Frasers, said plans for the 5.8 hectare site, slated to accommodate up to 300 residents and 4000 office workers, would aim for high sustainability outcomes.

An open day on Saturday would kick off an anticipated 18 months of new planning and public consultation to find out what stakeholders wanted, Dr Quek said.

Yesterday he told The Australian Financial Review the inspiration for the new plans was in part the group's exposure to the strong sustainability principles required in London by Mayor Ken Livingstone plus the example of his home base, Singapore.

As well, the project would be eight years in development and it was important to think ahead to what residents and commercial tenants would want.

"Foster's [Group, the previous owner] had a vision and our vision is slightly different. We want to get all the stakeholders together in building a modem urban village with the best ESD [environmentally sustainable development] principles and a sense of place," Dr Quek said.

"It could serve to be a really true model for large urban sites."

Greens councillor Chris Harris said he welcomed the announcement but the single greatest benefit to ESD would be dramatic reduction of the 2300 cars in the plans.

Dr Quek said the car issue was "something we have to look at". First it was important to "get the infrastructure working properly, the trains working properly" .

Last June Frasers paid Foster's $208 million for the contentious site after lengthy consultations between Sydney City Council and the community.

Dr Quek said he was disappointed with the planning challenge news.

"We have said we will stand behind the minister here. We are a little disappointed that they said they are going to appeal, but we have to wait to see whether they are actually appealing."