oddlight

Facelift for inner Sydney

By the time work is finished, Town Hall will boast a new park, CBD residents will finally have a choice of grocers and gourmet supermarkets and Pitt Street Mall will charge the highest shop rents in the country. But before the gains will come plenty of pain.

The scope of work in the CBD, scheduled to begin in a few weeks, is enormous. New developments will extend all the way from the northern end of George Street, opposite Wynyard, to the redevelopment of the old Menzies Hotel and Wynyard station building to, Justin Hemmes's The Ivy - which comprises a boutique hotel and eateries - then south to the Skyvue office and shopping complex and through to the Gowings site on the corner of George and Market streets and the Lumiere project in the nearby cinema district.

It all begins when the Mid City Centre, which connects George and Pitt streets, closes soon. A new office tower and shopping centre will be built before Westfield embarks on its $600 million demolition and transformation of the big three, Sky Garden, Imperial Arcade and Centrepoint. The eastern and western corridors of the CBD will not be left out, with Castlereagh Street boasting luxury boutiques, while York Street will cater for the more affordable designers. The Mid City Centre's tenants - which include Rebel Sport, HMV, Priceline, HobbyCo Toys, the Body Shop, Marcs fashion, Review and a host of smaller speciality stores - must be out by September 13. While most are moving to other city sites, HMV music store will not reopen.

And while dodging cranes, trucks, broken footpaths and an army of construction workers will become the norm for city workers, the upside for shoppers will be a month of sales to get rid of stock. Another Sydney landmark that is set to go is the nine-storey Woolworths building on the corner of Park and George streets. While the grocer still has eight years left on its lease, in the commercial world big tenants such as Woolworths need to begin examining their options. The City of Sydney bought the building for $17.3 million in the late 1980s and signalled plans to create a piazza and park to complement the historic sandstone Town Hall complex.

It has been many years since the CBD has had such a serious facelift. It was given a spit and polish in preparation for the 2000 Olympic Games, but has languished since then as the development of office skyscrapers took priority over shopping.

Green roofs

City of Sydney is considering putting parks and gardens on top of city office towers and apartment buildings.

On Monday the council will vote whether to grant $48,000 to a community group of environmental experts to develop a process for installing "green roofs" on buildings across the CBD and inner city.

The group is led by Tone Wheeler, an architect and environment advocate at the Royal Australian Institute of Architects.

"This could be the single biggest revolutionary change wrought on Sydney in terms of greening up the city," he said.

Green roofs could contain vegetable gardens, solar hot water tanks and photovoltaics - a technology that converts sunlight into electricity.

"There are many roofs that are flat, accessible, but not habited, and we are thinking we can use that space to grow food and grow trees, but also make power and make hot water, and create a … community resource," he said.

"We can heat and cool buildings and supply electricity using equipment that needs to be in the sun - medium- and high-rise towers are ideal for that."

Plants on roofs would also absorb the heat that bounces off concrete rooftops, thus cooling the city, he said.

A Pyrmont resident, Macey Kavalee, drew Mr Wheeler's attention to the idea after a recent trip to Chicago, where green roofs are common.

A green roof would give city residents a "pleasant place to sit and read", she said, and could feature vegetable gardens and fenced cycle paths for children.



Councillor Marcelle Hoff said green roofs would create more open space, enhance bio-diversity, insulate buildings, reduce stormwater run-off and reduce greenhouse gases.

Mr Wheeler said almost every CBD roof could become a green one. But a structural engineer, Matthew O'Hearn, said many roofs would need strengthening to withstand the extra load of soil and trees. This could cost up to $1500 per square metre.

An engineering analysis would also be required, costing $100,000 for a tower of more than 20 storeys.