45-53 Macleay Street,
Potts Point
Stage 1 Concept Development Application establishing the building envelope that will guide the redevelopment of the site for Shop Top Housing.
Stage 1 Concept Development Application establishing the building envelope that will guide the redevelopment of the site for Shop Top Housing.
Welcome to the project listing for 45-53 Macleay Street, Potts Point. The Project listing explains the Concept Development Application that has been lodged with the City of Sydney by Time & Place. This project listing will be updated with new information and announcements throughout the development process. We encourage you to revisit this listing regularly to stay up to date.
This page has been prepared to help local residents understand the development application so they can be better informed about the project.
We welcome any questions or comments about this project, which can be asked using the feedback form at the end of this listing.
The information presented has been prepared by UrbanTalk in conjunction with Time & Place and was approved by Time & Place prior to listing.
To learn more about UrbanTalk, please visit our About Us or How it Works page.
SJB
Urbis
This project involves the staged redevelopment of the site at 45-53 Macleay Street, Potts Point. Refer to the photographs below. The first stage in the project involves obtaining development consent for a Concept Development Application (Concept DA) that establishes the land uses that can be built on the site and the built form of the development. A Concept DA is also referred to as a Stage 1 DA. The Concept DA was lodged with the City of Sydney on the 15th of September 2022.
1. A ‘mixed use’ building comprising of retail floor space that could be used as a café and neighbourhood shops at ground level and residential floor space above. The building is defined as ‘shop top’ housing under the City of Sydney planning controls. The Concept DA does not seek approval for a set number of apartments, as explained in point 3 below.
2. Two basement parking levels that can accommodate up to 36 cars, a loading dock, building services and storage space. The basement is accessed from McDonald Street using the existing driveway.
3. A building envelope control that complies with the City of Sydney height and floor space controls and establishes a maximum building height of 35 metres (inclusive of lift over-runs and balconies), accommodates 250 square metres of retail and 3,617 square metres of residential floor space.
Architectural drawings of the envelope are provided below ‘Building Envelope Architectural Drawings’ and explain the setback distances from neighbouring properties and street frontages.
3-dimensional view of the building envelope.
The Concept DA is not seeking development approval for any physical works. If the Concept DA is approved, a detailed development application (referred to as the Stage 2 DA) would be prepared and lodged with the City of Sydney, seeking approval for the new ‘shop top housing’ development.
The Concept DA was on public exhibition until 7th December 2022. The Concept DA documentation can be viewed on the Council website using the DA Tracker. During the public exhibition period, local residents are invited to make a submission to the Council about the project.
You can view the Concept DA on the DA tracker using the link below.
The Concept DA is important because the building envelope control establishes the maximum height and volume of development that can be built on the site. It also establishes the footprint of where the building will be placed on the site. Once approved, any future development on the site will be within the envelope. This includes lift over-runs and balconies.
The Concept DA is accompanied by technical reports that present the findings of detailed site analysis investigations. These reports evaluate the impact the future development of the site will have on the surrounding Potts Point locality and the amenity of neighbours. These reports include:
Each of these reports forms part of the Concept DA documentation and are available to view on the City of Sydney DA Tracker. A summary of the key findings in these reports is provided in the project listing.
For this project, an architectural design competition will be undertaken following the approval of the Concept DA. The planning provisions contained in the Sydney Local Environmental Plan 2012 (Sydney LEP 2012) require that buildings taller than 25 metres, located outside of the Central Sydney CBD, where a Concept DA is required, must undertake a competitive design process prior to the lodgement of a detailed DA (the Stage 2 DA).
Key features of the Design Excellence Strategy include:
• A minimum of three competing architects will be invited to participate in the Competitive Design Process. Competitors will be required to partner with a landscape architect.
• A Jury will be established comprising of two representatives appointed by Time & Place and two independent members nominated by the City of Sydney. The Jury will select the preferred scheme.
• An independent observer appointed by the City of Sydney will observe the Competitive Design Process to ensure it runs smoothly.
The architect of the winning scheme will be commissioned by Time & Place to prepare the Stage 2 DA. The City of Sydney is committed to design excellence, and an Applicant who proceeds with a competitive design process can be awarded a 10% floor space bonus if the selected architectural scheme has sufficient merit. The provision for the award of additional floor space is established in the City of Sydney planning controls ( Clause 6.21 SLEP 2012).
Architectural drawings detailing the proposed building envelope have been prepared by SJB Architects. These plans can be found in Appendix B of the Concept Plan DA documentation on the City of Sydney DA Tracker. The plans show how the proposed building envelop gradually steps in from the southern, western and eastern site boundary as the building increases in height.
The legend below applies to all architectural drawings. The outline of the existing apartment building is shown on the plans as a dashed blue line. The proposed envelope is coloured yellow.
The site address is 45-53 Macleay Street Potts Point (Refer to the photographs below). It is legally described as SP 934. ‘SP’ stands for Strata Plan because it is a stratum residential apartment building. Time & Place are in the process of acquiring the building, and they have obtained the consent of the Owners Corporation to lodge the Concept DA.
The existing residential apartment building comprises a 12 storey building containing 80 x 1 bedroom and studio apartments. It is located in the northeastern part of the site. Car parking occupies the remainder of the ground floor and level 1. There is limited landscaping, and no communal or private open space is provided for the existing development. Planter boxes align the Macleay Street and McDonald Street frontages.
The site is located on the western side of Macleay Street. It has three street frontages. Its primary street frontage is Macleay Street, which forms its eastern boundary. Its northern frontage is to McDonald Street, which provides driveway access to the site. Its western frontage is to McDonald Lane. Its southern boundary adjoins 55 Macleay Street, which is occupied by a 4 storey hotel known as ‘Whitehouse’. Refer Satellite Location Plan.
Sitting on the western side of Macleay Street, the neighbouring properties include:
• The east by the 10 storey ‘Macleay Regis’ apartment building at 10-12 Macleay Street, one of the most interesting and grand buildings of Potts Point and a heritage-listed building.
• The west in McDonald Lane by predominantly 2-4 level Victorian era terrace housing and small apartment buildings.
• The south by the ‘White House’ hotel at 55 Macleay Street, the heritage-listed ‘Yellow House’ building at 57-59 Macleay Street and further south on the corner of Challis Avenue, the heritage-listed ‘Wirrina’ flat building at 61-63 Macleay Street.
• The north by 3 and 4 storey residential flat buildings and 2-4 storey Victorian era terrace housing.
SJB Architecture analysed how the site interacts with the Potts Point locality which, is referred to as its locational context.
Key features of its locational context are:
The design approach included:
The starting point for this project was determining whether the existing apartment building was suitable for adaptive reuse or whether it should be demolished to provide a blank canvas for its redevelopment. Following an extensive investigation by SJB Architects and Time & Place, it was determined that the existing structure could not be suitably adapted for the following reasons:
Adaptive reuse results in a larger building footprint and bulkier form that has view and solar access impacts for neighbours.
The proposed building envelope responds to the following design and landscape principles that were formulated by SJB Architects for this project:
To demonstrate how a new building could be developed on the site under the proposed building envelope control, Time & Place engaged SJB Architecture to design a residential apartment building, which is referred to in the Concept DA as the ‘Reference Scheme’. The Concept Plan DA does not seek development approval for the Reference Scheme. It has been prepared so that the City of Sydney and neighbouring properties can understand how a new building on the site will integrate with the Potts Point locality, perform against the Australian design standards for apartment buildings and impact the amenity of neighbours with regard to view sharing and overshadowing.
Key features of the Reference Scheme include:
Element | Proposal |
---|---|
Site Area | 1,289 square metres |
Total Gross Floor Area (GFA) | Residential 3,617 square metres Retail 250 square metres Total 3,867 square metres Total GFA 4,253 square metres that includes a 10% design excellence floor space bonus |
Total Floor Space Ratio (FSR) | 3:1 Allowable under City of Sydney controls 3.3:1 with 10% design excellence floor space bonus if awarded by City of Sydney |
Landscape Area | 26% based on Reference Scheme |
Deep Soil | 9% based on Reference Scheme |
Maximum Height Above Ground Level | 35 metres allowable under City of Sydney controls (Includes lift over-runs) |
Total Parking | 2 basement levels accommodating 36 cars and a loading dock |
The site is zoned B4 Mixed Use under the Sydney LEP 2012. The proposed retail and residential development is defined as “shop top housing” and is a permissible development with the Consent of the City of Sydney in the B4 Zone.
Under clause 4.3 of the Sydney LEP 2012 a maximum height limit of 35 metres applies to the site. The proposed building envelope is fully compliant with the height control.
Under Clause 4.4 of the Sydney LEP 2012 a maximum floor space ratio (FSR) of 3:1 is permitted. The building envelope fully complies with the FSR control and as discussed below can accommodate a 10% floor space bonus should it be awarded for design excellence.
Clause 6.21 of the Sydney LEP 2012 requires a competitive design competition to be undertaken as the building is located in Potts Point and exceeds 25 metres in height. After the Concept DA is approved, a competitive design competition will be held in accordance with this requirement. If the scheme is of sufficient architectural merit, the City of Sydney can decide to award the 10% floor space bonus. The Reference Scheme illustrated in the case study above incorporates the 10% bonus.
While the site is not a listed heritage item and is listed as a ‘detracting’ item on the Sydney DCP, heritage maps in schedule 5 of the SLEP 2012 places the site within the Potts Point Heritage Conservation Area and is in the vicinity of several individually listed heritage items. The Concept DA is accompanied by a Heritage Impact Statement (HIS) prepared by Urbis.
The City of Sydney has identified that the existing apartment on the site is regarded as a ‘detracting element’ in the conservation area. The HIS report concludes that ‘the proposal provides an opportunity to replace the building with a high-quality infill development that, through the design excellence process, will integrate and respond positively with the adjacent items of heritage significance’.
The Statement of Environmental Effects prepared by Urbis that forms part of the Concept DA documentation incorporates a thorough assessment of the proposal against the DCP provisions. The assessment concludes that the proposal complies with the following DCP provisions:
Minimising view loss for neighbouring properties to the east and south of the site has been a key design consideration. The proposed building envelope is considered to represent the most sensitive solution for a redevelopment proposal that complies with the City of Sydney floor space ratio and height controls for the site. However, Time & Place acknowledge there will be a view impact for some neighbours as the proposed building envelope has a greater building mass than the existing apartment building. In this regard, the proposed building envelope complies with City of Sydney planning controls for the site.
A detailed view sharing report has been prepared by Urbis and forms part of the Concept DA documentation. The report includes computer-generated images to indicate the extent of the impact on neighbours. The Report identifies that views from 4 apartment buildings to the east and south of the site would potentially have the views from some apartments affected. The report models the view impact for these properties. These properties are:
Download the view sharing report by Urbis:
The view loss was assessed by Urbis against the ‘Tenacity Planning Principle’, which is used by the NSW Land and Environment Court to evaluate view impact. The results of this assessment are reproduced below.
Time & Place understands the sensitivity of view loss and plans to meet with the impacted properties to further explain the results of the View Sharing Report and offer further view modelling for affected property owners.
If you live in one of the buildings mentioned and would like further information or a view impact assessment to be conducted for your property, please complete the feedback form below and we will arrange for one to be conducted.
Overshadowing analysis has been undertaken by SJB and is provided in the Architectural Drawings that form part of the Concept Plan DA documentation. Urbis considered the results against the planning controls of the City of Sydney, and their findings are set out below:
Time & Place is a next generation, design-focused Australian developer known for well-considered, contemporary projects, that respond to individual sites and contexts, celebrate use, transcend generations and support and enhance real lives. Established in Melbourne in early 2015, later that year the business expanded, opening their Sydney office.
Time & Place have a strong emphasis on in-house capabilities, allowing them to take on projects across sectors with experience and confidence. While their early projects were focused on the residential and mixed-use sector, they have expanded into the commercial, industrial, retail and hospitality sectors.
Design is core to who Time & Place are, steering clear of formulas in favour of creativity and pragmatism to make interesting projects. They believe that the contemporary home, workplace, or precinct is far more than a structure – it’s a living, breathing system.