Bulletin 48: The Pointy End
25 January 2020
The Government has
taken new steps in the destruction process. It has formally set in motion the
process for the erection of the new Museum at Parramatta.
This is being done
quietly, ‘taking out the trash’ in a media holiday time. The relevant link is
below. (A note from Tom: Please go to the page and register your interest
at the ‘notify me” link. We need to show that people are watching! Please
also go to the Save The Powerhouse Facebook page and check out the latest
posts, very compelling on other aspects of the ‘move’ process.)
Here is the link:
Kylie Winkworth and
Suzette Meade, Parramatta activist have brought this to public attention
Here are some
edited comments from Kylie and from Tom and others.
For the first time
there are cross sections of the Parramatta museum showing a few planes and
helicopters in a trophy hall but otherwise it is a museum in name only, with no
vision, compelling concept or rationale and nothing to say about the content. Moving
the Catalina into the position shown will be an even more enormous task than
previously outlined,
It is a brutal,
overbearing building. The larger building is set so far forward on the site it
leaves just a few metres for a notional river walk. One artist rendering from
the north looking across the river shows a bridge across the river connecting
to what they have called Civic Link, located on the site of the demolished
Willow Grove. It will be a massive wind tunnel. The bridge will not
actually be built as part of the project, although it was in the original
brief. The cost of this, if it is feasible, will be pushed onto Parramatta City
Council. So the Civic Link has no destination, it just
dumps people on the narrowest bit of the riverbank.
The placement of
the larger building project beyond the alignment of neighbouring buildings is a
flood risk. It has no obvious museum resonance. The trophy objects seem to
be collected in the smaller building next to Wilde Avenue. There is no basement
or plant shown, nor lifts and escalators.
It is of enormous
concern that they are forging ahead despite the bushfires, the grinding drought
in regional NSW and the consequent cost - and the need for more cultural
support for regional communities.
The key letter is
to the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment online at
https://majorprojects.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/prweb/PRRestService/mp/01/getContent?AttachRef=SSD-10416%2120200114T092642.228%20GMT
In effect, it calls
for a rubber stamp Environmental Impact Statement of the Parramatta project.
This letter is
dated 13 January. It would seem our letters to all Liberal and National Party
MPs calling for a re-think has had no effect. There is a definite law
of diminishing returns in regard to major mailouts to
MPs, Over the years there have been several major mailouts, and the latest, the
presentations made to ICOMOS on December 2 by Kylie Winkworth and Jennifer
Sanders, were of outstanding merit. However they
appear to have been almost completely ignored, usually with a very few
responses referring the matter to the Arts Minster who almost never replies.
Occasionally someone in Create NSW sends a formula letter ignoring the issues
made and just reiterating the party line that it is a good project. No
Government responses have ever addressed any one of the basic issues.
It is telling that
the contact person noted on p. 2 of the letter is Tom Kennedy who managed the
demolition of the Sydney Football Stadium. That does not bode well for the
longevity of Willow Grove and St George’s Terrace.
You won’t appreciate the abbreviated description of the PHM
which jumps from the 1879 Garden Palace to … The Powerhouse has occupied
the Ultimo site since 1988.
There will be
display of the concept designs at Tusculum in February. (Tusculum is a
beautiful heritage building, part of Sydney Living Museums, in Potts Point)
So the great museum for Parramatta and western is not even being premiered at
Parramatta. But we know this is about the delivery of Architecture. Any
resemblance to an actual museum is in name only. A stolen name.
Half the PHM will
be closed by June so things are getting to the pointy end.
And from Tom: Thanks for the
comments, Kylie.
Three attachments
A very quickly prepared series of diagrams on the site.
And I know I am a broken record on
this, but the plain fact is that the Government over more than four years has
not been able to challenge a single point on the fact sheet. Even if they were creating a truly iconic building it would not overcome
the fundamental problems of the project.
And a letter pointing out the gross
misinformation of the document at the website linked above, New Powerhouse- Request for SEARs. It is utterly wrong to list
Infrastructure NSW as the proponent of this idea. They are doing what the
Government has ordered, and it is clear from the staff movements listed on page
3 of Bulletin 46 that there
is not a lot of enthusiasm for the project. It will be interesting to see how
the new executive respond to the challenges. Our usual welcoming letters with
fact sheet have been completely ignored.
And finally: follow up from Bulletin 47. We have, of course,
have received no response from the Premier, the Arts Minister,
Create NSW, Infrastructure NSW, the CEO of PHM or the Department of Planning
for our request for information on any outside peer review or even an internal
‘deep dive’ process assessing the ‘move’ idea as outlined by Ms Havilah. The
Government has not been able to produce the slightest evidence of any
investigation of alternatives by any Government person, simply because there
has never been any, either before Mr Baird's embouchement on 26 November 2014
or even since that time.
Thanks for all the comments. I try to
respond to every email, but sometimes miss out. Please do not 'reply' - send a
separate email. Your information and insights mean that we have acquired an
amazing lot of facts about this disastrous project.
tomlockley@gmail.com ,
0403 615 134, PO Box 301 Pyrmont 2009
tomlockley@gmail.com is
the best method of communication)
CAMPAIGN TO SAVE THE POWERHOUSE
Australia’s major museum of arts and sciences in Sydney’s most evocative
heritage building. For more information
https://powerhousemuseumalliance.com/ See also: https://www.facebook.com/savepowerhousemuseum/ https://www.facebook.com/savethepowerhouse/ http://lockoweb.com/phm/
The business case is online at the private
website http://maasbusinesscase.com/