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Sydney’s Victoria Barracks would be thrown open for homes, leisure, sporting and cultural events under concept plans intended to stir debate around a divisive proposal to sell off historic military sites.
As debate intensifies over federal Labor’s move to divest prime heritage and waterfront defence property, City of Sydney councillor Zann Maxwell has released concept images envisaging the Paddington barracks as “Sydney’s next great public place” with “carefully integrated” housing.
“We wanted to help people imagine an outcome for Victoria Barracks that could be beautiful and part of everyday Sydney life; a place you could walk through and throw down a picnic blanket, or visit a wine bar or a gallery in one of the heritage buildings,” Maxwell said.
After a sweeping audit, the Department of Defence plans to divest 13 NSW sites, including the barracks on Oxford Street, part of HMAS Penguin on Middle Head at Balmoral, and Spectacle Island near Drummoyne, triggering concerns swaths of public land could be lost to private interests.
A growing alliance of heritage advocates, Labor MPs, Liberals, Greens and independents is opposing the sale of the Paddington site. Among them are the National Trust and former prime minister Paul Keating, who said Defence had no right to sell significant “gems belonging to the national estate”.
Before the government announced the sell-off this year, Maxwell spurred the council to develop “guiding principles” to inform future use of the heritage-listed site after community consultation.
He said the new concept plans, created by architecture firm Cottee Parker and visualisation studio Arterra Interactive, translated those principles into an indicative proposal that “puts the public benefit first”.
The guiding principles prioritised preserving the site’s heritage; creating public open space; better connecting the barracks with nearby suburbs; adaptive reuse of the existing buildings for civic, cultural and commercial uses; and new housing, including affordable and key worker dwellings.
Maxwell said: “We are in a housing crisis, and this is a very important site close to jobs and public transport. It’s in the heart of one of the densest and most vibrant parts of the city. If there can be housing outcomes done sensitively and appropriately, we should absolutely be looking at them.”
Maxwell understood backlash against plans to sell off the “very precious” site, possibly for housing, but there was “a vacuum which people are filling with their worst fears of what might happen”.
“This is not a definitive development proposal, it’s a provocation encouraging people to engage in the discussion in a way that moves beyond anxiety and considers what else might be possible here.”
Cottee Parker Architects principal Angelo Di Marco said the plans showed what could be achieved if the site was approached “with care, ambition and a genuine commitment to the public realm”.
“Handled well, it has the potential to gently reknit Paddington – opening up meaningful new pedestrian connections through to Sydney’s celebrated sporting and entertainment precinct, and inviting people into a place that has long been closed,” Di Marco said.
Maxwell wants the council to draft a master plan to guide future use of the barracks – a suggestion his sceptical fellow councillors talked down as premature and open to government cost-shifting.
Liberal councillor Lyndon Gannon said it was too early to consider a master plan for the site, although he supported preserving the heritage assets while opening the site to the community.
“Our cities aren’t museums. These spaces aren’t fit for purpose any more, and if we can breathe new life into them, we should do it,” Gannon said.
Deputy Mayor Jess Miller, a member of Clover Moore’s Independents, said it was no use the council “fantasy master planning” for the site’s future, instead of the federal or state government.
“What’s the point of us spending all our time and money master planning when it’s for sale?
“We don’t know who’s going to buy it, or what it’s going to be used for. If they want us to do the master planning, give [the site] to us,” Miller said.
Committee for Sydney think tank chief executive Eamon Waterford said the site’s renewal would be “a huge opportunity for Sydney, and for the Paddington community”.
He said any residential component should prioritise social or affordable housing, as well as spaces for outdoor performance, cultural and night-time activity.
“I think the scale of the site is such that you can probably get a bit of something for everyone,” he said.
“Cities change constantly, and we are currently grappling with a generational housing affordability crisis that requires us to think differently about how we use inner-city public spaces.”
The National Trust is advocating for Defence to retain ownership of the 1840s barracks, describing the precinct as “one of the most exceptionally significant heritage sites in Australia”.
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