A Concept State Significant Development Application is being progressed by developer Time & Place that will establish a building envelope to guide the redevelopment of the site for shop top housing with ground floor shops and cafes and basement car parking.
Welcome to the project listing for 45-53 Macleay Street, Potts Point. The Project Listing explains the Concept State Significant Development Application (SSDA) that will be lodged with the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (NSW DPHI) by Time & Place. This Project Listing will be updated with new information and announcements throughout the development process. We encourage you to revisit the Listing regularly to stay up to date.
This page has been prepared to help local residents and interested stakeholders understand the development. On this page, you will find background information about the Project, its status, a community consultation Have Your Say Survey that you can complete and a feedback form that you can use to ask questions or make a comment.
The information presented has been prepared by UrbanTalk in conjunction with Time & Place and was approved by Time & Place prior to listing.
SJB
Urbis
This project involves the staged redevelopment of the site at 45-53 Macleay Street, Potts Point. The site is located within the City of Sydney Local Government Area and is zoned MU1 Mixed Use under the provisions of the Sydney Local Environmental Plan 2012 (SLEP2012). Development for the purpose of Shop Top Housing is a permissible use with consent in the MU1 Zone.
The proposal satisfies the definition of State Significant Development under Schedule 1, Section 26A of the State Environmental Planning Policy Planning Systems 2021. The first stage in the project involves obtaining development consent for a Concept State Significant Development Application (Concept SSDA) that establishes the land uses that can be built on the site, a building envelope and other strategic objectives of the development. The Concept SSDA does not seek approval for any physical works or specify the number of apartments that will occupy the site.
State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021 (Housing SEPP 2021) applies to this project because:
• It is not prohibited development.
• The residential component will exceed $75 million.
• It meets the location criteria of the Housing SEPP 2021.
• It provides 15% of the residential component as affordable housing for at least 15 years to receive a 30% increase in the height and floor space provisions currently permissible under the Sydney LEP 2012. The affordable housing will be managed by a community housing provider.
The next stage of the project will involve a competitive design process that will be run by the NSW Government Architect. Under the design excellence provisions (set out in Clause 6.21C) of the Sydney LEP 2012 the development receives a 10% height and floor space design excellence bonus.
The proposed building envelope will allow for the construction of a 13-storey building (maximum height 50.05 metres) with ground floor shops and cafes, residential apartments above and 3 levels of basement car parking. The development has a capital investment value of $99.4 million.
The NSW Minister for Planning and public Spaces is the Consent Authority for the Concept SSDA. The NSW DPHI will assess the development application on behalf of the Minister.
Time & Place anticipate that the SSDA will be lodged in the coming months. Further information about the Concept SSDA planning process is provided on this Project Listing.
This 3-dimensional view helps to explain the setback distances from neighbouring properties and street frontages.
3-dimensional view of the building envelope.
On the 15 September 2022, Time & Place lodged a Stage 1 Concept Development Application (DA 2022/960) for the site with the Council of the City of Sydney. Following the gazettal of the Housing SEPP 2021, Time & Place revised the original development proposal allocating 15% of the residential component for affordable housing to receive a 30% increase in the height and floor space provisions currently permissible under the Sydney LEP 2012. This Project Listing presents information about the revised development scenario that is being progressed as a State Significant development.
| Element | Proposal |
|---|---|
| Proposed Use | Shop Top Housing/Commercial Premises |
| Gross Floor Area (GFA) | Maximum 5,529.8 sqm |
| Maximum Building Height | 50.05 metres (inclusive of 30% affordable housing bonus and 10% design excellence bonus) |
| Floor Space Ratio (FSR) | Maximum 4.29:1 (inclusive of 30% affordable housing bonus and 10% design excellence bonus) |
| Vehicle Access | Vehicle access to be provided off McDonald Street |
Completed
Completed
Completed
SEARs: Secretary Environmental Assessment Requirements.
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.
In addition to the community consultation being undertaken for Time & Place by Urbis, the SSDA application will be placed on public exhibition and interested residents and stakeholders will be notified and are able to make a public submission directly to the NSW DPHI at this time.
For this project, an architectural design competition will be undertaken. 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, must undertake a competitive design. The NSW Government Architect will oversee the design competition process.
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. The architect of the winning scheme will be commissioned by Time & Place to prepare the SSDA.
The site address is 45-53 Macleay Street Potts Point. 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 containing 80 x 1 bedroom and studio apartments. It is located in the north eastern 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’.
Sitting on the western side of Macleay Street, the neighbouring properties are:
Heritage Victorian era terrace housing at 5,7, 9 McDonald St, located to the west of the site.
4 McDonald St apartment building, opposite the terraces.
6 McDonald St apartment, on the corner of Macleay St, facing the site.
4 Macleay St apartment, directly opposite 6 McDonald St.
The heritage-listed ‘Macleay Regis’ at 10-12 Macleay St, located to the east, directly opposite the site.
The entrance to the Macleay Regis at 10-12 Macleay St.
Retail at 10-12 Macleay St.
Directly next door to the south of the site – (from right to left) 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.
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:
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:
Architectural drawings detailing the proposed building envelope have been prepared by SJB Architects. The plans show how the proposed building envelope 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 is zoned MU1 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.
The site is subject to a maximum building height of 35m and FSR control of 3:1 (equating to 3,867 sqm of GFA) under the SLEP 2021.
As a result of the 30% infill affordable housing bonus and 10% design excellence bonus, the combined maximum permissible height for the site is 50.05m. The combined maximum FSR for the site is 4.29:1 (equating to 5,529.8 sqm of GFA).
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. The building envelope includes 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).
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’.
Time & Place has engaged Urbis to undertake a Social Impact Assessment (SIA). An SIA is an objective, independent study undertaken to identify and analyse a proposed development’s potential positive and negative social impacts. Social impacts can be understood as the consequences people experience when a new project brings change. An SIA considers social impacts concerning Way of Life, Community, Accessibility, Culture, Health and Wellbeing, Surroundings, Livelihoods, and Decision-making Systems.
The SIA process is being guided by the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure’s Social Impact Assessment Guideline (2023).
To inform the SIA process, Urbis is undertaking community consultation and has developed a Community Survey to gather insights into how the community views the proposed development. The SIA report will form part the Development application documentation that is lodged with the NSW DPHI at the end of February 2025.
The survey that Urbis has developed aims to gather your insights about how the mixed-use development at 45-53 Macleay Street, Potts Point, may impact you and your community positively or negatively. Survey responses will help identify mitigation or enhancement measures that could be implemented to reduce negative and enhance positive impacts and inform the SIA report to support the development application. To participate in the survey follow the link 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.
UrbanTalk acknowledges the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first inhabitants of this nation and the traditional custodians of the lands where we live, learn and work.
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