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Business and Council united on Powerhouse PROGRESS Opportunity too good to miss HE $1.1B relocation of the Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta would be the day-visitor attraction so much needed in Sydney’s second CBD, according to Lord Mayor Bob Dwyer and Chamber of Commerce president Schon Condon. Cr Dwyer said the Powerhouse, to be built on the foreshore on the old David Jones site, was the first major Government investment in Parramatta since the Riverside Theatre back in 1988. And, yes, he understands the controversy and laments the loss of historic properties Willow Grove and St George’s Terrace, but emphasises that the relocation of the iconic Powerhouse from Ultimo to Parramatta was an opportunity “too good to miss”. “The Powerhouse in Parramatta will bring two million people a year to Parramatta. That will have untold financial benefit to the whole of Parramatta,” he told Access. “I appealed to the Premier to keep this project as the government was considering cutting back on infrastructure (post-Covid).” Despite reservations about some aspects of the development, particularly the demolition of the heritage properties, Cr Dwyer said Parramatta would be “a laughing stock” if council rejected it now. He emphasised that the Powerhouse decision and the siting of it was made during council’s administration period and indicated that perhaps another site would have been found if councillors had been involved. After all, the council had invested heavily in a grand plan for the foreshore while John Chedid was lord mayor, but that had to be scuppered for the Powerhouse. “But you can’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” Cr Dwyer said. “I believe that the majority of residents in our Local Government area
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Bob Dwyer.
Schon Condon.
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The Powerhouse Museum will be a destination venue and that is important.” - Bob Dwyer. (LGA) and Greater Western Sydney want Powerhouse to come to Parramatta. “It is important to recognise the full extent of this once-in a lifetime opportunity. We are developing our city’s and our region’s capacity to attract visitors from international and domestic sources.
Regional Capacity “The Powerhouse Museum will be a destination venue; and this is important in the context of our region’s continued development and the opening of Australia’s newest 24-hour airport at Badgerys Creek. “And, while I don’t want to see heritage go, and council in its submission wanted a design that would keep Willow Grove, realistically, more people would visit the Powerhouse than Willow Grove.”
Artist impressions of the Powerhouse Museum at Parramatta.
Cr Dwyer agreed with heritage protectors, particularly the North Parramatta Resident Action Group that vehemently opposes the Powerhouse’s relocation, that there should be a better co-ordinated heritage tourism plan for Parramatta but said that would need Destination NSW working with council. Mr Condon echoed the Lord Mayor’s enthusiasm, saying the Powerhouse would join Bankwest Stadium in
bringing “growth and development” to Parramatta. “I’m bitterly disappointed about lost heritage and I hope this will be the end of it, but this investment is critical to our city,” he said. Mr Condon looks forward to the flow-on benefits from the two million a year Powerhouse visitor to Parramatta retail and hospitality businesses.It was an opportunity too good to miss, he said. - DI BARTOK
Some of the hurdles along the way
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ESPITE the enthusiasm of civic and business leaders for the planned Powerhouse in Parramatta, there remain hurdles along the
way. Apart from a huge cost blowout from the original $400M to today’s $1.17b, there are concerns over the logistics of moving some of the larger, iconic Museum of Applied Arts and
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Sciences exhibits from Ultimo to Parramatta. Already the original planned opening of 2019 has passed and now the expected opening date is mooted as 2024, long after the Ultimo site has closed. The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that government documents show that the design team has been searching for ways to install Locomo-
tive No 1 and other large steam engines and aircraft from its collection to the new site. The State Government released the papers under pressure from Labor and Greens, both strongly opposed to the Powerhouse’s relocation. Some government ministers have also expressed doubt over the expensive move to Parramatta.
At least 15 of the museum’s largest objects would not fit into the new building’s goods lift, the government papers revealed. The government is working towards ministerial approval for the site by December with a builder appointed next year. The project is set to provide 1,100 construction jobs.
WESTERN SYDNEY BUSINESS ACCESS JULY 2020
