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Royal Far West Redevelopment Plans

21/8/2021

Royal Far West's multi-million redevelopment of its Manly oceanfront site is one step closer, with updated concept plans now on display.

Project leader Lindsay Cane said the changes, which are the result of community feedback, make the new buildings less bulky, open up the site for public access and remove the proposed hotel.

The children's health charity says it needs to redevelop and capitalise its site in order to meet the growing need for health services for kids in rural and regional Australia. As well, its an opportunity to open the campus up to the local community, including potentially providing health and wellbeing services for locals as well as country kids.

The original concept plan for the site, which was approved in 2013, has been modified by leading Australian architects, Glenn Murcutt AO and Angelo Candalepas.

The new plans include;

A 5 storey building on the South Steyne frontage to house private leasehold apartments, with a glass ground floor to create the effect that the building is 'floating'.
A 12-14m wide boulevard on the northeast corner, running behind the 5 story building. This will be a space for the public to use, including as a location for market stalls.
An 8 storey building behind the boulevard, which will include private leasehold apartments, commercial spaces, plus some space retained for Royal Far West services. The existing shared office space operator WOTSO may be able to stay on site.
Drummond House, on the Wentworth St frontage, will be significantly modified to better house country children and their families. The facade and front of the building will be retained, and more suitable family accomodation will be built behind around an internal courtyard and play area.
An enlarged basement car park.

The controversial 165-room hotel is scrapped from the modified plan, but instead there are 12 more apartments, bringing the total to 58.

Ms Cain said the redeveloped building plan would have more open view lines, plenty of landscaping and greenery and was designed to make Manly "proud".

Artists impression of development viewed from Wentworth St.

The new plans have been on public display during August. If they are approved by the Department of Planning, more detailed plans will be submitted in a Development Application to Northern Beaches Council by the end of the year. The detailed plans will again be put on public exhibition. Finally, if the plans pass the Regional Planning Panel - the final consent authority - work could start in the second half of next year.

15 Comments

Neville Ward

8/9/2021 07:44:47 am

I love it.

Jenny Kidd

8/9/2021 08:04:57 am

The revised plan is still an overdevelopment of the site & does not suit the rest of Manly. Five stories on the beach front is too tall - even if the shadows don’t fall on the beach, the looming buildings will feel like they are.

Luke Smart

8/9/2021 08:25:50 am

I think its a shame the hotel was deleted accomodation is tight in manly

Judi LeVine

8/9/2021 08:41:58 am

While this is an improvement over the original I also believe that this is still overdevelopment. Five stories on beachfront and eight stories right off the beach is too tall, and the eight stories could be a bad precedent for future development. Why are there so many apartments? It is great for the Hospital to be providing increasing services for children and families but this seems to swing the balance very much towards yet more high end residential property development.

Lisle Fortescue

8/9/2021 09:09:16 am

What is the meaning of 'CONCEPT PLAN APPROVAL 2013?
Where is such a document?
What were all the meetings, etc., held against the development by the Manly community - that was no approval.
Finally there was the State Planning Authority meeting attended by several hundred local citizens, when the decision was given for the present Far West .development excluding the front facing the ocean beach.
No one who loves Manly could possibly approve of a 5 storey apartment block on South Steyne opposite the famous ocean beach..
The work carried out by Far West is too important for not every inch of land not to be devoted to the country children from the far west. Covid-19 has taught us the vulnerability of our children in the far west of NSW, and for a commercial development to be even contemplated is an insult to the founder's intentions..

Howard Gilmore

8/9/2021 09:12:54 am

Is it a good idea to have even more cars at the beachfront? In summer (post pandemic) there is a logjam of cars at the corner of Wentworth Ave & South Steyne. When you throw in the 2 pedestrian crossings & a major event like a surf carnival there is a queue of cars trying to get through this intersection And the loss of parking on South Steyne.

Sylvia Bell

8/9/2021 09:20:15 am

THIS IS MANLY'S BEACHFRONT AND THIS PROPOSAL IS AN OVERDEVELOPMENT. Five stories on the beach front is too tall and eight stories will result in a crowded precinct. The laneway will be overshadowed. Once something like this is built, the amenity of the area is lost forever. Please, please develop a design that protects our beachfront and delivers services for the Far West home and children. This plan is just a housing and retail development.

David Hulme link

8/9/2021 09:28:32 am

I appreciate concern about the footprint of these new buildings however there are so many ugly buildings in Manly and employing the services of one of Australia’s if not the World’s most significant architects, Pritzker prize winner, Glenn Murcutt ensures that we will have buildings of beauty and significance which will stand the test of time.

Bob Smith

8/9/2021 09:46:30 am

This is not an overdevelopment of this important site. There are 5 and 8 storey buildings right along the Manly beachfront.
The redevelopment will provide an important commercial link to South Steyne.
It is disappointing that the hotel has been dropped as this was one of the last remaining sites for a quality hotel in Manly. Far West needs to capitalise on these assets to continue its important work

8/9/2021 10:27:11 am

When you look at the drawing of the plan 2021, please don't be deceived by the spacial distance.as though the buildings will be off a very wide road.
Note It is Wentworth Street already choked with traffic

Joanna

8/9/2021 12:25:18 pm

I second those who say it’s overdevelopment - because it is. In this day and age we should know better . It is not the 1970s where greed prevailed and anything could just go up … or are we still the same ? Is our Council engaged in protection if our urban environment in any way? Love to see the figures on who is the really winner here ? Far West? Developers? Community?

Candy Bingham

8/9/2021 08:28:15 pm

Just to clarify a few things. RFW obtained approval from the Regional Planing Panel (State Government) for concept plan, which is effectively the 'envelope' in which the development can be built. This specified the heights for the development.

Due to the size and value of the development, final planning approval will be granted by the Regional Planning Panel, although Council manages the DA and prepares a report.

Walk along the oceanfront - many of the existing buildings are already five storeys. The community had a major win in having this development reduced to five storeys (if was originally submitted at around 11 storeys).

Alan Martin

8/9/2021 11:42:02 pm

Candy. Because many of the existing foreshore buildings have more than 5 stories high is irrelevant. These were approved based on different LEP’s. Also just because the previous application was grossly over developed does not mean this one is acceptable. Quite clearly you have mad your mind up on this application.

9/9/2021 05:41:44 pm

Alan. The point is that the heights have already been approved! Back in 2013 I run a campaign with others to prevent major overdevelopment of this site. We were successful in stopping the proposed 11 storeys on the oceanfront. The concept plan now on display I believe is a good outcome, although there is still opportunity for changes to be made - but not to the heights of the buildings.

Alan

9/9/2021 06:38:34 pm

Thanks Candy. So long as the height restrictions on the foreshore relate to councils LEP then thats ok for the community. My understanding is that the current LEP restricts height to 3 storeys but I may be wrong. Things may be different and I stand corrected but if 5 stories is outside of this then this is not a good outcome. As we know well initial ambit DA claims are always the strategy for developers wanting to exceed height restrictions and the like. Far West should not be treated any differently to any other developer wanting to maximise its profits. Residential was always the highest and best use for this location, hence the deletion of the hotel and the increase in residential numbers. Please reconsider your thoughts on this as my concern is that the scale and height of this development has the potential to replicate the mistakes made at Bondi. Neither of us want Manly to be like Bondi. This is something we can agree on!

Royal Far West Redevelopment Plans

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