RE: Push to transform heritage tram sheds into Carriageworks 2.0
  Hunslet

I had always considered that the former Newtown Tram Sheds would have been a far more suitable location for the Carriage Works Theatre project owing to its immediate proximity to Newtown railway station and thus easily accessible by public transport, as the current location is not. Locating to there in the first place would have allowed for the alternative project – a storage facility for the Power House Museum linked on special occasions by a shuttle heritage train service to the Ultimo site, to have proceeded.

However, with the then Labor Government having expended in excess of $40 million on the Redfern site (and I understand currently not being commercially viable), I can’t see the present State Government spending a similar amount on revitalising the Newtown site.

Having said that, what are the economics and politics of selling off the whole of the North Eveleigh site for a major, and I mean major, residential redevelopment site, with the developer also paying for the rebuilding of the Newtown depot structure and relocation costs of the existing Carriage Works facilities to this new site?

The partial use of Carriage Works as a heritage restoration site by the Historic Electric Traction group on behalf of Sydney Trains and Transport Heritage NSW will come to an end within the next decade as the Chullora Heritage Hub is fully developed.

Hunslet

From:tramsdownunder@... [mailto:tramsdownunder@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Tony Galloway
Sent: Saturday, 27 November 2021 8:50 AM
To:tramsdownunder@...
Subject: [TramsDownUnder] Push to transform heritage tram sheds into Carriageworks 2.0

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/push-to-transform-heritage-tram-sheds-into-carriageworks-2-0-20211126-p59cci.html


Push to transform heritage tram sheds into Carriageworks 2.0


Angus ThompsonNovember 27, 2021 — 5.00am

A City of Sydney candidate is campaigning to have the heritage-listed tram sheds behind Newtown Station turned into Carriageworks 2.0.

The call from the Liberal team’s Lyndon Gannon to revamp the state-owned site into a second live performance venue has prompted a matching commitment from Labor’s lord mayoral candidate Linda Scott, and questions about government agency involvement from Clover Moore’s camp.

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Inside the derelict Newtown Tram Depot, an asset the state is exploring for reuse. Brook Mitchell

“As part of this vision, we’re committing to transforming this heritage-listed space into an exciting venue capable of hosting a multitude of activations. The Biennale of Sydney, Sydney Festival and Vivid could all be a part to name a few. There will also be live music and performances,” Mr Gannon said.

Despite the location being less than 1.5 kilometres from the existing Carriageworks venue, Mr Gannon said the depot was in a more accessible location: “The tram depot is next to Newtown Station, a bustling destination for many. You’d walk out of a concert and be on King Street.”

The Federation-style depot was built in 1899 and opened the following year to service the new electric tram fleet. According to Heritage NSW, it was the second such depot in NSW and, with the adjacent Newtown Station signalled a major step in Sydney’s integrated transport network.

It closed in the late 1950s and was added to the State Heritage Register in 1999.

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City of Sydney Liberal candidate Lyndon Gannon outside the disused tram sheds. Brook Mitchell

Investment in the city’s nightlife and creative spaces is a critical stage on which the battle for Town Hall will be pitched.

Incumbent lord mayor Clover Moore is campaigning on her advocacy of rolling back the government’s lockout laws, which ended fully at the beginning of the year, the relaxation of trading and al fresco rules, and five storeys of creative studios on Bathurst Street in the CBD.

Labor councillor Linda Scott, who is vying for the mayoralty, said Carriageworks faced insolvency last year, as it struggled along with the city’s other creative institutions and associated industries.

“Sydney Labor has a positive vision for the future of our city’s creative spaces and professionals, including allowing libraries and bookshops to be music venues by night, or offices to be weekend performance spaces,” Cr Scott said.

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Could the heritage-listed Newtown Tram Depot be the site of Sydney’s next Carriageworks?Brook Mitchell

Regarding the Newtown tram depot, she said she would fight “to ensure they remediate this highly contaminated site and fund it to flourish”.

The state’s transport agency revealed it was exploring opportunities to transform its underused assets into “new urban places”, adding it was in the early stages of identifying suitable sites, and “considering which order they should be pursued in”.

“This is about working with councils, the local community and private sector to find better uses for transport-owned property, not needed for current or future operational uses,” the spokeswoman said.

“No proposal would proceed without consultation with the relevant stakeholders.”

But Deputy Lord Mayor Jess Scully questioned the level of involvement from the state government in the timing of Mr Gannon’s pitch, adding she had previously been in touch with TAHE (the government’s transport asset holding entity) who had been silent on the issue.

“It’s a nice thought bubble, but what’s really going on here? Where’s the depth, where’s the community engagement, where is all of that?” she said, pointing to the City’s prior involvement in the transformation of the Harold Park tram sheds.