On board to restore heritage trams

The City of Sydney is looking for people to find new uses for abandoned and vandalized trams in a move to conserve Sydney’s transport heritage.

The trams are currently being stored on MIRVAC’s Harold Park site in Glebe and Councillor John McInerney, a member of the City’s Harold Park Tram Working Party (the Working Party), is part of the panel assessing the proposals for their adaptive reuse.

Cr McInerney said Expressions of Interest (EOI) for their adaptive reuse is open to anybody who wants to preserve their heritage.

“We are very open as a council to the different possible uses,” he said. “We are looking for anybody who can satisfy the intensions of the EOI; to preserve and restore the trams.”

Another member of the panel is John Williams; founder of the Facebook group, Save the Glebe Trams.

Mr Williams has long campaigned for the preservation of the trams and he said the City’s proposed restoration project would preserve the trams for future generations.

“The Harold Park Trams are an amazing remnant of Sydney’s social and transport history and they’re loved by so many people,” said Mr Williams.

“Sydney’s such a creative city and I’m really excited to see what ideas people come up with to restore or convert the trams.

The City is offering four of the six trams held at Harold Park for adaptive reuse. One of the remaining two will be donated to MIRVAC as part of the new Harold Park development project and the last will be converted by the City into a new community shed at Bourke Street Park.

The Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore, said the trams were an important part of Sydney’s transport heritage.

“The trams are sitting in the disused Harold Park Tram Sheds so we need to protect them from further decay and find them new homes.”

“This is your chance to protect and nurture a part of Sydney’s history.

By Kristie Beattie