Redfern changes brand and gets set to double in size

Last weekend the City of Sydney and the Redfern-Waterloo Authority unveiled the new “Redfern brand” at Redfern Oval and unveiled plans to radically change the area.

Organisers said the new brand aims to change the perception of Redfern and surrounding suburbs and increasing the profile of the area as a hub for business and recreation.

The new brand is an initiative of the Roll Up Redfern Group comprising City of Sydney, Redfern-Waterloo Authority (RWA), South Sydney Business Chamber (SSBC), REDWatch and South Sydney Rabbitohs.

The group were formed in 2009 to work collaboratively on business and community issues in Redfern and Waterloo and to continue the journey of positive developments in the area.

Redfern-Waterloo Authority CEO, Roy Wakelin-King, said the brand wasn’t just “skin deep” and would work in conjunction with public works and developments in the area.

“There are many fantastic initiatives in Redfern that we’re very proud of,” he said.

“We are changing the face of Redfern, a lot of people start out with one perception of what it [Redfern] is all about and find it drastically different when they come here.”

The brand’s launch comes as proposals published by the authority show the number of homes on public land in Redfern and Waterloo are set to double.

Redfern-Waterloo authority plans show many of the three-story apartment blocks in the area will be replaced with blocks four, six, and eight stories high.

Summaries of the plans provided to residents say they “could result in approximately 3500 additional dwellings in the whole Redfern and Waterloo area.”

Many of these homes will be private dwellings built on what is now public land.

The plans indicate the 4300 social housing dwellings currently in the area will fall to 2800 plus 700 ‘affordable’ housing dwellings for lower-paid workers.

The authority said social housing tenants will be relocated elsewhere in the city of Sydney.

Geoff Turnbull from local community group REDwatch is reported in the SMH as saying while he supported the majority of the changes the plans revealed a much higher-density than proposed by the city of Sydney.

“The authority has requested to increase density by 35 per cent more than what City of Sydney wants,” he said.

“The density over what’s there is for an extra 3500 units, which is doubling the density that’s already there.

“There needs to be some increase in density, we don’t have a problem with that, but the issue is what happens to public space and amenity, and we are not convinced 35 per cent above City of Sydney is right.”

The plans are on public display for the next month.