St Vincent’s makeover an ‘onslaught of steel and glass’

St Vincent’s Hospital has upsized plans for its Darlinghurst campus, pitching to boost the size of new development by more than 50 per cent.

The revised plans have met fierce opposition from locals and Sydney of City Council, the modified design labelled as an “onslaught of steel and glass construction”.

The three-stage Garvan St Vincent’s Campus Cancer Centre (GSVCCC) will take up the majority of the Victoria Street block between Liverpool and Burton Streets.

A University of NSW Institute of Virology is also envisaged but is still being conceived.

At eight storeys, the Victor Chang institute was originally set to be tallest building on the block, but it would be dwarfed by the proposed 11-storey cancer research centre.

Locals say the structure will be completely out of character with its Victoria Street surrounds, and the sheer size of the development will steal sunlight from residential streets behind the complex.

“It’s quite an inappropriate height for where they’re putting it,” said Darlinghurst Residents Action Group secretary, Avril Ingram.

With three levels of clinical cancer care and seven floors of research laboratories, a St Vincent’s spokesperson said the revised size and scale of the Cancer Centre would increase the ease of applying research findings to patients’ needs. The original 2005 master plan for the centre had been explicitly “subject to the future demands on medical and health requirements by the community and future changes in technology”.

Accommodating approximately 1,000 workers, residents say the provision of only 217 car spaces would exacerbate local traffic problems.

The Hospital says traffic to the area is expected to increase by between three and eight per cent.

St Vincent’s swiftly withdrew its original proposal from Council following measures introduced in July 2005 to allow ‘significant developments’ to be determined by the State Government.

The determination of state significant sites under Part 3A of the Environment Planning and Assessment Act is commonly labelled as expedient and undemocratic.

Both Council and Clover Moore MP are drafting submissions objecting to parts of the development.

Ms Moore said  her submission would address concerns relating to building height and size, sun access, impacts on the public domain, car parking, sustainability, landscaping and traffic impacts.