Wokeness’s new heights
Taller towers OK in Sydney but only if architects are the right gender
SYDNEY Lord Mayor Clover Moore has been accused of crafting a “make-work scheme” for architects with a raft of costly conditions set to be forced onto developers — including demands that future CBD high-rise designs employ at least six architectural firms with specific gender ratios.
The changes mean Sydney skyline landmarks such as the Crown casino and the Sydney
Tower Eye could soon be joined by other 300m-plus tall icons — but developers will first have to jump through a series of design “hoops” slammed as “bonkers”.
The new conditions — including a 40 per cent male, 40 per cent female, and 20 per cent “any gender” split for any architecture firm used in highrise designs — was slammed by City of Sydney Councillor Christine Forster.
“It’s yet another piece of red tape and another loop people have to jump through,” she said.
“Why would you exclude anyone from the design process due to their gender mix? It’s just bonkers,” she said.
The changes, passed at a December meeting of the City of Sydney, are part of the biggest shake up of planning rules for the city in 40 years and will guide CBD development for the next two decades.
Urban Taskforce CEO Tom Forrest said members of the industry body group had voiced concerns over fulfilling the
“complex” criteria required to build in the designated cluster areas — including the payment of $150,000 to each architectural firm engaged to work on tower projects.
“The positive side is they’re trying to give experience to smaller firms (and) architects from disadvantaged backgrounds, so it’s a positive objective they’re trying to pursue,” Mr Forrest said.
He said, however, that the move was practically “a makeDANIEL work scheme for the architecture community by the City of Sydney” where “everyone gets a prize”.
A spokesman for the City of Sydney said the competitive design policy, which previously stipulated a minimum of three architectural firms be used, had “successfully facilitated 105 competitive design processes delivering architectural excellence on sites such as 200 George Street (EY Centre)” since 2012.