Clover Moore mismanages Surry Hills Community Centre project
May 10th, 2007
Clover Moore on Monday night used her casting vote to approve the new Surry Hills Community Centre knowing it would be environmentally unsustainable and that the cost had blown out from $3.6 million to $19 million.
Of course, this long-awaited centre with its library and childcare centre will be a fine social asset for Surry Hills.
But this is the first major building project this council has started from scratch, in an era that recognises climate change as the greatest threat to our way of life.
And what do we get? An overspend of millions of dollars for a building that relies on mains water, pumps its sewage into the ocean and will cause over 400 tonnes of greenhouse gas pollution per year.
In contrast to the $19 million we are coughing up in Surry Hills, a far more sustainable building of similar size in Knox Street Double Bay cost under $9 million.
The floor space is the same, the height is the same, the demand for quality is the same, so why such a massive difference in cost?
The Knox Street building recycles its own sewage and has rainwater tanks providing all its needs, saving 400,000 litres of water being pumped from Warragamba Dam each year. It uses a design that lets air flow freely so there is little need for air conditioning; optimises natural light and is highly energy-efficient.
We could make the Surry Hills centre the most sustainable building in the city and possibly the country but instead we’re stuck with a building that will damage the environment for decades to come.
Ms Moore’s irresponsible decision flies in the face of Council’s Draft Environment Strategy, now on exhibition, and flatly contradicts the green spin she floods the city with at Council’s expense.
As Michael Mobbs, a well known sustainability expert said at council, “this project gives sustainability a bad name.”
On Monday night Cr Harris put an amendment addressing the financial and environmental damage the project would cause (see below). In the face of a 5-5 split in the vote, Ms Moore used her casting vote to block the amendment and approve the project.
The Greens amendment and the votes:
Moved Harris 2nd Pooley:
“That the motion be amended by the deletion of the entire motion and the substitution of the following new motion:
That council instigate an independent review of the design of the Surry Hills Neighbour Centre to ensure that:
1. The building be made self sustaining for water for all purposes except for fire fighting
2. the building treat and recycle its own sewage
3. savings be found so that the building cost be reduced to that of the pre-tender estimate supplied by Rider Hunt Pty Ltd.”
Ayes : Harris, Pooley, Lee, Firth, Mallard
Noes : Moore, McInerney, Kemmis, Hoff, Black
Ms Moore then used her casting vote to defeat the amendment and to approve an unsustainable and financially irresponsible building. Is this the legacy we want this council to leave behind? The Greens certainly don’t think so
