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Relocation of Current Marrickville SES Headquarters
The consultant team is now working rapidly to prepare the necessary tender and construction documents. It is planned to call tenders towards the end of October and subject to the receipt of an appropriate tender and final approval for the rezoning, it is planned to commence construction in early 2010. Development Application drawings illustrating the proposed works are available for viewing below in PDF format:
BackgroundAs part of the formulation of Council's Major Projects program in 2005, it was identified that the current building and facilities on Council's property at 209 Livingstone Road, Marrickville, were no longer suitable for the headquarters of the Marrickville SES and that Council needed to find a suitable location to re-locate these operations. The proposal to re-locate the SES also provided a funding opportunity to sell the property. Council officers have been conducting investigations into these proposals and have provided regular updates through reports to Council and the Major Projects Steering Committee Meeting. Therefore, the primary aim of this project is to provide a standard of accommodation for the Marrickville Local SES Unit that is suitable for its current and emerging needs. Secondary aims of the project include:
Council officers have been actively seeking an alternative site within the Marrickville LGA for the re-location of the Marrickville SES operations, and have commenced investigations into suitable community based alternative uses for the current Livingstone Road property. At its March 2007 meeting, Council endorsed a period of public exhibition to seek community views on the proposed re-alignment of the boundary between the SES site and Ness Park. The public exhibition took place between Thursday, 26 April, 2007, to Thursday, 24 May, 2007. An information brochure on the proposal is provided below. The community indicated through a widespread response to the exhibition that it did want to see a reduction in the current amount of open space behind the SES building. Following further consultation with the SES, Council considered some design concepts for the retention of the SES on a revised land parcel. The costs of these proposals were considered excessive, and were unfunded. At subsequent meetings of the Major Projects Steering Committee, Councillors requested the officers to re-visit the basic approach of Council’s original SES proposal, and sought an investigation of the suitability of re-locating the SES to Council's Depot and Sydenham Green sites. At its meeting of 20 November, 2007 (Item GM 123, 10/07), Council decided to proceed with a proposal to re-locate the Marrickville State Emergency Services (SES) building from its current location in Livingstone Road, Marrickville to Sydenham Green (along Railway Road between Stone Villa and the Princes Highway). A copy of the report to Council is provided below: This also enables Council to move forward on its earlier Major Projects funding proposal to subdivide, and re-locate the boundary between Ness Park and the rear of the existing SES building, and to dispose of the smaller SES site through a public tender or auction process, requiring a continuation of community uses by retaining the current Special Use 5(A) zone. The various approvals processes required for the SES and Sydenham Green will be initiated in upcoming months, involving consultation with the respective surrounding communities. Sydenham Green siteA consortium of consultants led by the firm De Manincor Russell Architecture Workshop (DRAW) was appointed in January 2008 to undertake the design, approvals (rezoning and DA), and documentation tasks for this project. The consultants have completed background investigations for the DA and rezoning applications, and have sought the input from the SES, relevant internal staff, government agencies, the surrounding industrial business owners, and Stone Villa representatives. Based on these initial investigations, DRAW has prepared some initial design options and cost estimates for the new SES facility and presented these at the Major Projects Steering Committee Meetings of 7 April and 14 May 2008. Feedback on these latest design options was sought at the Major Projects Steering Committee Meeting of 7 July 2008, as a prelude to a report to the July Council Meeting that sought Council's determination to proceed with a preferred design option for the rezoning and DA, as well as an additional allocation of project funding. Existing Marrickville SES SiteFollowing initial discussion at the Major Projects Steering Committee Meeting of 7 April, at its meeting of 15 April 2008 (GM 30, 03/08), Council resolved to:
Council officers will commence the road closure process in late June 2008, and a DA for the subdivision will soon be lodged with Council. Project timeline
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The consultant team has completed the design for the new headquarters in late 2008. A rezoning and subdivision application and a Development Application were lodged in early 2009 and considered at Council Development and Environmental services Committee meeting in September where it was resolved to approve the rezoning and subdivision and the development application subject to final approval for the rezoning from the Minister for Planning.