CFMEU Green Ban strengthens Save Our Sirius campaign | Architecture And Design

CFMEU Green Ban strengthens Save Our Sirius campaign

Nathan Johnson

Protesters will march from Sydney’s Customs House to The Rocks on Saturday with one common goal, to Save Our Sirius.

And those participating in the protest to save Tao Gofer’s Sirius public housing building from demolition can now walk with an extra spring in their step, after the construction union announced on Wednesday that it will support the movement by placing a Green Ban on the development.

The Green Ban means no unionised work force is allowed on the site and is welcomed news for the SOS campaign which has quickly gathered pace since the start of August when the NSW Government announced it would deny the brutalist social housing building a heritage listing and sell it off to the highest bidder for redevelopment.

The news is just the tip of the iceberg for SOS which is fighting hard to get a heritage listing for the building. The campaign also recently reached its target in an online crowdfunding campaign which has so far raised over $35,000 to be used for legal fees in a court action against the NSW Government’s decision to reject the heritage overlay.

Comedians Tim Ross and Kit Warhurst from Man About the House also recently held a successful show inside the building to raise awareness about the building’s architectural merit and secure dollars for foundation trying to save it.

The recently re-elected Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore has also publicly supported the campaign which now has a dedicate Sirius website which can be found here.

A REPEAT OF HISTORY                  

Long-time environmental activist Jack Mundey being detained in The Rocks during the Green Bans of the early 1970s. Image: SMH

SOS will hope the CFMEU’s Green Ban will be a case of repeated history in The Rocks, where a similar, albeit larger, predicament was overcome back in the early 1970s. A Green Ban from the then Builders Labourers Federation union effectively stopped a state government plan to demolish the historic buildings in The Rocks and Millers Point to make way for high-rise tower developments. The Green Ban was lifted after the government met a few demands of the BLF, one of them being the construction of a public housing block called Sirius.

The CFMEU support however is less about protecting the architectural merit of Sirius as it is about supporting the displaced tenants of the Sirius building and nearby Millers Point community. It says that Green Ban could be lifted if the state government agreed to rebuild public housing on the site.

JOIN THE MARCH

The Save Our Sirius Protest Rally will take place Saturday 17 September at 11:30am, beginning at Customs House in Circular Quay and finishing at Sirius.

All are welcome and you can join the Facebook Page here.

RESOURCED: http://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/news/cfmeu-green-ban-strengthens-save-our-sirius-campai

Unions block Sirius demolition as protests ramp up

Unions block Sirius demolition as protests ramp up

 

SARAH KEOGHAN, The Daily Telegraph

September 14, 2016 4:15pm

 

UNIONS have slapped a Green Ban on a social housing block in The Rocks 40 years after the same action prevented much of the area’s historic buildings being demolished.
 

The Sirius building, with its million-dollar views of Circular Quay and the Harbour Bridge, has been slated for sale and demolition by the State government with all its residents to be relocated.

In the latest backlash against the Baird government’s contentious decision-making, critics have called the move ‘social cleansing’ of poor residents from the inner city.

The government says an estimated $100 million windfall from the sale will be put to better use building more social housing in western Sydney.

Sydney mayor Clover Moore shows her support for the Sirius building ahead of a Save Our Sirius rally on the weekend. Picture: Richard Dobson

Sydney mayor Clover Moore joined former union leader Jack Mundey to announce that Unions NSW and CFMEU will sanction a ban against the demolition of the iconic structure.

Under the green ban, no company associated with either union will be involved with the demolition process, with the threat of the site being picketed if any work goes ahead.

The ban will be a huge obstacle for the NSW government, who want to evict the last remaining residents and replace the 79 social housing apartments with 250 luxury apartments.


Former union leader Jack Mundey and Sydney Mayor Clover Moore outside the Sirius building today. Picture: Richard Dobson

Moore said: “We want a healthy city that has a mix of population. We don’t want it just to be an enclave for the wealthy and we are very, very strongly calling upon the government to not go ahead with the sale and demolition of this important building.

“I will remind you the QVB was under risk by a former mayor of being demolished for a carpark.
“The Heritage council have said this is important, the institute of architecture have said this is important, the National Trust have said this is important, and the City of Sydney with our expertise have said this is important and we should be taking that advice.”

Reacting to the announcement NSW Environment Minister Mark Speakman said: “Usually a heritage listing won’t be knocked back on financial grounds, but this is an unusual case.

“The building’s technical heritage value is contentious. Whatever that value at its highest, this doesn’t justify giving up something like an extra $70 million for social housing that can be gained from not listing Sirius.

“Let’s face it, Sirius is hardly the Opera House or the QVB.”



A Save Our Sirius rally on the weekend will protest government plans. Picture: Richard Dobson

In the past two years the government has netted $180 million from selling off social housing and other properties in Miller’s Point, where the Sirius is located.

The new ban comes 40 years after union leader and environmental activist Jack Mundey formed Sydney’s first ever Green Ban against development in Miller’s Point, which led to the original erection of the Sirius to rehouse displaced tenants.

Between 1971 and 1974 unions and residents joined together for 42 Green Bans to stop what they considered the unwarranted demolition of key Sydney buildings.

Mundey said: “It’s important to save special parts of Australia,” he said.

“I think that what is required now is the rebirth of the green ban movement, to be able to get people involved in saving our city.”

In July Environment and Heritage Minister Mark Speakman rejected heritage listing the modernist building.

Designed by government architect Tao Gofers, it is regarded as one of the best examples in Sydney of the Brutalist style of design, and with its prominent location next to the Harbour Bridge has become a symbol of Australia’s commitment to social welfare.

The Save our Sirius Campaign has raised over 35k through crowd-funding to mount a legal challenge against the government’s decision.

One thousand people are expected to join a protest rally and march this Saturday (September 17) in The Rocks.

RESOURCED: htttp://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/unions-block-sirius-demolition-as-protests-ramp-up/news-story/3c73073e88499b16b7c90ade8bc9321c    

CFMEU construction union orders interim Sirius redevelopment ban

CFMEU construction union orders interim Sirius redevelopment ban

Opposition to the redevelopment of one of Sydney’s most controversial harbourside apartment blocks has ramped up as unions move to block work on the site.

 

The CFMEU construction union has placed an interim Green Ban on the Sirius building at The Rocks, meaning no unionised workforce is allowed to work on the building that overlooks the Harbour Bridge and Opera House.

The building, which has been used for social housing since it opened more than 30 years ago, has been slated for redevelopment into hundreds of private apartments by the NSW government.



Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore and long time environmental activist Jack Mundey stand in Cummerland St, the Rocks, with the Sirius building behind them. Photo: Jessica Hromas

“It is one of the last areas of public housing remaining in the district,” CFMEU NSW Secretary Brian Parker said.

“The top end of town moves in and ordinary working people are locked out of the suburbs they have called home for more than a century.”

The move comes as the Save Our Sirius campaign hit the $35,000 milestone in its crowd fund raising campaign to take the government to court over its decision to refuse heritage building status for the building.

The NSW government has rejected a heritage listing for the apartments – built in a Brutalist architectural style – because it would slash tens of millions of dollars from the site’s sale price.

“I am not listing it because whatever its heritage value, even at its highest that value is greatly outweighed by what would be a huge loss of extra funds from the sale of the site,” NSW Environment Minister Mark Speakman said in late July.

The sale funds would be used to build social housing elsewhere, he said.
Residents of the building and activists have planned to rally against the sale on Saturday.

RESOURCED: http://www.domain.com.au/news/cfmeu-construction-union-orders-interim-sirius-redevelopment-ban-20160914-grgbl8/ 

CFMEU Green Ban strengthens Save Our Sirius campaign

CFMEU Green Ban strengthens Save Our Sirius campaign

Nathan Johnson

Protesters will march from Sydney’s Customs House to The Rocks on Saturday with one common goal, to Save Our Sirius.
And those participating in the protest to save Tao Gofer’s Sirius public housing building from demolition can now walk with an extra spring in their step, after the construction union announced on Wednesday that it will support the movement by placing a Green Ban on the development.
The Green Ban means no unionised work force is allowed on the site and is welcomed news for the SOS campaign which has quickly gathered pace since the start of August when the NSW Government announced it would deny the brutalist social housing building a heritage listing and sell it off to the highest bidder for redevelopment.
The news is just the tip of the iceberg for SOS which is fighting hard to get a heritage listing for the building. The campaign also recently reached its target in an online crowdfunding campaign which has so far raised over $35,000 to be used for legal fees in a court action against the NSW Government’s decision to reject the heritage overlay.
Comedians Tim Ross and Kit Warhurst from Man About the House also recently held a successful show inside the building to raise awareness about the building’s architectural merit and secure dollars for foundation trying to save it.
The recently re-elected Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore has also publicly supported the campaign which now has a dedicate Sirius website which can be found here.

A REPEAT OF HISTORY                  

Long-time environmental activist Jack Mundey being detained in The Rocks during the Green Bans of the early 1970s. Image: SMH

SOS will hope the CFMEU’s Green Ban will be a case of repeated history in The Rocks, where a similar, albeit larger, predicament was overcome back in the early 1970s. A Green Ban from the then Builders Labourers Federation union effectively stopped a state government plan to demolish the historic buildings in The Rocks and Millers Point to make way for high-rise tower developments. The Green Ban was lifted after the government met a few demands of the BLF, one of them being the construction of a public housing block called Sirius.
The CFMEU support however is less about protecting the architectural merit of Sirius as it is about supporting the displaced tenants of the Sirius building and nearby Millers Point community. It says that Green Ban could be lifted if the state government agreed to rebuild public housing on the site.

JOIN THE MARCH

The Save Our Sirius Protest Rally will take place Saturday 17 September at 11:30am, beginning at Customs House in Circular Quay and finishing at Sirius.
All are welcome and you can join the Facebook Page here.


RESOURCED: http://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/news/cfmeu-green-ban-strengthens-save-our-sirius-campai