Newtown is the beating heart of the bohemian city. Home to hundreds of cafes and restaurants, it’s famous for its dirt and grime, casual nightlife, vintage and vintage shopping, and campus and rainbow culture.
About 15,000 people, skewing towards the small side, live within its bustling boundaries, making it one of Australia’s most densely populated areas. It is also a magnet for Sydneysiders who appreciate dining, entertainment and social events.
As Sydney grapples with the need for more housing and public space for its growing population, councils and landowners are being encouraged to open up unused land. The race to build 377,000 homes in NSW by mid-2029 under the National Housing Deal has hit a snag, and across Sydney there is a battle between legacy and housing.
As development progresses, however, we need opportunities to enjoy life.
There is a renewed push to transform Newtown’s dilapidated tram depot into a community, cultural or creative hub, fueled by the transformation of the former Rozelle Tram Depot into Tramsheds.
The Federal-style depot was built in 1899 and opened the following year to service the new electric tram fleet. According to Heritage NSW, it was the second such depot in NSW and, along with the nearby Newtown station, marked a major step in Sydney’s integrated transport network.
It closed in the late 1950s, and over the past 60 years it has fallen into disrepair, with the sheds rotting and overgrown.
There have been various government heritage listed site initiatives over the years. With its prime location next to the railway station, they have included the construction of affordable housing over sheds, or returning the site to “Carriageworks 2.0″.
The new push comes as Sydney seeks to build more homes while preserving the neighborhood’s history and amenity, providing green space but injecting new life into its long streets.
The state government, which owns the site, will consult with the City of Sydney and other stakeholders later this year before finalizing a master plan and business case, expected to be completed in the second half of 2027.
Any development on the Newtown site must ensure its heritage is recognized and preserved. Philip Oldfield, who is head of UNSW’s School of Built Environment, said the warehouse’s high ceilings and roof structure lent itself to being a cultural space or public hall.
Sydney’s inner city lost almost 30 per cent of its creative workplaces between 2012 and 2022 despite total floor space increasing by 15 per cent, the Sydney Committee’s 2024 study found. All up, 172,970 square meters of creative warehouse, studio and rehearsal space has been lost.
In turning this forgotten, underutilized space into something that improves service, providing a cultural space to the community will be a bonus.
As Oldfield said: “Cities are not museums, they will change. We have to think of new ways to make these places important to society again.”
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