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Saturday, February 13, 2010

UNSW response to our questions

Our community group posed several questions to UNSW Vice Chancellor, Fred Hilmer. Below in italic are the university's responses.

1. Can you confirm how many students were enrolled in
· Each year from 2005 to 2009, and
· How many have been enrolled in 2010.

You asked this question before and I replied to you requesting clarification on the purpose of this information in relation to the TOR of the CLC. I have not had a reply.

2. Of those enrolled in 2010 how many will not be attending the Paddington Campus in 20110 due to the redevelopment. That is how many students are being relocated?

With the initial removal of three buildings from the CoFA Campus, UNSW has had to relocate as many classes as it can to the Kensington Campus however the opportunity for this has been limited. Almost all students will be attending classes and activities on the CoFA Campus during the course of the week for the life of the project and will be shuttled between the campuses.

3. Stimulus Funding Application by UNSW for COFA- can you confirm if the approval documents of Major project MP 08_0104 were submitted as part of your application?

UNSW advised the Commonwealth that it had received Consent from Minister Keneally on 16 December 2008. Whilst the Minister for Planning if the Consent Authority for the CoFA project, given the Director-General’s declaration of the project as a State Significant Major Project, the assessment of the application was delegated to the City of Sydney.

4. Do you believe that the Feb 2010 P&TMP by Colston Budd Hunt & Kafes is consistent with the Construction Traffic Management Plan prepared in July 2008?

Further development of the design, project staging, materials handling and construction strategy, in addition to further investigations in relation to geotechnical conditions, truck turning radii and the requirements of maintaining a functional campus has meant a minor change to the traffic plan for the demolition phase. The principles haven’t changed – minimise disruption to the local community wherever possible, ensure the project can be delivered in accordance with the Commonwealth Funding Agreement and ensure the safety of residents, the general public, students, staff, visitors and construction personnel.

5. Is the Gateway Building on the Oxford St frontage still to be a world class Gallery?

The Gallery is consistent with the Development Application.

6. In the first two CLC meetings in Nov 09 it was stated that the construction of an entrance via Greens Rd frontage would happen at the same time as the 2 month demolition period- why has this changed?

Our revised P&TMP seeks approval from the City to access the site for the excavation phase via Greens Road, Napier Park and Dead Man’s Lane. This will require significant preparatory and temporary works. It is UNSW’s intention to build as much of these temporary works concurrently with the Demolition phase in order to minimise the overall project duration.

7. Occasional use of Selwyn St for excavation truck access- why would this be necessary? Please detail these exceptions.

The Development Approval makes provision for vehicles and deliveries that can’t access works on the Selwyn Street frontage. Such instances may include vehicles related to site establishment and bringing in equipment for demolition, skip bins, and shoring and excavation equipment. Once the tower crane is established for the main construction phases the need for access via Selwyn Street will be very minimal. At this stage of works, some materials will also be able to be moved through the basement of Building F via forklifts to a materials hoist serving the new Building D. In is planned that concrete pours will occur from Greens Road via a pump and a static line.

8. Occasional use of Selwyn St for construction access- please detail these exceptions

As noted above.

9. removal of existing parking spaces at the eastern end of Napier st, to provide for turning and waiting trucks- Does this mean you expect trucks to be in the roadway of Napier St and not just the closed off section of Napier St?

Subject to Council’s approval for this strategy, there will need to be a detailed plan prepared for the enclosure, pedestrian diversions, tree protection, any road median strip modifications. It is intended that single bogie trucks will drive into Napier Park in a forwards direction and then reverse into Dead Man’s Lane, allow the truck to then re-enter Greens Road in a forward direction on exit. The extent of intrusion into the Napier Street will be informed by detailed truck turning circle planning. It is expected that the few parking spaces at the end of Napier Street will be temporarily lost.

10. Additional Loading Dock in Greens Rd- this was in original DA. Is it now not to be built? Why?

The additional loading dock in Greens Road was in the DA and was intended to allow for a dedicated dock for art exhibitions. Through design development and value management in order to keep the project within budget, it is now proposed that deliveries for art exhibitions could occur through the existing loading dock on Greens Road.

4 comments:

Bill Tyson said...

Deary, deary me.

Why wont the college answer your questions?

Some of the answers must be easy to answer, just a yes or no.

Maybe they don't know and are making it all up as they go along, but I would have thought they'd know how many students they are likely to have next year.

With respect to question 2, the relocation of students, I still can't work out what the response means. Can you help me?

It does seem, whoever wrote back to you had a whole lot of words to get rid off, threw them up in the air and put them together where they landed. It is all a bit gibberish.

When writing something, you must make sure the people reading it understand it or they will either doubt your intelligence or think you're hiding something.

I hope someone decodes the answers for you.

Truck Off COFA said...

You are not alone, Bill. We couldn't make much sense of it either.

Maybe it's what is called "obfuscation"?

Bill Tyson said...

Bill here again.

"Obfuscation" it must be. Mind you, the person who wrote to you clearly doesn't know English, so will not know what that means.

You guys certainly have a lot on your plate. For question 5, Is the Gateway Building on the Oxford St frontage still to be a world class Gallery? what was wrong with "yes" or "no".

Since you seem to dealing with Martians, maybe they are striving for galactic class?

Good luck with your cause. It's a very good and informative blog.

Bill Tyson

Bill Tyson said...

Bill, yet again. Sorry to be a pest.

I've just had an idea, they don't come think and fast at my age, I can tell you.

If the people at CoFA want somewhere to put their students which is really, really close to the CoFA site and would not cost them much money (or none at all) could you suggest to them using the gallery in Napier Street which, according to its web site, is only 2 minutes from the college and run by the CoFA Student Association. I'm sure the association would be more than happy to help out, as they are virtually family.
Also, even closer to home, what about the school building (the Ivan thingy). That must have a lot of space in it if the gallery has closed.

Hope that's not obfuscation and it makes a bit of sense.

By the way, I don't know if you know, but during the war in England, people were billeted out to families during the blitz. Couldn't the Dean and some of the lecturers help out and put some of the students up in their houses? They would be sure to have lots of space and could get to know some of the students better as well.

Time for a walk. If I have any more ideas I'll get back to you. Good luck.

Bill Tyson