Milestone (Aust) Pty Ltd v City of Sydney Council [2011] NSWLEC 1357

Land and Environment Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Milestone (Aust) Pty Ltd v City of Sydney Council [2011] NSWLEC 1357 Hearing dates: 21 November 2011 Decision date: 22 November 2011 Jurisdiction: Class 1 Before: Pearson C Decision: Appeal upheld Catchwords: Development modification - window frames - heritage item Legislation Cited: Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 Sydney Local Environmental Plan 2005 Cases Cited: Politic Pty Limited v Council of the City of Sydney [2009] NSWLEC 1239 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Milestone (Aust) Pty Limited (Applicant) Council of the City of Sydney (Respondent) Representation: Counsel Mr A Pickles (Applicant) Ms F Berglund (Respondent) Solicitors Baker & McKenzie (Applicant) City of Sydney (Respondent) File Number(s): 10878 of 2011

EX TEMPORE Judgment 1This is an appeal under s 97AA of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (the Act) against the determination by the respondent Council of an application made on 15 July 2011 under s96(1A) of the Act to modify a development consent granted on 8 October 2010 for the internal fit out and retail use for a Louis Vuitton store, including external signage, lighting and temporary window transparencies, for 365 George Street (the building). 2The building is located on the north-west corner of George and King Streets, Sydney. The building is known as "The Blacket", and comprises five storeys together with basement level, and a three storey rooftop addition which is set back from the faade. Development consent D/2010/1397, the subject of the modification application, related to the use and internal fit out of the basement, ground floor, level 1 and level 2 of the building. That development consent has since been the subject of five modifications before the application which is the subject of these proceedings. 3The modification application sought approval for: * additional faade lighting to levels 3 and 4 on King and George Streets; * modification to existing doors at the lift lobby entrance on King Street and a new entry on George Street to provide accessible access; and * new perimeter frames to the existing ground floor shopfront windows on George and King Streets. 4The Council approved the first two modifications, and refused to approve the ground floor window frames. The central issue in these proceedings concerns the impact of the proposed trims on the heritage values of the building.