Barangaroo: Not so Fast?

The saga of Sydney’s Barangaroo has finally reached the point where its twists and turns are no longer predictable. The developer Lend Lease and its resolutely faux design, once paced to a seemingly unassailable lead by a compliant government and a shameless PR operation, has punctured a tire. Without a spare tube or pump, they wait by the side of the road for a team car which itself has been totaled. Meanwhile “sandal-wearing, muesli-chewing, bike-riding pedestrians” are gaining fast. No one knows how many kilometres there are to go.

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So where to now?

The campaign waged against Barangaroo by Australians for Sustainable Development has resulted in a victory I would not have thought possible the last time I wrote on the subject. The Lend Lease juggernaut seemed unstoppable. Now, the departure of Keating and the upcoming mediation would appear to be a much deserved comeuppance for at least the more egregious elements of Lend Lease’s scheme — the skyscraper hotel in the harbor and the profligate Headland Park it was to pay for.