ONLY good fortune has so far prevented a fire razing buildings awaiting demolition to accommodate stage three and four of Iris Capital's East End redevelopment in Newcastle's City Centre Heritage Conservation Area.
But how long can such good fortune last?
A massive blaze in Surry Hills last May - in a vacant heritage-listed building awaiting redevelopment - resulted in NSW police charging teenagers with arson. It was only good fortune that saw no unhoused people using the building for rough sleeping injured or killed in the inferno.
Locks, chains and timber hoardings on the buildings awaiting demolition or renewal around Hunter, Newcomen, King and Laing Streets were never going to be sufficient to secure them from vandals and antisocial behaviour. Most windows in these buildings have been smashed and spilt the not-so-rare 'Newcastle diamonds' onto adjoining footpaths and streets.
Graffiti has flourished. Even the hoardings with attractive artwork on the Laing Street side of the demolished King Street car park have been targets for offensive sprays and racist rubbish in recent weeks.
Those responsible clearly missed the 'Racism not welcome here' signage installed at Newcastle beach and Darby Street. The graffitists' usual code of not tagging over artworks has been disregarded in Laing Street.
Candlenut Corner was once one of this city's gorgeous little joys. It was an oasis above the King Street car park redeveloped by the defunct Newcastle Now. It provided an ideal resting spot with a harbour view for those traversing the northern side of King Street. It too appears abandoned and is now a dump and a rubbish magnet. It requires an immediate clean-up that would not be overly taxing upon CoN's resources.
With the New Annual arts festival about to get under way this week in Newcastle and an accompanying influx of visitors, this whole area is a total shame job.
Goodness knows what those alighting during cruise ship season - scheduled to commence next month with the initial arrival of the first of 18 ships - will think about the place. This increasingly ugly mess could have been significantly reduced via a well-considered strategy. What occurred a couple of hundred metres away at the Newcastle Post Office - including a fire in 2017 that was fortunately confined to a verandah and promptly doused by firefighters - while it was vacant and before it was properly secured should have provided a case-study background for an effective strategy to prevent what is currently occurring in the Iris Capital owned buildings awaiting demolition.
An effective strategy would have anticipated the high likelihood of ongoing vandalism and antisocial behaviour. Such a strategy wouldn't dump the majority of responsibility upon the NSW Police to carry out constant patrols of privately owned buildings.
Last April, CoN issued a media release regarding expedited demolition of the buildings following concerns about their state and increasing prevalence of antisocial behaviour observed by members of the public and local business owners. It also stated police are aware of reports of antisocial behaviour in and around these buildings and will continue to work collaboratively with CoN and increase proactive police patrols in response.
That collaboration has neither halted nor slowed the 'demolition by neglect' that has occurred. The demolition by neglect has ramped up during the past couple of weeks. It is disappointing that Iris Capital, the NSW Police and CoN couldn't minimise the inevitability of what is continuing to occur in the buildings.
During GPT's ownership of a vacated David Jones building, the company employed a security service to stop vandalism, rough sleepers and a potentially devastating fire. Exactly why the NSW Police and CoN should be exclusively responsible for ensuring privately owned buildings awaiting demolition remain free from vandalism and antisocial behaviour escapes me.
Iris Capital should be required by CoN to properly secure its property and reduce the risk of fire until demolition is completed. Surely that developer can see what is happening on its property and provide a security service to prevent what appears to be an increasing likelihood of the whole shebang going up in flames.
Good fortune is not an effective strategy against potentially disastrous consequences.
