Height Limits !

There seems to be something missing from the Sydney city skyline.   It lacks the jaw dropping tall buildings we associate with world cities and even Melbourne and Brisbane outrank us with building heights.  It seems that Sydney has a height limit imposed in the interests of what is euphemistically called " Aircraft space protection ".

Back in the days when the Wright Brothers first flew and aviation developed we established a small airfield at Botany in Sydney - and like Topsy - it grew and grew until it became both the domestic and the International terminals and the first landfall for the majority of tourists entering Australia.  Someone made the fateful decision that tall buildings might be a hazard for aircraft - and so we got stuck with a limit on building heights.

It is interesting to compare Sydney with other world airports.  Soon a lot of Australians are going to be flying into Rio for the Olympics and they will surely find a city surrounded by towering mountain peaks.  In fact, one of them has " Christ the Redeemer "  as it's focal point - and yet the aviation industry has simply learned to avoid them.

Hong Kong was another destination with both very heigh buildings and what some would see as a perilous descent to an airport tucked away on the only land available for that purpose.  It had an enviable safety record.  Modern aircraft are brilliantly equipped to avoid obstacles.

The present location of Sydney airport is an exception by world standards.  Very few are anywhere near the city they represent and it is a fact of life that we have made the decision to relocate to Badgery's Creek - and in due course that will become the home of aviation in Sydney.   When that happens, it is likely that the huge parcel of land that is the old airport will be just too tempting for our housing and industrial needs - not to mention the astronomical cost of having it sit idle when the planes are flying to Badgery's Creek.

That 230 metre height limit in Sydney is simply untenable.   The New York skyline has buildings of 541 metres and that is the expectation for a world city.   We are fortunate that a change in the height approval would run in tandem with the natural developments that are now happening.  It takes about a decade to build a new skycraper - and that is about the time it will take to get Badgery's Creek up and running as our new airport.

The cost of housing in Sydney is causing concern and there is alarm about the ever outward expansion of new suburbs.  Roads and railways are not keeping up and providing other services is straining the budget, and the natural remedy is to expand the " vertical village " concept.  The economics of high rise make use of the existing facilities and greater density creates a more viable city centre.

This " Aircraft Space Protection " limit is a product of a by-gone age when aircraft were more primitive and any obstacles were a navigational hazard.  It is time that it was struck down - and Sydney allowed to grow upward and maintain it's image as this country's " First City " !