Dear Mr Reed,

Forward Boot Factory – 27-33 Spring Street, Bondi Junction

The National Trust was very disappointed to hear last Friday that Waverley Council had voted to demolish the heritage-listed Forward Boot Factory in Spring Street, Bondi Junction and welcomed the news that a rescission motion had been moved.

It is regrettable that this item of business has been scheduled for tonight’s Council meeting giving very little time for residents and the broader concerned community, including the National Trust, to respond. This situation has been further exacerbated by the failure to publicly release the detailed engineering advice that the building is unsound.

It is also disturbing that the recent tragic death of three people in Melbourne is being cited by Councillors supporting the demolition, as this has no relevance in this situation, the wall in question being a modern wall, not heritage-listed. The adjoining three-storey heritage listed Victorian-period industrial building in Swanston Street was in no way involved in this accident.

The boot factory was listed on the National Trust Register in 1977 and a Section 130 Order under the Heritage Act was placed on the building in October, 1979 due to threatened redevelopment. It is understood that this Order was intended to remain in place until the building was listed on the Waverley Local Environmental Plan as a Heritage Item. 

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Continued in the Full Submission (Download PDF)