Have your say on the proposed 13 – 14 storey towers at 100 Edinburgh Road, Castlecrag  •  Make a submission  •  Protect Griffin's legacy  • 

Castlecrag Community Campaign

Help Save
Castlecrag

Say NO to the proposed 13 – 14 storey towers at 100 Edinburgh Road

Have Your Say: Make a Submission Learn More
35
Heritage-Listed Items
8km
From Sydney CBD
4km
To Nearest Train Station

The Issue

A developer wants to build two 13 – 14 storey towers in one of Australia's most significant heritage suburbs.

A State Significant Development application has been submitted by Conquest — a private equity-backed developer with overseas headquarters — to construct two residential towers of 13 – 14 storeys at 100 Edinburgh Road, Castlecrag.

This replaces a previously community-endorsed 3-storey development that the local community and Willoughby Council had already welcomed and approved.

Castlecrag is truly unique — as the birthplace of Australian modernism, designed by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin in the 1920s as a living landscape integrated with its natural environment.

Our community is not anti-development. We welcomed the original plan. We are against inappropriate overdevelopment that ignores community voice, trashes heritage, and delivers luxury profits to overseas investors.

Why We Oppose This

6 reasons this
development must
be stopped.

01

Grossly inappropriate scale

Our community previously endorsed a 3-storey development. A proposal of 13 – 14 storey towers is completely out of step with the landscape. Our community is not NIMBY: we supported the original plan for higher density and urge the NSW Government to uphold appropriate planning controls for this site.

02

Luxury towers won't solve the housing crisis

This DA proposes 150 luxury apartments with only 10 apartments — less than 7% — to be leased below market rate for a short period. It would deliver profits to investors of an overseas private equity firm with no history, knowledge or interest in our unique local architecture and environment.

03

High-density towers 1 hour's walk from the nearest train station

Twin towers with 150 luxury apartments in a one-lane-in, one-lane-out suburb that's 4 kilometres and one hour's walk to the nearest train station. The site was designated a State Significant Development, despite not meeting the government's criteria — so how is it appropriate development?

04

A nationally significant architectural landscape at risk

The birthplace of Australian modernism, Castlecrag was designed by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin to blend with nature and remain subservient to the landscape. Its low-lying stone buildings and interconnected greenery create a unique suburban environment, now home to 35 heritage-listed items. 13 – 14 storey towers on the ridgeline would permanently alter its identity.

05

Risks permanent encroachment on a rare environmental haven

Home to one of the densest canopies in Sydney, Castlecrag is abundant with wildlife, its careful planning supporting echidnas, bandicoots, turtles, sea eagles and rare plants, while sitting just 8km from the CBD. Our suburb is one of Sydney's last remaining ecological corridors, and its interconnected habitats are fragile. Once damaged, they cannot be restored.

06

No genuine community consultation

There has been no meaningful community consultation from the developer. Community members who made contact received no response. Decisions of this magnitude should not be made behind closed doors or without community involvement.

Walter Burley Griffin at his drawing board, 1912
"He gave the community over four miles of continuous open foreshore — no other developer in Sydney's history has ever done this." On Walter Burley Griffin's Vision

The Griffin Legacy

The Birthplace of Australian Modernism

In the 1920s, Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin purchased 650 acres on Middle Harbour, designing streets, reserves and homes to respect and preserve the natural bushland.

Castlecrag is internationally renowned for its pioneering Griffin-designed garden suburb, widely recognised as one of the earliest and most significant examples of integrated landscape and residential planning in the world.

It is a living landscape unlike anywhere else in the world — a suburb where architecture, nature and community were designed to coexist in harmony. Towers of 13 – 14 storeys atop the ridgeline would be entirely out of context with the surrounding landscape and architecture, dominating, overshadowing and permanently scarring the Griffin legacy.

650
Acres on Middle Harbour
35
Heritage-Listed Items
4+
Miles of Open Foreshore
1920s
Griffin's Original Vision

The Difference

How does an approved DA for 3 storeys suddenly get supersized to two 13 – 14 storey towers? Do the math. It's pure greed.

Community Endorsed

3
Storeys

Sympathetic to streetscape. Approved by Willoughby Council. Welcomed by residents.

VS
Developer Proposal

13 – 14
Storeys

Luxury apartments. Private equity-backed developer. Little consultation. Dominates the ridgeline.

Take Action

Your voice matters.
Use it now.

Every submission sends a clear message to the NSW Independent Planning Commission, Willoughby Council, and our elected representatives: this community will not be ignored.

Make a Submission via the NSW Planning Portal

Submissions are lodged directly with the NSW Department of Planning through the Major Projects portal. Here's how:

01

Visit the NSW Planning Portal page for the 100 Edinburgh Road development.

02

Write your submission covering the issues that matter to you — heritage, traffic, environment, scale.

03

Submit before the deadline. Every submission is read and counted.

Go to Planning Portal

Get Involved

Contact the Castlecrag
Progress Association.

Want to get more involved, share local knowledge, or join the community effort? The Castlecrag Progress Association is leading this campaign and welcomes your support.

Contact the CPA

Share this campaign with your community.

Act Now Make a Submission →