What’s Up With Bondi Pavilion?

By Madeleine Gray on May 3, 2016 in News

Bondi Pavilion is, and always has been, a site that has many stakeholders with many competing interests. It should come as no surprise, then, that Waverley Council’s $38 million Bondi Pavilion Upgrade and Conservation Project has caused consternation among the local community.

It is rather difficult to conceive what exactly the project’s design entails, simply because Waverley Council’s website does not have one cohesive, comprehensive document that outline this. The simplest thing to do seems to be to compare the current floor plan with the one that is now proposed.

Upon first glance, it is clear that many community spaces are getting the axe. The 550-seater outdoor amphitheatre (used by Flickerfest, Ben & Jerry’s Open Air Cinema, etc.) will go. Many community rooms, such as the High Tide Room, the Ocean Room and Seagull Room will also be lost. The first floor purpose built theatre, refurbished in 2008 at a cost of $350,000, is also to be removed, and replaced with a ‘restaurant/café/meeting space’. The music rooms on the ground floor will also get the boot.

So what is there to gain? The numbers proffered by Council suggest that overall this ‘restoration’ will result in more ‘community space’ and less ‘commercial space’. Waverley Mayor Sally Betts has said that the loss of the amphitheatre and current theatre will be remedied by the construction of a new multi-function/theatre space on the ground floor. The space between the building and Campbell Parade is to be pedestrianized and the number of female toilets will be doubled.

Council has framed the removal of the first floor community rooms in a positive light, claiming that they may still be used for that purpose. The thing is, they may also be used for commercial purposes instead: “the rooms upstairs… [will be reinstated for] possible future use as restaurants, cafes, or meeting rooms.” Which will it be, though? It is inconsistencies such as these that have irritated many locals.

Furthermore, despite assurances from Council that an underground car park will not be part of the plan, many residents seem unconvinced.

“More thorough consultation with the Bondi community and interested parties is essential, ” Murray Cox, spokesperson for ‘Friends of Bondi Pavilion’ said.

Former local Labor MP Paul Pearce went one step further, insisting, “the whole scheme is simply a privatisation by stealth.”

Cr. Betts responded, calling out Labor and the Greens for misleading the public.

“The claims by the Greens and Labour regarding Council’s plans to conserve and upgrade our beloved Bondi Pavilion are completely incorrect and misleading,” she said.

“It is disappointing that over the years Labor has approved terrible additions to the Pavilion and even now is showing so little respect to the heritage issues of the building.

“We take our role in looking after the iconic building seriously. We know the grand old lady needs a lot of love to restore her to her former beauty.”

Politicisation aside, it seems likely that the current revamp plan will get the go ahead. Whether this is good or not is another question entirely.