GWH development at 42 Georgetown Road, Georgetown approved by Newcastle council

The building at 42 Georgetown Road will contain 23 residential units. The ground floor will house two commercial units and 33 car spaces.

The $8.78 million GWH development exceeds the site's designated height limit by 24.5 per cent, with privacy concerns and visual and overshadowing impacts raised in public submissions.

Deputy lord mayor Declan Clausen said the development had "gone through quite a process" with the Urban Review Design Panel, which had resulted in the bulk of the building facing Georgetown Road and away from the neighbouring residences.

Before this development, a service station was proposed for the site.

The site was occupied by a service station prior to the 1980s, which council's senior environmental protection officer said had resulted in potential contamination of the land.

"It has been subject to a detailed contamination investigation which did not identify significant contamination however it was identified that residual service station buried infrastructure and localised contamination may remain on site," the environmental protection officer said in a report.

A remediation action plan prepared for the development requires any encountered service station infrastructure and potential contamination found in construction to be removed and backfilled with clean material. The officer said the commercial ground floor and car park would also "significantly minimise any potential contamination pathways for residents living above".

Lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes said the proposal was a better outcome than a service station and would provide "much needed housing and infill housing".

She said however from the basic drawings she had seen, she wasn't pleased with the style of architecture and hoped the building's finish would be "softened" before construction.

"Prefabbed panelling does have a harsh impact on a neighbourhood environment," Cr Nelmes said.

"It will be the dominant form for quite some time I think in Georgetown.

"A lot of other future developments will take their cues from this development on that site."

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