Bondi’s historic factory hangs up its boots

One of Sydney’s last two remaining boot factories is now set to be demolished, after Waverley Council bid farewell to its historic Spring St site.

Last Monday, a rescission motion was rejected with Mayor Sally Betts opining the “mothballed” factory was “unsafe” and presented a safety concern for the community.  Put forward by Councillors Paula Masselos, Ingrid Strewe and Dominic Wy Kanak, the motion had raised concerns about losing the heritage value of the 121-year-old building and over a lack of transparency in making the decision to demolish Bondi Boot Factory.

According to Ms Betts, for Council to “keep the building standing” it would need to spend an additional $1.2 million as an interim measure.

“Obviously it is of heritage value and no matter what happens we will save some of the fabric of the building … [but] to retain its heritage value, we need a lot of money [and] we do not have that money,” she said.

“We know for a fact that if we spend $1.2 million now, that is only an interim measure. So Council has to weigh up a building that is failing rapidly, [one that] was never built to last this long and the safety issues against its heritage value.”

Council acquired the site in 1984 and since 2007, it has commissioned eight independent specialist engineering reports, and a heritage design consultancy assignment aimed at exploring options for restoration and adaptive reuse.

According to Ms Betts, Council had attempted to maintain the heritage-listed site in the past but decided the safety risks it presented to local residents and visitors to the neighbouring Waverley Community and Seniors Centre could not be ignored.

“A lot of money was spent on it in 1995 to try and [fix] it up, that failed. In 2007-08, we tried some serious renovations, that failed,” said Ms Betts.

An engineers’ report conducted last month by an independent Building and Diagnosis Centre team found the building to be in a “structurally unsafe” state of continual deterioration, with increased protection to the neighbouring Mill Hill colonnade required as an urgent safety measure. It was estimated in the report that over $1 million would be needed to repair the site.

Councillor Paula Masselos said Council should not pre-empt a development application by committing to demolition as it may result in a conflict of interest where Council would act as its own consent authority for its own proposal.

“What we’re questioning is whether [the reports have] actually been done by a heritage engineer. Heritage engineers look at a historic building in a very different way to ordinary engineers, [considering] it from a preservation perspective to save the building,” she said.

Graham Quint of The National Trust of Australia argued against the proposed demolition of the factory because it was an icon of Sydney’s industrial past, recognised as local heritage by Waverley Council in December 1996.

Local activist group Rescue Bondi began a campaign to protect the boot factory, affirming demolition to be a “rushed” and “unnecessary” decision by Council. Calls have been made for State Liberal MPs Malcolm Turnbull, Gabrielle Upton and Bruce Notley-Smith to support the site in a bid for state heritage listing.

Councillor Leon Goltsman said the problem with the boot factory had arisen under the tenure of the Labor/Greens and their alleged mismanagement of Waverley’s budget.

“Over the [last] 20 years, had it been maintained properly … there’s a good chance we wouldn’t be making this decision. It’s like … a patient on life support,” he said.

“One of the hardest things is for the family members to decide to switch off the life support and this is what we’re doing. There’s nothing more that can be done to keep it alive.”