As you may be aware, Sydney experienced significant and heavy rainfall events in mid to late November 2023.
As a result of this rainfall, sediment, carried by water over land flows originating from The Newlands Development site as well as water egressing into the site from local road Holdsworth Ave, spread onto Canberra Avenue, River Road and into Berrys Creek.  

On 24 November 2023 and prior to Lane Cove Council’s inspection of the site, Top Spring Australia voluntarily stopped all construction work on site until sediment control measures were repaired and increased measures were in place.
We understand that this situation is causing concern across our community and want to provide you with the latest information. It is important that you know we are taking appropriate measures to address the issue.

Prior to the commencement of works on site, sediment erosion measure were installed in accordance with the approved sediment erosion management plan as required under the Conditions of Consent for The Newlands development.
 
Additional sediment erosion management plans were produced and submitted as part of Construction Certificates specifically associated to higher risk activities such as bulk excavation. These plans outlined measures in accordance with the NSW Government Managing Urban Stormwater ‘Blue Book’ guidelines to manage water surface run-off and the impacts of sediment erosion across the site. These measures includes:

• Construction of sediment basins,

• Constructing and management of stockpiles,

• Installing sediment fencing to catch sediment before water can leave the site.

• Installing silt fencing to filter out sediment before water can leave the site.

• Using sandbag sediment inlet traps and filter fabric sediment traps to trap sediment before water flows into kerb inlets.

• Using haybales and sausage barriers filled with gravel to filter sediment before water can leave the site.

 
Despite these measures, the unexpected large volumes of rainfall inhibited the ability for water to be filtered, causing the sediment overflow outside of our site. Following this event, it became clear to our team that additional measures were needed to ensure our construction site is having the least possible impact on our community and the environment.

From the 27 November 2023, we began implementing the following increased measures:

• Trenched spillways along the Canberra Ave site boundary lined with geotextile and gravel to catch and clean the water of any sediment.

• Installing additional 3x sediment basins across the site to catch and clean water before it leaves the site.

• Installing more double lined silt fencing across Canberra & River Road frontage to protect water quality in Berrys Creek.

• Installing additional haybales across Canberra & River Road frontage to trap and filter sediment.

• Installing additional coir logs around stormwater drainage pits to control sediment movement.

 
On 29 November 2023, we engaged a certified Ecologist with experience dealing with Berrys Creek who completed a review of the inflow into Berrys Creek. The ecologist will make remediation recommendations which we will complete once their report is available. This report and evidence of remediation will also be provided to Council.

We will keep the Ecologist and these additional mitigation measures in place throughout the remainder of the construction phase to prevent this from happening again.

If you have any concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to contact our community engagement team using the details below:

• 1800 244 863

• engagement@urbis.com.au