There is no building in Sydney that has polarised opinions more than the Sirius apartments on Circular Quay – unless you include the Opera House, its architectural antithesis across the bay.After years of controversy, plans have been revealed and expressions of interest sought in what will be a revolutionary revamp of the former housing commission apartment block.You can read more about it the multi-million-dollar project here - and see a slideshow of the proposed revanp - but, naturally we also have our two cents worth here in the pod.LISTEN HEREAfter that, we talk about the developer who was the first to fall foul of the Sunset Clawbacks law – which we personally helped bring into being – and who has now gone bust (pause to be mentally carried shoulder-high around the room). You can read more about that HERE.And we follow up some fairly heated discussions on the Forum about feeding stray cats with news from the Guardian Online about how Chicago is putting 1,000 feral felines to work.Also from Chicago, there’s this amazing video about how a cat has survived a leap from the fifth floor of a burning building. [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqWPeKT_FPg[/embedyt]As we say on the pod, don’t mess with Chicago cats …TRANSCRIPT IN FULLJimmy 0:00 Okay, we have a lot to get through today. We've got the sale of the Sirius; we've got a developer who has gone out of business. We've got cats!Sue 0:12 Great!Jimmy 0:14 So, we'd better get on with it. I'm Jimmy Thomson, I write the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review.Sue 0:19 And I'm Sue Williams and I write about property for Domain.Jimmy 0:22 And this is the Flat Chat Wrap.[MUSIC]So, there seems to be a bit of a stoush about the Sirius building.Sue 0:45 The Sirius building, I think, has been in the news for a long, long time. I mean, they've been lots and lots of fights over it in the past, over the heritage listing of the building. Lots of people love the building, because I think it's a fantastic example, of 70s brutalist architecture.Jimmy 1:00 So, for anybody who's not familiar with it (and we'll probably put a picture on the website), but if you're not familiar with it, it's the one as you're coming over the Harbour Bridge towards the city from North Sydney, it's on the left, and it looks like a stack of Lego blocks.Sue 1:21 I guess it does! It's on Cumberland Street and it just can't be missed, really. As I said, some people think it's a great icon of brutalist architecture, which is increasingly rare these days.Jimmy 1:32 Well, for the good reason that they keep knocking it down because it's ugly.Sue 1:35 Well, other people will think that the building is a really ugly eyesore. A lot of people thought the building should be demolished. Other people felt that the building should be retained, because it was built for public housing. About 200 people originally and they felt that they should be allowed to stay there.Jimmy 1:53 With the best views of the Opera House you'll ever see.Sue 1:57 Yes and other people felt that, well, they just didn't deserve it really, I suppose and that rich people are the ones who could afford to live in such a fabulous harborside location and should
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Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.
