Sydney's Crows Nest Debates Seven-Day Construction

0:00It's April 13th. Welcome to Sydney News Today, powered by AI. Developers at Dijkorp are pushing to build seven days a week on their $640 million hotel and apartment project in Sydney's Crows. Nest. They're clashing with North Sydney Council over extending hours to help speed of housing amid labor shortages and supply chain headaches. The plan calls for Saturdays until 5 p.m. and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. but only for quieter internal work. This isn't the first time Sydney's seen weekend construction shakeups. After the pandemic, the state allowed work until 5 p.m. Saturdays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays for a year, skipping the noisiest tasks. But it snatched back to standard rules, weekday 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturdays 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., and no Sundays at all. Local council folks and residents are fired up. Warning, this could kill the one quiet day a week instead of precedent that's hard to undo. The sites on a bustling corner near the Pacific Highway, surrounded by commercial spots, not sleepy homes.

1:04Crows Nest is ground zero for bigger changes, tagged as a key transport hub for new housing under the state's push to build hundreds of thousands of homes. Premier Chris Minnes wants to cut red tape around metro stations to fight skyrocketing prices but developments lagging. The NSW Planning Department holds the final say, and while seven day builds make sense for the housing crunch, they got away neighborhood. Peace, maybe, limited to case-by-case near transit spots to keep things balanced moving forward.