O'Farrell may join Putin on heritage alert list Unlikely company: Barry O'Farrell is to be lumped with Russian President Vladimir Putin after Darling Habour was named in a global hot list for 20th century places at risk. One is painted as a despotic dictator, the other an over-cautious bore. But Vladimir Putin and Barry O'Farrell may soon be in the same company. The NSW Premier is set to be lumped in with the Russian President after Darling Harbour was nominated for a global hot list of 20th century places at risk. The International Council on Monuments and Sites is considering a bid to issue a "heritage alert" for the waterfront precinct, a move intended to save the doomed convention and exhibition buildings and their surrounds. It is the first time an Australian site has been nominated for the alert, which would prompt an international effort by architecture experts to prevent the buildings being demolished as the site is redeveloped. It would also put Darling Harbour in the same league as Melnikov House in Moscow, hailed as a "masterpiece of the Russian architectural avant-garde." The neglected structure is threatened by a nearby development and the council has lobbied Mr Putin to intervene. Docomomo Australia vice-chairman Scott Robertson, whose group lodged the nomination, said the Moscow planning regime was "probably not that different to our system." "This government came to power on the platform of a clear and transparent planning process but it's just not happening," he said. Lend Lease is carrying out a $2.5 billion remake of Darling Harbour, including new convention, exhibition and entertainment centres, a hotel and a residential precinct. Opponents say the existing buildings, built for the bicentenary, should be repurposed. They have also questioned why Lend Lease was granted rights to both devise a master plan and develop the site. Traditionally, a master plan is prepared independently and released for public comment before a project is put to tender. The Australian Institute of Architects also attacked the government for overhauling Darling Harbour "through a single contract with a single developer." The institute's national president-elect, Paul Berkemeier, questioned "the outdated and wasteful demolish and rebuild strategy," adding that "the government's responsibility is to defend the public interest, not to sell it." Mr Robertson said Darling Harbour was "one of the finest modernist collection of buildings in Sydney." The west wing of the Central Government Offices in Hong Kong was added to the alert list last June after it was mooted for a hotel development. Officials have since granted it prime heritage status. The alert has been credited with helping to save the annexes of Sweden's Stockholm City Library.