Transport for NSW (TfNSW) has three separate sites in planning around Redfern station and North Eveleigh. SSH has previously reported on the proposed Southern Concourse, where TfNSW has just issued its response to submissions. TfNSW is also working with Council and local residents to try to co-design the shared zones in Little Eveleigh Street and Marian Street where the concourse will exit. Some locals, opposed to the TfNSW proposal, have likened the co-design to putting lipstick on a pig.
The second site is between platform 10 and Gibbons Street, above platforms 11 and 12. This area is zoned for up to 14 storeys and offers lift access to the Eastern Suburbs/Illawarra lines and connectivity to a possible bus-rail interchange. TfNSW has referred to this development but has not started any consultation.
The final site, now called Redfern North Eveleigh is the North Eveleigh precinct between Wilson Street and the railway line on both sides of Carriageworks. TfNSW held a Place Design Forum with community, business, education and government stakeholders in late August, and ran a community survey. Workshops for interested members of the community are happening until October 8.
The keynote presentations by Peter Bishop and Tim Williams emphasised the need to integrate development with the surrounding area and improve the opportunities for the local community. It is difficult to see how that will happen with TfNSW separately planning three adjoining sites rather than planning the sites in an integrated way, not only with each other but also with adjoining sites like South Eveleigh.
The North Eveleigh presentations at the design forum were at a high design principles level to “inform the strategic framework” which will set out “the vision and principles to guide future development” that will be used to determine the planning controls for the site. Little in the two days of presentations dealt with the constraints of the site, or how TfNSW might handle the inevitable trade-offs between design principles.
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Geoff Turnbull handles SSH Urban Design content and is a co-spokesperson of REDWatch.
