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			22 November 2008




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Park to reconnect City Centre with one of the world’s greatest waterfronts

26 March 2008

Imagine a new green space almost the size of Hyde Park at Darling Harbour and the Western Distributor buried so the city is reconnected to our harbour.

This is just one of the visionary project ideas put forward as part of the City of Sydney's Sustainable Sydney 2030 vision.

The project for the City Centre's western edge could also see an active harbour waterfront and new commercial and residential development (including Barangaroo) which could contribute funding to bury the Western Distributor, build the park and for new foreshore promenades.

The project idea is just one of many, following 12-months and hundreds of hours of consultation with the Sydney community about the type of Sydney people want by 2030. Sustainable Sydney 2030 will be considered by Council on Monday 7 April for public exhibition from April 17 as the final phase of consultation begins.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP said the people of Sydney have spoken and they want a green, global and connected Sydney.

"This project will require the partnership of government and the business and residential communities to achieve a long term vision for a more liveable and sustainable city," Ms Moore said.

"This is about connecting the City Centre to the western edge and the beautiful harbour which is currently cut off by the western distributor. A new urban park about 80 per cent the size of Hyde Park could be an iconic waterside park attracting thousands of visitors and supporting new residential development," Ms Moore said.

The park could be created by consolidating under-utilised land and relocating key developments like the Entertainment Centre to airspace over Central railway.

The project is the brainchild of Jan Gehl and the Sustainable Sydney 2030 project team, led by the City of Sydney and guided by community consultation, and including Sydney's best architects, planners and urban designers. The project ideas are being outlined by award winning architects Simpson Wilson and Hill Thalis, who have been working with other distinguished architects on individual projects.

Philip Thalis from Hill Thalis Architecture + Urban Projects, says the coordinated projects for the western side of the city have extraordinary potential to make Sydney a better place for all.

"This proposal opens up new possibilities to create one of the world's great waterfronts, fully connected with the whole western side of the City Centre.

"An active pedestrian spine including green parks along the city's western foreshore would be an attractive complement to the intensity of the City Centre. It would reconnect the currently disjointed areas of Darling Harbour, King Street Wharf and the future Barangaroo site," he said.

"It is time to rethink Darling Harbour and its place in the city. We need to sink the hulking concrete 1970s elevated motorways, which have so brutalised the western side of the city, and reconnect it with rejuvenated streets, parks and promenades."

This proposed parkland represents a significant area of foreshore that has long been fragmented and difficult to access for the City's residents and visitors. Its renewal enhances the liveability of the entire City Centre and the adjoining high density neighbourhoods of Ultimo, Pyrmont and Haymarket.

This project can be realised with the collaboration of the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority and the State Government. This project has been put forward to demonstrate how Sustainable Sydney 2030 could be delivered.

The Western Distributor was also identified by Danish architect Jan Gehl as a barrier between the CBD and the foreshore. When buried, it would allow a better pedestrian connection from the city centre to the west of the city, creating a livelier, more dynamic precinct along the City's western edge.

The 2030 plan also ties in with the redevelopment of East Darling Harbour or Barangaroo into a major harbourside precinct, incorporating new dwellings, offices, parks and public facilities.

WHO IS BEHIND SUSTAINABLE SYDNEY 2030?

Sustainable Sydney 2030 is an initiative of the City of Sydney working with a team of Sydney's best minds in urban planning, architecture and design.

The team led by City of Sydney and SGS Economics and Planning includes; Simpson + Wilson; Kinesis; Anagram; Strategic Economics; Australia Street Company; Hill Thalis Architecture and Urban Projects; Lacoste Stevenson; Tonkin Zulaika Greer; Merrima Design; Tony Caro Architecture; Francis -Jones Morehen Thorpe; Johnson Pilton Walker; Hassell; Neeson Murcutt; Olsson Associates; Peter McGregor; Neil Prosser; James Mather Delauney and Bates Smart.

MEDIA CONTACT: Josh Mackenzie (02) 92659082 or 0402 351 459