Project Type: Place Activation Strategy + Stakeholder Engagement
Year: 2024
Client: Property & Development NSW - Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure
We are currently working with Property Development NSW and Transport for NSW to design a Place Activation Framework for the emerging Macquarie Street East precinct in Sydney’s CBD.
The Precinct is home to some of the most significant colonial heritage buildings in Australia and is currently undergoing a sensitive refurbishment and master planning process that respects the deep significance of this precinct to Australia’s first nations people.
Buildings within the precinct include the state parliament of NSW, the Mint, the NSW State Library, Sydney Hospital, UNESCO- listed Hyde Park barracks, and the vacant registrar generals building.
Using the recently developed New South Wales guide to activating public space, and the great places tool kit, our own prior history working in the precinct and our proprietary place experience planning tools, we were engaged to create a framework that sets a statewide benchmark for Place activation and cultural experience.
The precinct has a unique opportunity to become one of the most vibrant places in Sydney, due the respective activation programs of several culturally significant institutions many of which are run by MHNSW, within the precinct. And, of course, it’s proximity to Martin place and the green lungs of the Sydney CBD, The Domain.
We are also concurrently developing a strategy for a brand new public square, Queen Elizabeth II Place that will create much needed temporary open space within the precinct, and a new multi use space for the CBD.
