June 10th this year was a very good day, in terms of what happened at ARC. We signed off some very good work done by Sea+City in developing detailed designs for precinct 1 of Wynyard Quarter waterfront redevelopment.
I have been worried by this for 3 years now. Mainly the prospect of the development being hi-jacked from the public's benefit to fund public transport. I support PT, but not at the expense of a people's waterfront.
In brief my concerns were that the water edge would be dominated and crowded by high-rise buildings. North Wharf was especially under threat. Well. Look at the first of these pictures. Shows what Sea+City now proposes. The public promenad looking East along North Wharf. You can see a good wide space for the fishing fleet and related servicing industry, and good-sized public promenade, and low-rise buildings (even though the zone allows for 3 stories!). This is a fantastic and appropriate urban design outcome.
Another concern was the so-called stormwater feature. The early drawings of this were part of what drove me to better understand what else could be done down there. So I built a computer model of the whole development, using my newly developing urban design education. This image is a look down on those early plans I prepared for submissions to the plan changes....
Heritage boat people wanted to be part of what was happening to Wynyard Quarter. They encouraged me to explore. I walked around, and saw that there were views of the Harbour Bridge. We began to advocate this space be in part known as "Heritage Landing", or some other name. This image is one I made to show to commissioners for Plan Changes 3 and 4. They changed the designation for the stormwater pond, to public open space.....
And now we have this wonderful image from Sea+City. It is of "Silo Park". An interesting mix of public uses - including heritage moorings.
And here is a plan view of what Sea+City now envisages for the area. As I said at the meeting: "this meets open space and destination needs of a wide demographic - families, young people, retired, and boat enthusiasts. Not just a nother set of drinking holes...." Go - Sea+City. Let's make this happen.
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