Sydney's Green Square urban design project wins award

One of Australia’s fastest-growing suburbs took out top honours at national urban design awards.

The City of Sydney’s Green Square town centre was a winner at the 2016 Australian Urban Design Awards.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the prestigious national award reflected on the City’s commitment to excellent urban design.

There was also a win for Sydney Park's water re-use project.

“This is a win for our inner city communities, who’ve come with us on the journey of great urban design, and it’s a win for our fantastic staff teams and partners on these projects,” the Lord Mayor said.

“We’re focused on meeting the needs of our communities with great spaces and facilities that residents, businesses and visitors can enjoy and be inspired by.

“In Green Square, we’re revitalising the area’s heritage charm with innovative and sustainable design that reflects the growing community. Our long-term planning and design for the town centre represents a strong and truly coordinated vision – the community’s local knowledge, needs and hopes for the town centre helped shape its development.

“Our Sydney Park water re-use project brought together excellent design, science and sustainability to create a significant new piece of green infrastructure. This innovative design allows for the cleaning and reuse of 340 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of local storm water runoff from Newtown each year.”

The multi-award winning Sydney Park water re-use project won the Delivered Outcome – Large Scale category award, while Green Square was awarded the Urban Design, Policies, Programs and Concepts – Large Scale category.

Green Square is bringing culture and creativity to the doorstep of 61,000 people who will soon live in the area, with a new town centre set to boast sustainable infrastructure and world-class community facilities.

Features will include a library, childcare centre, creative hub, aquatic and recreational centre, more than 15 parks, and Australia's biggest residential stormwater harvesting and treatment system.

The Sydney Park water re-use project harvests and treats up to 850 million litres of stormwater from Newtown’s Munni Street catchment each year. The water is used to irrigate the 44-hectare parkland and supply water to a neighbouring depot.

The Australian Urban Design Awards, awarded by the Planning Institute of Australia, is one of the nation’s largest urban design competitions.

Established in 1996 by Prime Minister Paul Keating, the program recognises contemporary Australian urban design projects of the highest quality.

The 2016 judging panel included representatives from the Australian Institute of Architects, Australian Institute of Landscape Architects, Government Architects Network Australia, Green Building Council of Australia, Consult Australia, Engineers Australia, Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council and Urban Design Forum.

The judges commended the Green Square town centre project for its creation of a mixed-use neighbourhood on former industrial land with high-quality public spaces and community infrastructure.

“A major public square is the outcome of an international design competition and forms the social heart of this vibrant community. Research, collaboration, community engagement and ongoing monitoring are critical components that distinguish this comprehensive urban design strategy,” the judges said.

The judges said the Sydney Park water re-use project design “provides a bold, high-quality and conscientious enhancement of public space that is interconnected with the surrounding urban environment through water collection and re-use.”