Parramatta: Suburb Guide. Highlighting new developments in Sydney's second CBD
Sydney’s second biggest CBD, Parramatta, is seeing an influx of development in the heart of its major business and commercial centre. Growing in population above 27,000 people, residential high rise projects are being focused to the city centre, resulting in a new wave of urban density.
The culturally diverse suburb is the oldest inland English settlement which is now home to a myriad of Heritage buildings, the 10th largest shopping centre in Australia, Westfield Parramatta, the renewed Western Sydney Stadium along the Parramatta River, a vibrant Church Street with boutiques, cafes, bars and Indian and Chinese cuisine options and Western Sydney University.
With NAB relocating 3000 employees from Sydney CBD to Parramatta CBD, revamped works of major roads, squares and the main service station, Parramatta is experiencing a major boom.
Here are a few exciting projects igniting the city centre.
8 PHILLIPS STREET - RESIDENTIAL + HOTEL
Woods Bagot’s 8 Phillips Street is a 55 story rhomboid-shaped glass tower will feature Sydney’s tallest rooftop bar, ‘Studio 54’ with sweeping views over the city.
The tower will comprise of 314 luxury one, two and three bedroom apartment configurations including studio and penthouse options and the QT Boutique Hotel with over 200 deluxe rooms and 50 executive suites.
Woods Bagot boldly incorporates the existing heritage building, the 1926 St. Andrew’s Hall, by integrating it into the entrance with the new development floating above, making for a stunningly impressive residents lobby and streetscape. The five story trapeze garden at the entrance to the tower is just a hint of what’s to come with balcony overhanging plants and a rooftop garden featuring contemporary native Australian species, planted to create a secret garden oasis with intimate communal spaces.
Johnson Pilton Walker Architects’ The Lennox tower is one of many high rise residential developments springing up throughout Parramatta. Rising 152 metres above the Parramatta River, the uninterrupted views are one of the many 5 star amenities such as a private lounge room with entertainment deck, a pool, outdoor terrace and zen wellness and fitness centre.
The Lennox will be part of the gateway that is set to dominate the CBD’s skyline, being the first one many high rise towers visitors will see as they cross the bridge. The first three floors of the podium will include retail tenancies, a council owned discovery centre, a conference centre and a cafe with an upgrade riverfront for public use.
Many Parramatta developments aren’t just privatised residential components, but like The Lennox, have much to offer the public domain whether that be revitalising waterfronts, providing civic spaces or enlivening heritage structures.
The sophisticated residential tower provides 397 world class apartments across 40 floors and rising 150 metres above the Parramatta skyline. Woods Bagot has designed this high quality tower which aims to give the city centre that new edge and connect to the streetscape with ground floor retail and cafes.
Developers EcoWorld have enlisted landscape architect Myles Baldwin to conceptualise the podium garden above level 7 with sweeping views of the Sydney CBD with fully equipped chef’s kitchen, alfresco dining options, leafy terraces and a barbeque area.
Rumours are that Malaysian favourite ‘Chinta Ria’ and gourmet Italian providore ‘Salt Meats Cheese’ are to open tenancy on the ground floor strip, proving that collaboration between developers, architects and suppliers have made for a very important and vibrant project.
As this development takes shape, by the time it completes in late 2019, it will have cemented itself into the Parramatta community fabric and truly embodies the city centre moving towards a progressive future.
UPDATE: West Village tops out at 40 storeys as of late November 2019 with a 95% sales rate success. Designed by Woods Bagot, the tower features 398 luxury one, two and three bedroom apartments which rise from the vibrant ground floor retail precinct.
PARRAMATTA SQUARE - OFFICE, MIXED USE
Masterplanned by Johnson Pilton Walker Architects as a response to the growing city, Parramatta Square comprises of 6 stand alone buildings with their own importance to the urban renewal precinct. The towers, a commercial tower to which is the new campus for 10,000 Western Sydney University students, a mixed use residential tower, proposed to be the tallest for Parramatta, a 5 Star Green office tower including a civic building, community centre and library, a 5 Star Green commercial and retail building central to the square and dual 5 Star Green energy office towers.
The 6000 square metres of open space is dedicated and centred around the rich heritage sandstone of St. John’s Cathedral and the Parramatta Town Hall and is pedestrianised with green space and public plazas to connect and integrate the new commercial, residential and community buildings.
Connected either side of the precinct by a future light rail extension and Parramatta Station, visitors and locals will be able to flow through the community heart with ease.
Parramatta Square is about providing a higher quality of life for residents and workers with a world class premium health and fitness club, an A-grade child care facility and bespoke Business and Events centre with meeting rooms and auditoriums making the work/life integration effortless.
ARTHUR PHILLIP HIGH SCHOOL - EDUCATION
Arthur Phillip High School is Australia’s first vertical high school accommodating 2000 students across 16 floors of educational indoor and outdoor facilities.
With flexible teaching spaces, adaptable room configurations and technology rich rooms that expand small to large for certain class sizes, the design aspect will mean that students and teachers will benefit from their environment with better opportunities for collaboration and personalised learning.
The collaborated architectural and landscape design by Grimshaw Architects and BVN Architecture helps to deliver a truly remarkable community engaged structure aimed to meet the growth of secondary students in and around the Parramatta catchment area.
Opening in 2020, the high school will join the 1000 student facility Parramatta Public School on the existing school sites with combined tennis and basketball courts, a football field and rooftop gardens for both structures as social and environmental consciousness is encouraged.
With this development, Parramatta is set to become an even more exciting, vibrant and inclusive hub for innovation, technology, retail and commercial business.
A fly through unveiling the future of the CBD has been released via The City of Parramatta Council encompassing 30 different projects that won design excellence competitions over the past four years with the council stating they have a combined development value of $5.5 billion.