New South Wales Projects & Sites
The Former Water Police Site / Pirrama Park Master Plan
introduction / overview / images / location / Projects
Landscape Architect: ASPECT Studios
Location: Pirrama Road, Pyrmont, Sydney NSW Australia
Overview
The City of Sydney Council commissioned ASPECT Studios, in collaboration with Hill Thalis and CAB Consulting, to develop a master plan for a 1.8 hectare parcel of land on the Pyrmont peninsula into public parkland. The brief required appropriately scaled community facilities including shade canopies, kiosk and amenities to be included within the design. The prime location of the site on Sydney’s waterfront offered the unique opportunity for the creation of memorable public parkland from land formerly occupied by the Water Police.
Special Factors:
- reclaiming 1.8 hectare site for public use,
- restoring the Bay and providing access to the water’s edge
- catchment wide WSUD
- use of solar power
- local and native plant palette providing bio-diversity and habitat
Budget: $14.8 million AUS Dollars (landscape works)
Planning Excellence and Functional Quality
a) Demonstration of a deep understanding of planning processes and methodologies
The Former Water Police Site / Pirrama Park master plan evolved from a responsive and collaborative process. The study team undertook an extensive analysis at the outset of the project examining the site from a range of scales; from its broadest relationships and context within Sydney Harbour to its more detailed and specific components and conditions.
The design team conceived seven key principles for the site and various preliminary design ideas for community consultation. A number of community consultation sessions were conducted with feedback synthesised and incorporated into the final master plan.
b) Innovative planning or demonstration of new directions in profession
The Former Water Police Site / Pirrama Park Master Plan demonstrates innovation through the implementation of environmentally sustainable initiatives. These include water sensitive urban design with the collection, filtration and storage of stormwater runoff for irrigation and toilet flushing purposes, solar panels which have been integrated within the roof of a shade canopy capturing and storing energy from the sun with the power used to light the park at night. A predominantly indigenous planting palette and the use of recycled timber have also been applied to increase wildlife habitation and promote sustainability through materials choice.
Innovation has also been demonstrated in the Master Plan through the bold move to reclaim some of the original shoreline of Elizabeth Bay. The new bay allows unrestricted access to the waters edge through steps and platforms unlike many harbour side parks within Sydney.
c) Effective and strategic use, presentation or programming of landscape architectural inputs
The Master Plan adopts a strategic approach in the design of the park by recognising the significance of the site as an important link in the 14km network of open space extending from Glebe to Rushcutters Bay.
The importance of reconnecting the park to the surrounding foreshore walk and neighbourhood was overwhelmingly supported by all participants in the community workshops. The master plan establishes a park structure with multiple spaces, from the broad scale to the intimate. Level changes across the site are used in subtle ways to create discreet areas that allow for different uses and creates a variety of park rooms.
d) Fit for purpose
A holistic approach has been taken in the production of the Former Water Police Site / Pirrama Park Master Plan. The site has been designed to integrate with the adjacent Pyrmont Point Park and Gibba Park, provides a functional and meaningful termination to Harris Street and successfully interacts with its harbour side location.
Thorough community consultation has been undertaken with responses embedded within the Master Plan to ensure the park fulfils the needs of the local community. ESD principles have also been implemented to reduce the Master Plans impact on the local environment.
e) Response to brief
The brief for the Former Water Police Site was to develop a master plan for a recently purchased 1.8 hectare parcel of land on the Pyrmont peninsula into public parkland. The brief outlined the requirements for a community based public park to accommodate a range of facilities including shade canopies, kiosk and toilets within the design.
The master plan conceives of the new park lands as an enlargement of the existing Pyrmont Point and Gibba Parks, and connects with the existing public parks and publicly accessible spaces on the Pyrmont peninsula providing a combined public open space of over 4Ha. The design for the new park at the Former Water Police site complements and contrasts the character and program of nearby parks on the Pyrmont peninsula while providing a range of facilities to accommodate use by the community.
Addresses the Australian Landscape Principles
VALUE OUR LANDSCAPE
The site was examined at a range of scales to clarify its harbour side situation and urban context, and to uncover its rich site attributes. The master planning team focussed in particular on the factors beyond the site boundary that influence this site including the bridge to bridge vista, cross views from White bay and Balmain, the toppological role of Harris Street, and the new parks typology amidst Sydney’s parks. Of key consideration in the master plan was the critical role that the site played in knitting together a14km stretch of publically accessible foreshore.
PROTECT › ENHANCE › REGENERATE
Habitat restoration informed the planting proposals for the new park. Emphasis has been placed on the development of a rich planting palette that would provide appropriate habitat for a complex ecosystem. A detailed study into the endemic species for the area was undertaken, and a rich palette of plants and groundcovers are included. The park includes over 150 new trees for the park, of which 80% are endemic to the Pyrmont peninsula. As the planting evolves and marine edges establish, it is anticipated that a variety of land and marine fauna will be attracted to the park from honey eaters, lorikeets, and sulfur crested cockatoos to bream, crustaceans and colonizing molluscs.
DESIGN WITH RESPECT
The master plan for the Former Water Police Site/ Pirrama Park manifests and illustrates the critical environmental issues our city faces. The waterfront platforms and steps, with text inlays provide visual clues of greater environmental challenges we face such as sea level rise. Stormwater filtration zones and bioswales and shade pavilions clad with solar panels provide tangible opportunities to provide community education and protect and harness our most critical resources of air, sun and water. The catchment – wide water strategy uses the site and surrounding streets to treat, store and reuse water collected from well beyond its site boundary.
DESIGN FOR THE FUTURE
The master plan for the Former Water Police Site/ Pirrama Park creates a flexible park structure that allows for a variety of uses. The broad master plan structure creates a series of clearly defined spaces or park rooms. Within these park rooms, specific spaces have been designed for maximum flexibility to allow for community uses including cultural events, performances, festivals, community gatherings and passive recreation.
EMBRACE RESPONSIVE DESIGN
The master plan incorporates appropriate servicing to cater for a range of events and future adaptations. The park is used for play and passive recreation, the sheltered bay designed for spontaneity; for fishing, wading, swimming, small boat launching and other non programmed uses. The park will evolve and change over time and celebrates growth, the seasons and natural fluctuations echoed by daily monthly and seasonal tidal movements.
How does the project promote environmental best practice through the Landscape Principles
Stormwater filtration zones, bioswales and shade pavilions clad with solar panels provide tangible opportunities to provide community education and protect and harness our most critical resources of air, sun and water.
The catchment – wide water strategy uses the site and surrounding streets to treat, store and reuse water. Its shade pavilions, stair, and canopy have been designed as long life, low energy use buildings, utilising passive design to maximize natural lighting and ventilation. The material palette used is durable and robust, and appropriate to a public situation. Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) was a key objective of the new park.
The local stormwater catchment west of the Pyrmont peninsula is directed into a series treatment zones, filtering storm water prior to storing and recycling for irrigation. Roof water is captured from the park buildings kiosk for use in toilet flushing. Waterless urinals are also used. The capture and reuse of roof water is celebrated with open copper clad water chutes, which direct water down the steel columns to an underground tank.
Solar energy collected above the outboard shade pavilion is converted to electricity and stored on the electrical grid in the day to provide 80-90% of the parks night lighting needs. Concrete slabs, which formed the ground plane of the site, are crushed on site and reused as sub base for roads and paths. Recycled sandstone from an earlier incarnation of Pyrmont Bridge is to be extensively used in the playground. Certified recycled timber and plantation timber has been proposed throughout.
How does the project exhibit effective and programmed applied research
Background research has been applied within the Master Plan in a number of ways. Investigations into site history have been celebrated through interpretive paving inlays and descriptive signage educating visitors on past use of the site. Research into existing drainage patterns and catchments has been realised through stormwater collection swales with storage tanks for water reuse. Specialist play consultants provided valuable information on the play habits of children of different age groups which assisted in the formation of a vibrant play space that engages with a variety of age groups. A study into waterfront typologies and interaction with water, both local and international, has aided the design of the sheltered bay and the water play space.
Relevance to the profession of landscape architecture, the public and the education of the future practitioners: evidence such as:
Recognises and incorporates community values
The Former water Police Site/ Pirrama Park project started with a spirited community action. The community group ‘The Friends of Pyrmont Point’ successfully lobbied state government to stop its proposed sale and development of the site for residential use. This action resulted in the City of Sydney Council purchasing the site and translating the previously alienated fenced-off post industrial concrete slab into richly varied urban waterfront parkland for the people of Sydney. The project completes the procession of public buildings north along Harris Street to the water’s edge.
Incorporates effective community engagement and fosters broad support and understanding of landscape architecture
ASPECT Studios, Hill Thalis, CAB Consulting and the other members of the master plan team spent over thirty hours in consultation, ranging from presentations, to workshops and tours on site with community members, councillors, school groups and interested parties.
The consultation process, coordinated by The People for Spaces and Places, generated an unprecedented number of responses from community members and interested parties. Our team used previous analysis to great effect in the consultation process to underpin the design possibilities. The consultation process won a local government award (submitted by the City of Sydney on behalf of the team).
Demonstrates adoption and/or implementation of recommendations
The master plan for the Former Water Police Site/ Pirrama Park is underpinned by a working method of drawing the site as it is and as it was. Overlays were made of historic maps and aerial photographs, tracing the natural patterns of changing shorelines, cliff cuttings and urban development. The design interprets the site’s successive shorelines, rich maritime associations, and the location of the original shoreline.
By its exposed escarpments and harbour reclamation, the site mutely tells a part of Sydney’s wharf making history. Supplementary wharf structures have been removed to reinstate and build upon the earlier relationship of Harris Street to Sydney Harbour, but in principle the master plan does not seek to remove and wipe clean the historical traces of the site, but illuminate and amplify the many historical layers. The retention of these elements and reinterpreting of these components creates a strong structural framework for the park.
introduction / overview / images / location / Projects
2010
