Sydney's Redfern to get 450 new homes
NSW is kicking off Sydney’s next urban regeneration project with plans to redevelop a 10-hectare site of little-used rail yards around Redfern station to create a hub for housing, entertainment and technology companies on the edge of the CBD.
The project, to be announced on Tuesday, will restore the heritage workshop buildings, create 450 new homes and 110,000sq m of commercial space for office, retail and community use, with a range of new buildings ranging from three up to 28 storeys in height.
“The Redfern-North Eveleigh precinct is a 10-hectare parcel of inner city public land that has been off limits to the public for more than a century and provides the perfect place for a new city-shaping precinct,” Minister for Cities Rob Stokes said.
It is the latest detail in the state government’s ambitious plan to develop a world-leading technology zone that draws in companies and talent from around the world by creating a tech-focused ecosystem big enough to sustain a competitive and self-sustaining pool of talent and businesses.
The hub will act as a south-eastern gateway to the Tech Central precinct the state government envisions stretching all the way from Haymarket.
It opens up another urban regeneration project in the country’s largest city for the growing pool of developers tapping that market.
Mirvac, which developed the South Eveleigh urban regeneration site – formerly known as the Australian Technology Park – on the other side of the Redfern railway lines, is one potential developer, as is Lendlease, the company behind major precincts such as Barangaroo.
So is Built, which is developing Liverpool Civic Place in a joint venture with the western Sydney city council. Plenary, which is expanding into commercial property development from its traditional role in infrastructure, could also be interested.
The government will engage with the market about the best way to deliver the project on land owned by the Transport Asset Holding Entity. Transport and roads agency Transport for NSW will work with TAHE on the project.
The project, for which a masterplan has been created, still has to go through a rezoning process for the land and then into detailed planning.
However, the regeneration as imagined so far will deliver up to 16 new and renovated buildings. The 6000-square-metre Paint Shop, a 135-year-old red brick Victorian workshop where trains were overhauled until 1988, will be renovated for reuse.
“There will be dedicated spaces for start-up businesses and better active transport connections between Redfern Station, North Eveleigh and to the bike network,” Mr Stokes said.
New public parkland will be created near the Chief Mechanical Engineer’s building, built in 1887 at 505 Wilson Street – which will also undergo adaptive reuse – and a new public square near the Carriageworks urban cultural precinct, also on Wilson Street, and the Paint Shop.
Of the new housing created, 15 per cent will be social and affordable dwellings and a further 15 per cent ringfenced for options such as build-to-rent or student accommodation.
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