MASTER
PLANNING
BICYCLE
SYSTEMS
NATURAL
SYSTEMS
PLACE
MAKING
WALKABILITY
STREETSCAPE
TRANSPORT
INTEGRATION
WORKSHOPS
STAKEHOLDER
ENGAGEMENT
ROLE: Project Director and Urban Design Lead
CLIENT: NSW Department of Planning
Macquarie Park is one of Australia’s premier innovation precincts. However, the prior development model doesn’t position the precinct well for future growth and evolution from isolated technology companies to a more collaborative model of ideas generation. It is home to Macquarie University, a CSIRO centre, the 6,000-person Optus campus, and a concentration of major high-tech and innovation businesses, including Cochlear, Johnson & Johnson, and Microsoft.
Three Metro Stations service the area; however, the urban structure has limited walkability, dominated by wide streets and minimal public open space. To accommodate future job growth and keep the precinct relevant as a centre of innovation, considerable repositioning, restructuring, and investment is required.
AECOM was commissioned by DPE to undertake a multidisciplinary scope of work, including the preparation of a Structure Plan, Town Centre Strategy, Public Domain Plan, and 3D renderings for Macquarie Park's future vision. This work included testing the development capacity and implications of land-use changes in the area while meeting the aspiration for Macquarie Park to continue its successful performance as one of the highest employment concentrations and innovation districts in Australia.
The structure plan had to consider the introduction of a significant quantity of housing, community amenities, open spaces and other mixed-uses. The plan also redefined precinct walkability and legibility. The design response had the Metro stations at the core of the proposed interventions.
This project demonstrates a collaborative and multi-disciplinary approach to strategic planning and criteria-based evaluation of three possible future growth scenarios. The agreement of a shared vision and guiding principles for the place became the framework against which future land use, open space and transport scenarios were assessed.
“Macquarie Park will transform from a precinct to a place; a place which will attract global talent and is the exemplar for healthy living, community resilience and the source of life-changing ideas.”
Vision for Macquarie Park, 2018
Design Bureau (on Wallumedegal land) acknowledges the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we live, work, and thrive.
We respect and learn from their cultural and spiritual relationships to the land, waters, sky, and communities and their enduring contributions.