Renders: NSW Government
The rezoning will create a vibrant new community that celebrates its nationally significant heritage and will establish new social and cultural assets, alongside housing, commercial, innovation and education facilities.
Premier of New South Wales Chris Minns said, “This is a great opportunity to create a new community that delivers for the people of Western Sydney while protecting and celebrating one of Australia’s most significant heritage sites.”
The precinct sits directly on the new Parramatta Light Rail, offering speedy access to Parramatta CBD, the Westmead Health and Innovation District and the wider Sydney Metro network. As well as 2,000 new homes, plans include a potential new university campus (supporting Westmead's health and research sector), new community facilities, upgraded sporting amenities, shops/ commercial spaces and ten hectares of public open space.
The new public infrastructure includes new parks, sports fields, plazas, playgrounds and new riverside walking paths along the Parramatta River. According to the NSW Government, the landscape has been designed with a “Country-centred” approach – incorporating restored native vegetation, water-sensitive urban design and natural play spaces.
The revitalised Parramatta North will deliver a range of social, community and economic outcomes. Other key features of the rezoning include:
- Around 2,000 new homes, including at least 100 affordable homes
- A mix of building types ranging from two to 23 storeys, scaled sensitively in response to their natural and heritage environments
- New and enhanced multipurpose community facilities, including an upgraded heritage-listed recreational hall, a new First Nations pavilion adjacent to a natural riverside play space, and enhanced spectator and user amenities alongside the Green
- A Country-centred approach to landscape design through enhanced riparian corridors, replacing native species, water-sensitive urban design and natural playspaces
Buildings with high or exceptional heritage significance will be conserved, while the number of buildings and their heights have been reduced next to the Parramatta Female Factory and Institutions Precinct.
Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully said, “Good neighbourhoods don’t happen by accident; they are built through a combination of careful planning and the right infrastructure. This ambitious rezoning proposal sets Parramatta North up to become a well-connected, vibrant precinct for thousands more Sydneysiders to call home.”
Construction and land releases are expected to happen in stages over the next four years, progressively unlocking new housing, jobs and public spaces while maintaining the site's significant Aboriginal and colonial heritage.