The
Redfern Railway Station, Gibbons and Regent Streets site straddles the rail
corridor. It is bounded by Lawson
Street to the north, Margaret Street to the south, Regent Street to
the east, and the rail corridor and residential development to the west.
Existing
characteristics
Redfern
Railway Station and its immediate surrounds is the southern gateway to the
Sydney CBD. Despite its proximity to the Sydney CBD and its role in the
metropolitan transport network, the Railway Station and surrounds retains a suburban
character and density.
Redfern
Railway Station is underutilised even though nearly all suburban and inter
urban trains stop at Redfern Railway Station, and it provides superior access
to and within metropolitan Sydney than any other Railway Station with the
exception of Central Station. Underutilisation of the station and its surrounds
has contributed to it becoming a through route rather than a destination point
for commuters.
Redfern
Railway Station is the focus of local public transport activity in
Redfern-Waterloo.
It is
the central point for commuters and students and is located within 100 metres
of Redfern Street
– the main street of Redfern. The majority of pedestrian movement from the
Railway Station channels eastward toward the town centre and westward from the Lawson Street
entrance toward the University
of Sydney.
Two
major arterial roads – Gibbons
Street and Regent Street- separate the Railway
Station from the retail centre at Redfern and Regent Streets. These two
arterial roads funnel metropolitan and regional traffic through Redfern to and
from the Sydney CBD. Traversing these two arterial roads is a major safety
issue for pedestrians and disconnects the station from the retail heart of
Redfern.
Presently,
employment is concentrated around the TNT towers located adjacent from the
Railway Station across from Gibbons
Street. The recent relocation of the police and government
agencies in the area has boosted local trade and activated the station area.
The Railway Station contains a number of heritage items, identified in the South
Sydney LEP, including the station building on Lawson Street.
Redfern
Railway Station is in need of an upgrade. The inadequate access, particularly
for less mobile persons, the lack of activated civic spaces and ground level
business activity contribute to a perception of dereliction.
The
limited activities around the Railway Station reinforce its role as a through
route rather than as a destination for commuters.
The
public domain within and around the site is unattractive and uninviting.
Pedestrian connections to employment and retail centres are not strong and do
not provide active surveillance.
Business
activity in Redfern and Regent Streets, the main shopping strips adjacent to
the site has suffered a decline in trade and patronage over the past decade
despite signs of emerging small businesses such as artist studios and cafes in Regent Street.
Existing
land use zone
The
following zones apply to the Redfern Railway Station, Gibbons and Regent
Streets site:
• Redfern Railway
Station and the rail corridor is zoned ‘Railways’ under SREP 26. Within
the Railways Zone” permissible uses are largely restricted to railway related
activities.
• The remainder of the
site is zoned ‘Mixed Use 10’ under the South Sydney Local Environmental Plan.
The zone permits a mixture of compatible uses such as residential, retail,
commercial, light-industrial and industrial development.
Proposed
land use concept
Establish
a focal hub for business, retail and residential activity around good civic
spaces and pedestrian linkages.
Diagram
4.9 [515 KB] illustrates
the proposed land use concept for the site.
Proposed
design concept
Transform
the precinct to emulate its status as the southern gateway to the Sydney CBD
by:
• providing development
potential to maximise the unique status of the railway station as a public
transport hub of metropolitan significance
• encouraging the
development of a vibrant, culturally diverse, multi use town centre with
quality medium and high density development
• upgrading Redfern
Railway Station including the concourse and entrance, to more equitably address
the town centre, adjoining commercial sites and increased commuter movement.
Create
a new Town Centre at the Redfern Station, Gibbons and Regent Streets site to
provide a vibrant focal point and heart for Redfern by:
• providing sufficient
development potential and creating a business hub comprising jobs, shops,
services and amenities for existing and new residents
• supporting
accommodation facilities which are related to or ancillary to business or
educational purposes
• developing a quality,
activated, civic space with retail tenancies which is inviting, safe and
accessible to residents, commuters and students.
Establish
an identifiable node and appropriate urban scale and streetscape at the Town
Centre by:
• achieving a critical
mass of density to activate the site
• concentrating building
heights toward the centre of the site and creating an urban boulevard character
with appropriate human scale and enclosure along the northern section of Regent
Street and Lawson Street
• designing tower
podiums to maximise existing and new street alignments, break up the
development scale and increase permeability to development plots
• ensuring that street
environment and podium levels are pleasant places for pedestrians
• creating additional
area for new ground floor retail space and activate street edges
• providing a transition
in urban scale from south of Marion
Street toward the centre to be sensitive to the
existing residential development in this vicinity.
Reinforce
the status of the Town Centre, Redfern and Regent Streets as the main shopping
strips by:
• establishing a new
concourse at the eastern end of the station to channel access to Marion,
Gibbons and Lawson Streets with the primary exit point on the axis with Redfern Street
• reconnecting the
Redfern Railway Station to the proposed Town Centre, Redfern Street, Regent
Street, Marion Street, the University of Sydney, North Eveleigh and the ATP
through defined pedestrian and cycle links
• introducing traffic
management measures to improve pedestrian safety and accessibility to and from
the Redfern Railway Station across Gibbons and Regent Streets.
Provide
a pleasant, activated and safe public domain by:
• ensuring quality
landscaping, tree planting, lighting and good urban design of civic spaces
along defined pedestrian and cycle spines and streets
• encouraging active
uses such as eating areas, retail and commercial spaces on the ground floor
accessible to passing pedestrians
• ensuring that new
commercial development provides private open space courtyards designed for
appropriate sunlight penetration and amenity
• ensure that the public
domain adjoins or is overlooked by active uses to provide passive surveillance
at all times.
Protect the heritage of
the site by:
• encouraging the
reinterpretation of heritage through the reuse of heritage materials and fabric
in any redevelopment
• where practical, the
adaptive re-use of significant heritage items associated with the station and
railway lines.
The
proposed heights and floor space ratio for the site are illustrated in Diagram
4.10 [508 KB].
Proposed
land use zoning
Business
Zone – Commercial Core
Artist’s Impression: View from Civic Space looking east to Redfern Street [345 KB]
Artist’s Impression: View looking west to Civic Square and entrance to Redfern Railway Station [263 KB]