Green Square precinct to launch in Sydney

City residents are invited to celebrate the launch of the City of Sydney’s new $32 million Green Square community and cultural precinct, which promises to invigorate the heart of this growing neighbourhood.

Two years after work began on its construction, locals will next weekend be able to explore the finished state-of-the-art precinct, which features a creative centre, community shed, childcare centre, park and public artwork.

The precinct is in the heart of the Green Square town centre, built on the former South Sydney Hospital site on Joynton Avenue in Zetland.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the facilities would make an important contribution to an area that will soon be home to more than 61,000 people.

“Green Square is one of the most dynamic neighbourhoods in the country, and we’re doing everything we can to make sure it develops into a world-class urban neighbourhood with the services and facilities its residents and workers need,” the Lord Mayor said.

“We have committed $540 million over the next 10 years to the Green Square town centre, including our stunning new community and cultural precinct that will sit at the centre of the development.

“Our new childcare centre will support the growing number of families choosing to live in the inner city, while other facilities will provide important creative and recreational spaces for people of all ages to come together, develop their talents and share ideas.

“This project has breathed new life into the former South Sydney Hospital’s heritage-listed buildings, preserving their rich history and ensuring they can be enjoyed for generations to come.

“We invite locals to come along and be part of the celebration as we throw open the doors of this fantastic new precinct for the first time.”

The Green Square community and cultural precinct includes:

Joynton Avenue Creative Centre – with a design by the award-winning Peter Stutchbury Architecture, the former nurses’ quarters in the three-storey Esme Cahill Building have been refurbished as artist studios, creative offices, exhibition spaces, workshop spaces and indoor and outdoor areas for community hire. The creative centre will be managed by not-for-profit cultural enterprise 107 Projects, who will run events, workshops and activities for the local community.

Banga Community Shed – a former pathology building now houses a community shed that looks out onto the new Matron Ruby Grant Park, which features a community garden and children’s playground. The shed will be managed by The Bower Reuse and Repair Centre and will include a repair café, where locals can develop new skills and learn about the benefits of repairing and reusing household items.

Waranara Early Education Centre – the hospital’s former outpatient building has been transformed into a colourful and modern childcare centre with 74 places for children aged six weeks to six years by Fox Johnston Architects. The centre, which features indoor and outdoor play spaces, including a vegie garden, outdoor kitchen and digging patch, will be run by Australia’s largest early learning provider, Goodstart Early Learning.

The precinct also includes an artwork by Sydney-based, Colombian-born artist Maria Fernanda Cardoso, While I Live I Will Grow. The artwork features a family of bottle trees planted at the entrance of the site within a spiral sandstone sculpture. It is designed to grow with the local community and provide a welcoming place for visitors to the area to explore or take a break.

The precinct will be powered by a new green infrastructure system housed in a former administration building. A water treatment facility will supply recycled stormwater for flushing toilets, green space irrigation and cooling towers. Two new water storage tanks will also be located on site.

A local distribution network, or private wire, will supply power to nearby community facilities, transferring power from sources including solar to other buildings in the precinct.

Green Square community and cultural precinct launch

When: 11am to 3pm on Saturday 26 May 2018

Where: Enter from Portman Street, Zetland

Program: 11am-3pm – live music, food trucks, children’s activities and 10-minute tours of the green infrastructure centre

11.30am-12pm – architect talk by Peter Stutchbury from Peter Stutchbury Architecture

12pm – official opening of the precinct by Lord Mayor Clover Moore

12.45pm-1.15pm – architect talk by Emili Fox and Alan Powell from Fox Johnston Architects

1.30pm-2pm – artist talk by Maria Fernanda Cardoso and Green Square curatorial advisor Amanda Sharrad

2.15pm-2.45pm – architect talk by Robert Gasparini from Design 5

For more information, visit cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/vision/green-square