Kensington and Kingsford Town Centres Planning Proposal

This consultation is closed. On 10 December 2019, Council endorsed the Planning Proposal for the Kensington and Kingsford Town Centres and resolved to forward the proposal to the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) requesting amendments be made to Randwick LEP.  The Planning Proposal is currently with the State Government awaiting gazettal of the proposed changes to the RLEP 2012. The Planning Proposal can be viewed here.

• Finalists announced in K2K Urban Design Competition

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  Four of Australia’s leading planning and architectural teams have been chosen to put forward their vision for the future of Kensington and Kingsford Town Centres as part of Randwick City Council’s K2K Urban Design Competition.

  The four shortlisted teams competing for $300,000 in prize money are:

  • ASPECT Studios Urban Design Team comprising: ASPECT Studios Urban Design and Landscape Architecture, SJB Architects and Urban Design, SGS Economics and Planning, and Terroir Architecture and Urban Planning

  • CODA Architecture + Urban DesignTeam comprising: CODA Architecture and Urban Design, Realm Studios Landscape Architecture, and GTA Transport consultants

  • JBATeam comprising: JBA Urban Design and Planning, Stewart Hollenstein Architecture and Urban Design, Arcadia Landscape Architecture, The Transport Planning People and Jess Scully

  • JMD designTeam comprising: James Mather Delaney Design Landscape Architects, Hill Thalis Architecture and Urban Projects, Bennett and Trimble Architecture and Urban Projects

  The four teams were chosen by an independent expert jury consisting of Malcolm Snow,Ben Hewett, Jennifer Neales, Kerry Clare and Tim Greer.

  Each team will now need to respond to a brief developed by Council and the community and provide their ideas for a vibrant, sustainable and liveable future for Kensington and Kingsford.

  The Mayor of Randwick Noel D’Souza said he is excited to see what the finalists will produce as they rethink the future of Kensington and Kingsford.

  “This won’t be an easy task as the four teams will need to respond to a brief that the community has helped to develop over the past four weeks. Our jury will be looking for innovation, creativity and sustainability.

  “The construction of the light rail through this area provides us with an opportunity to innovate these suburbs along Anzac Parade to create a new streetscape that is inviting to residents, students, visitors and businesses. We want to see ideas that will revitalise this neighbourhood and leverage the benefit that light rail will bring.

  K2K Competition Strategic Advisor and UNSW Professor of Planning Practice Sue Holliday said the quality of entries was very high.

  “The Jury was impressed by the overall quality and diversity and of the submissions received. In responding to the complexity of the brief, many of the assembled teams represented a broad mix of design skills,” Prof. Holliday said.

  “This was in keeping with a Brief that emphasised the need for multi-disciplinary design teams that could demonstrate broad experience in innovative thinking and social, economic and ecological design.”

  The K2K Competition commences on 8 August 2016, and closes on 16 September 2016.

  The entries will be on public exhibition for public comment from 21 September to 5 October 2016 and the winner will be announced on 17 October 2016.

  [ENDS]

  Media enquiries:

  Eleanor Garth – 0411 273 976 or eleanor.garth@randwick.nsw.gov.au
  Joshua Hay – 0402 351 459 or joshua.hay@randwick.nsw.gov.au

• K2K international design competition: Council and community take control of Kingsford and Kensington’s future

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  The world’s best architects, planners and urbanists are being invited to take part in an international design competition to imagine a vision for the future of the Kingsford and Kensington Town Centres in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

  Randwick City Council is putting up $300,000 in prize money as part of the K2K Urban Design Competition and is encouraging applicants to think creatively to generate ideas for the town centres to be sustainable and innovative.

  The community will also be involved in the project and will help develop the brief for the competition as well as providing feedback on the entries to assist the independent expert jury consisting of Malcolm Snow, Ben Hewett, Jennifer Neales, Kerry Clare and Tim Greer.

  Randwick Mayor Noel D’Souza said K2K is a big-thinking project with a strong community partnership.

  “The town centres of Kingsford and Kensington run along Anzac Parade and are an important transport corridor. The townships have changed considerably over the years and are going through another period of change now with the construction of light rail.

  “They both have developed distinctive characters with Kingsford emerging as one of Sydney’s undiscovered eat streets strongly influenced by the close proximity of UNSW and NIDA.

  “While the town centres have many strong qualities, I think people recognise there is room for improvement and increased vitality. We owe it to the thousands of people who live, work and shop here every day to make the town centres strong, attractive and exciting places for people.

  “While change is inevitable, what we can control is how it works for Council and the community. The K2K Urban Design Competition will be the catalyst to develop new planning controls for the town centres to ensure they are unique places full of life, learning and people,” Mayor D’Souza said.

  The K2K Urban Design Competition is also a direct response to manage a number of unsolicited planning proposals received from developers.

  “In the past 18 months Council has received five unsolicited planning proposals from developers seeking to build residential towers of up to 26-storeys (approximately 85m) which is well in excess of Council’s planning controls. This is clearly inappropriate and Council and the State Government’s Joint Regional Planning Panel has refused the proposals.

  “Last year I met with the Minister for Planning to discuss a process for dealing with these types of proposals to ensure a consistency of approach. I welcome the Minister’s support for this competition which will develop a coordinated and strategic approach to this important corridor.

  “Now is the time to develop strong planning controls so that Council and the community can determine the future we want rather than leaving it to adhoc planning proposals,” Mayor D’Souza said.

  Throughout July 2016 Randwick City Council will be conducting a series of community consultation activities including online surveys, forums and urban pinboards as well as face-to-face consultation with local businesses, residents and shoppers. This consultation process will help develop a brief that up to four short-listed competitors will respond to as part of the competition.

  Architects, urbanists and planners interested in being part of the competition should fill out an online Expression of Interest registration form by 13 July 2016. The successful competitors will be announced on 29 July 2016 and their entries publicly exhibited in September and October 2016.

  Further details about the community consultation and K2K Urban Design Competition can be found on the dedicated competition website www.k2k.sydney.

  Competition enquiries:

  • Andrew Mackenzie – Competition Advisor 0403774304 or k2k@citylab.com.au

  Media enquiries:

  • Eleanor Garth – 0411273976 or eleanor.garth@randwick.nsw.gov.au
  • Joshua Hay – 0402351459 or joshua.hay@randwick.nsw.gov.au