Waterloo Metro Quarter

A New Urban Village for Waterloo; connecting a growing city through a new community heart

CLIENT

Urbangrowth NSW Development Corporation

STATUS

2017 – 2018

SIZE

1.9Ha

LOCATION

Waterloo, New South Wales, Australia

Waterloo is layered, proud, distinct and resilient, represented by a diverse community of cultures. It has already seen many cycles of renewal, each bringing changes to the building stock and public domain to suit different community needs as they change over time. This has resulted in an urban fabric that is diverse, evident in the adjacent urban renewal areas of Green Square and Redfern.

The new Waterloo metro station is part of the Sydney Metro City & Southwest Project, a 30 km rapid transit railway line currently under construction, which will deliver increased connectivity across the city as part of the Greater Sydney Plan.

This project will unlock a new wave of change for Waterloo, as the decision to locate the station and over station development adjacent to the existing Waterloo Estate acts as a catalyst for future development and the creation of a new urban precinct.

As such, Waterloo Metro Quarter is being rezoned through the State Significant Precinct (SSP) process. Turner and Turf Design Studio have prepared the Urban Design and Public Domain Study for this new framework.

Public Domain

As a public domain led project, TURF aimed to create an active and welcoming place where people can meet, greet and relax in a safe environment. As a gateway to Waterloo and the surrounding neighbourhoods of Redfern and Eveleigh, the public domain establishes a new ‘community heart’, creating a place that is activated, vibrant and pedestrian focused; A place for people, a home for residents, a destination for visitors and a workplace for commuters.

New civic spaces along Raglan Street and Cope Street, draw in users to and from Waterloo Station, providing a social and retail experience in a new urban setting; creating moments to meet, pause and engage, and connecting the Metro Quarter into the existing urban fabric.

Widened footpaths support high pedestrian movement to and from the Metro Station, providing direct movement corridors and generous circulation, strengthening opportunities to create social nodes with street furniture and planting.

Masterplan

The 1.9 Ha site facilitates a high quality destination – The Metro Quarter, integrated with the much-anticipated Waterloo metro station and Over Station Development. This mixed-use development will be organised around a new public domain including a station entry plaza, community square, shared laneways and pedestrian through-site links.

Applying a place-based approach with a strong sense of identity and character, Waterloo Metro Quarter promotes a layered response. Contextual in the ongoing cycle of renewal, it provides a diversity of uses, height and built form. The Metro Quarter will be an activity centre promoting active transport, driving a pedestrian prioritised approach to the public domain for a mixed and growing neighbourhood.

Raglan Street Plaza, an active pedestrian-focused public space that responds to the surrounding local character, connects commuters between Waterloo, Australia Technology Park and Redfern. Planting and street furniture, together with retail breakout spaces, create a vibrant and safe pedestrian environment that welcomes the community to Waterloo.

Cope Street Plaza serves as the ‘community door’ and arrival to Waterloo and provides an open and flexible community space. Its stepped seating creates an outlook for people to gather and breakout from surrounding retail spaces, while also mitigating flood risk; mediating level changes from the street to the station entry.