Thirroul Plaza is located at 282-298 and 302-304 Lawrence Hargrave Drive in the Thirroul Town Centre. The first stage of this Project involves formulating a new development vision and Master Plan for the Site to guide its redevelopment into a mixed-use precinct with an offering of community benefits.
Welcome to the UrbanTalk Project Listing for the Thirroul Plaza Site.
The first stage of this Project involves formulating a new development vision and Master Plan for the Thirroul Plaza Site.
The Master Plan will form the basis of a Development Application that will be lodged with Wollongong City Council.
This listing will be updated as new information becomes available on this Project. On this page, you will find information about the Project, its status, and details of the community consultation process, including the Big Ideas Community Survey and a feedback form to get in contact.
Solid Void
Still to be appointed
Community inclusive design will create a new heart for the Thirroul Town Centre.
Thirroul Plaza Developments Pty Ltd has appointed the development manager, Solid Void to advance a new Master Plan for the Thirroul Plaza site at 282-298 and 302-304 Lawrence Hargrave Drive in the Thirroul Town Centre.
Solid Void understands that achieving excellence in the built environment requires collaboration. For this reason, their development approach is consultative, bringing the client, consent authority, community and essential stakeholders together. Solid Void is bringing a fresh start to the planning and design for the Thirroul Plaza Site and is adopting a community inclusive design approach.
To ensure the new development vision has community support, an extensive community consultation process with residents, businesses, and interested stakeholders will take place over the next 12 months. The consultation process will provide feedback that will help inform the Master Plan and final architectural solution.
To help us understand how the Thirroul Plaza Site can best serve local needs now and in the future, residents and local businesses are invited to participate in the Big Ideas Community Survey. You can access the survey below on the Project Listing.
The proposal will incorporate community benefits that will be delivered either as in kind works or as a monetary contribution to the City of Wollongong Council. The community consultation process will help to identify the benefits that residents and business would like the project to deliver. Examples of the type of community benefits the project could deliver include a public plaza, playground, event space, public parking or public pool.
The Thirroul Plaza is in the heart of the northern Thirroul Town Centre. It is tenanted by Coles and a variety of small local retailers. A large at-grade customer car park is at the rear and accessed off King Street.
The Main Southern Railway Line forms the western site boundary, the WF Jackson Park adjoins the Site to the south, the Beaches Hotel is to the north, and Lawrence Hargrave Drive is to the east. Anita’s Theatre, a heritage item, is directly opposite the Site in King Street.
The Site is legally described as Lot 103 DP 706867, Lot 2 DP 534253, Lot 1 DP 240526. It is a sizeable rectangular land parcel with a total area of 9.094.8 square metres.
The existing building is nearing the end of its life. The redevelopment of the Site offers the opportunity to deliver a contemporary mixed-use development to complement Thirroul’s beach lifestyle while providing a new local destination and night time economy for the community.
The first stage of the Project involves formulating a new development vision and Master Plan.
The Master Plan will establish the preferred built form of development and mix of land uses, the community benefits the Project can deliver, and how the Site can create a new focal point and community heart for the Thirroul Town Centre.
A design team is currently being appointed to commence work on the Master Plan. Once they are onboard, community consultation events will be staged, including design workshops and community walks to get residents and local businesses involved.
The NSW Government Architect explains master planning as a method for guiding a place’s physical, economic, and social transformation. Planning for change requires an integrated process. It is a fluid and iterative process, with many people contributing to the initial investigations, the proposal as it develops, and the delivery. People – residents, visitors and ultimate users of the spaces and buildings – are at the heart of any Master Plan. A successful Master Plan will embody a community’s collective vision and values to create sustainable places for living, working, and recreation. (Source: NSW Government Architect Advisory Note V2 12/09/2018).
Master planning embraces many complex, sometimes conflicting issues and is a positive, proactive process that delivers significant benefits.
The NSW Government Architect has identified a range of benefits that a Master Plan can deliver for a project such as the Thirroul Plaza Project. These benefits are to:
• Shape a three-dimensional physical form that responds to local economic and social dynamics.
• Identify the potential of a Site for development.
• Unlock previously underdeveloped land.
• Make proposals viable by creating certainty of capacity and yield.
• Build consensus about the future of an area and identify priorities for action.
• Underpin private sector investment in community infrastructure and identify public and private sector aspirations and roles.
• Integrate new development into an existing community.
• Define proposals that will deliver high-quality, sustainable buildings and public spaces.
• Celebrate the natural assets of a place, for example the landscape, topography, and ecology.
(Source: NSW Government Architect Advisory Note V2 12/09/2018).
The NSW Government Architect recognises that a Master Plan must operate in the context of the NSW Planning System, and it must be produced with a clear understanding of local plans and Government policy. (Source: NSW Government Architect Advisory Note V2 12/09/2018).
During the master planning process, the design team will consider the statutory and strategic planning framework that applies to the Site and the locality at both a State and Local Government level.
The NSW Government Architect has developed a draft Framework for understanding the value of Aboriginal knowledge in the design and planning of places. The framework is titled ‘Connecting with Country’. A specialist consultant will be engaged and will work with the design team to guide consultation with Aboriginal stakeholders.
A community-led design approach is being advanced for this Project. Given the history of this Site, we want to ensure the consultation process fosters a fresh approach founded on a respectful and inclusive dialogue.
Urban Concepts, a consultancy specialising in facilitating community consultation for urban planning and development projects, has been engaged to assist with this aspect of the Project. Urban Concepts is using its UrbanTalk digital engagement products which include this Project Listing, to help the community participate and provide feedback to the design process.
We are starting the community consultation process with the Big Ideas Community Survey.
We are keen to start afresh in the design thinking for this Project. Urban Concepts has formulated the Big Ideas Community Survey to capture the community’s ideas for this important Site.
The survey takes around 15 minutes to complete. People of all ages can participate and contribute their ideas.
We will run the survey over an 8-week timeframe. At the end of the survey, we will collate the survey findings and prepare The Big Ideas Report. A copy of the report will be available to read on the Project Listing.
Solid Void specialises in the delivery of development projects from inception through to the completion of construction. Solid Void has earned a reputation over 25 years for delivering compelling projects applauded for their contextual fit. Solid Void is excited to be embarking on a community-led design approach for the Master Planning of the Thirroul Plaza Site.
UrbanTalk acknowledges the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first inhabitants of this nation and the traditional custodians of the lands where we live, learn and work.
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