City of Newcastle (CN) developed a Harbour Foreshore Masterplan for the Harbour Foreshore Precinct within Newcastle’s East End. The Masterplan creates a blueprint to reinvigorate this important community precinct, including a new inclusive playspace that will be developed with our Partner, Touched by Olivia.
The Masterplan recommends options for future uses and management of the park and foreshore precinct, in line with current and future community needs and expectations. This masterplan enables CN to commence a long-term revitalisation project that will help meet the City's vision to deliver a world-class harbour foreshore precinct.
Consultant's Taylor Cullity Lethlean (TCL), in partnership with local firm Bosque Landscape Architects, worked with CN to prepare the Harbour Foreshore Masterplan. As part of the project, CN also worked collaboratively with Touched by Olivia to establish options for an inclusive playspace and to promote inclusive play by enabling children of all abilities and ages to play side by side.
Phase 1 of CN's community engagement to assist in creating a vision for the Masterplan concepts was held from 9 June to 12 July 2020.
The Phase 1 engagement process built on previous community consultation which was undertaken by CN as part of a Plan of Management for the foreshore precinct in 2015.
Phase 2 community engagement reviewed preliminary concepts for Foreshore Park while gaining a detailed understanding on the way Newcastle's residents use Wharf Road. The engagement included several drop-in sessions at various locations across the city. The engagement was held from 16 February to 5 March 2021.
See the Harbour Foreshore Have Your Say webpage for the engagement outcomes.
A Harbour Foreshore Community Reference Group was also formed to assist communication between CN and the Newcastle community as the Masterplan was developed.
Three CRG meetings were held to help guide the development of the design as it increased in detail and complexity.
The CRG was a vital sounding board to ensure the balance between community expectation and operational needs become a realisation in the final masterplan.
During Phase 3 community engagement, the draft Harbour Foreshore Masterplan was placed on public exhibition from 28 September to 26 October for community feedback. There were also drop-in sessions held for community to ask questions of the project team and share their feedback.
The Harbour Foreshore Masterplan was presented and adopted by council on Tuesday 13 December 2022.