Future Village Road Closure Parklet

Road Closure Parklet

TRIALING PARKLETS FOR ROAD CLOSURES

McKeon St - Maroubra

Randwick Council tendered to implement a trial project to improve access and increase the amount of public space in McKeon St under the NSW Governments Streets as Shared Spaces Round 2 Grant. The council closed McKeon Street to create a pedestrian area which can be used by the community to connect, gather, dine and be entertained. The tender was for the design, installation, maintenance and removal of a temporaty plaza. The council wanted outdoor dining furniture, places to sit in the shade, a childrens space, temporary landscaping and a space for staged entertainment.

Rendered version for council to use in community feedback

For planting, we chose plants that are salt tolerant. To bring more design elements into the area we also purchased a number of different GRC pots that we retrofitted with water reservoirs and wicking and painted that were placed with our larger planters.

TO visually cool the entire zone synthetic grass was added over all bitumen. For small children we designed a climbing zone and provided outdoor games such as giant genga, connect four and coits.

We made a performance stage by combining raised decking. For seating there are benches, outdoor chairs, standing tables and raised decking. For eating we added a number of cafe tables.

Kids genga and raised stage and converted GRC pots behind

RESULTS

For the duration of the project there was an onsite QR Code survey with 262 responses, that demonstrated strong community support for the Plaza to be made permanent with 90% of respondents believing the Plaza should be a permanent space. 7% said “No” and 3% not sure. There was also a connection between Council and the businesses. This connection saw adjustments to layout, programming and parking made to improve the functioning of the Plaza.

As part of the funding acquittal a comprehensive engagement program was conducted to gain feedback on the Plaza layout, content, programming and future. A Neighbourhood Sentiment Survey via Your Say Randwick, including a 10,000-letterbox drop was run and achieved 730 responses. Both the local community and businesses were provided opportunities to provide feedback through an online survey, social media posts, informal site meetings and face to face interviews.

In summary, in response to the question "Should the Plaza be made permanent" 85% said yes, 10% no and 5% were unsure. 48% of respondents visit the Plaza to eat out and 28% to catch up with friends.

97% see the space as safe, 69% feel it has a good atmosphere, 67% see the Plaza as a good space to socialize and 88% agree the Plaza has a positive impact on the community.

Spend data from Spendmapp covering dining and specialised retail was collected specifically for the precinct comparing 2022 to 2021. This data showed a modest increase in local spend however a significant increase to visitor spend. For dining & entertainment visitor spend increased by 61%, in specialised retail it increased by 87%. This clearly reflected a benefit to business and an increase in activity in the Plaza.

Top view of design showing central area layout

Council met with us to discuss design that their architects had envisioned. We took these initial concepts and refined to help meet the brief and also be practical in what can be created and delivered.

As McKeon st is directly across the road from Maroubra beach the area is prone to strong sea breezes that can damage umbrellas as well as bring sea salt into the planters and garden trays.

We use hurricane umbrellas that are rated up to 100km/hr but need to be secured to prevent theft and blowing away. We developed raised decking trays that allowed for bolting the umbrella directly to the structure whilst providing surround seating.

Opening day. Standup tables, raised decking with umbrellas, garden trays, decking and synthetic grass.

For further landscaping we added a number of our Garden Trays planted out with natives to help green the surface. Tree boxes with foam-core artwork made up the entrance ways and powder coated Small planters were placed in the surrounding street to help link the zone to the local club.

Installation took 5 days and the plaza opened in October 2022.