GREEN SQUARE LAUNCHES COMMUNITY CULTURE

The new community and cultural precinct, located between Joynton Avenue and Portman Street in Zetland, will be launched with festive offerings on 29 May, two years after the commencement of its redevelopment.

Including a creative centre, community shed, childcare centre, park and public artwork garden, the $32 million cultural precinct will offer a wealth of communal facilities and experiences to the growing local community.

The precinct includes:

JOYNTON AVENUE CREATIVE CENTRE

Once the Esme Cahill nurses quarters, the Joynton Avenue Creative Centre is now an inspiring space where people can express themselves and connect.

107 Projects, one of Sydney’s best-loved arts organisations, manages the centre on the City’s behalf and is responsible for overseeing daily operations and developing programs and activities to engage the local community and creative sector at the centre.

WARANARA EARLY EDUCATION CENTRE

The hospital’s former outpatient building has been reworked into a colourful and modern 74-place childcare centre that features heritage elements such as roof cowls that have been reinterpreted as skylights and offices that are now light-filled playrooms.

A wrap-around verandah encourages individual or group play and is protected by large shade trees.

Passive, active and messy play spaces include an outdoor kitchen and digging patch extending into a lively water and sand play area.

MATRON RUBY GRANT PARK

This park connects the creative centre and the community shed. It is a greenspace with a playground for friends and family to gather, picnic and play. City of Sydney worked with Sprout Landscape Architecture in collaboration with CAB Consulting to reinstate native plants from the former Waterloo swamp, including eastern suburbs banksia scrub.

A GREEN PRECINCT

The Green Infrastructure Centre, a former hospital administration building, houses Green Square Water, a water recycling facility run by Flow Systems on behalf of the City.

Green Square Water supplies treated stormwater in all Green Square town centre buildings for flushing toilets, laundries, greenspace irrigation and cooling towers. The water is stored in two tanks under Matron Ruby Grant Park.

Soon to be home to more than 61,000 people, Lord Mayor Clover Moore claims, “Green Square is one of the most dynamic neighbourhoods in the country, and we’re doing everything we can to make sure it develops into a world-class urban neighbourhood with the services and facilities its residents and workers need,” the Lord Mayor said.

“We have committed $540 million over the next 10 years to the Green Square town centre, including our stunning new community and cultural precinct that will sit at the centre of the development.

“Our new childcare centre will support the growing number of families choosing to live in the inner city, while other facilities will provide important creative and recreational spaces for people of all ages to come together, develop their talents and share ideas.

“This project has breathed new life into the former South Sydney Hospital’s heritage-listed buildings, preserving their rich history and ensuring they can be enjoyed for generations to come.

“We invite locals to come along and be part of the celebration as we throw open the doors of this fantastic new precinct for the first time.”

Join in the celebrations on May 26 from 11am to 3pm. A program of live music, food trucks, children’s activities and tours of the region are among some of the offerings the celebration promises.

For more information visit www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/vision/green-square