One of our favourite parks has been recognised at the 2020 Architecture A+ Awards in New York.
The Sydney Park water reuse project has won the Jury Award in the Architecture + Water category, competing with 430 finalists for the international prize.
Co-funded with the federal government, the $11.2m project means 850 million litres of stormwater are captured each year.
The harvested water is cleaned for reuse in the 44-hectare Sydney Park. It also supplies the neighbouring depot.
We partnered with Turf Design Studio and Environmental Partnership to design and install the water reuse infrastructure, building on many years of environmental improvements already undertaken at Sydney Park.
Accepting the award on behalf of the project team, Turf Design Studio founder Mike Horne said the project was an example of excellent urban design.
"The project highlights the benefit of significant design team collaboration, successfully bringing together water sensitive urban design, new interconnecting civil infrastructure, environmental bio-retention and a local urban water re-use system," Mike said.
The project has helped restore the park’s 4 wetland areas by providing a sustainable water supply. The wetlands attract native wildlife and have the highest recorded population of native bird species in the local area, including 31 wetland bird species.
Growing numbers of black swans, frogs and eastern long-necked turtles are making the wetlands their new home.
Migratory species such as Latham’s snipe and the sharp-tailed sandpiper also use the wetlands as a stopover on their flight to and from Japan and Siberia.
Sydney Park has a fascinating industrial history, once providing clay to local brickworks throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. It later became a local tip, before being transformed into the award-winning green space it is today.
Published 13 August 2020
