The Goods Line Sydney Landscape, NSW Public Realm Photos, Architect, Australia Urban Design Images

The Goods Line in Sydney

Urban Development in New South Wales design by Aspect Studios, Australia

Updated 4 Apr 2022 + 19 Apr 2016

Design: Aspect Studios with CHROFI

Location: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

New images: Simon Whitbread and Florian Groehn

The Goods Line in Sydney Building

The Goods Line is a NSW State Government project which transforms a redundant piece of industry into a vibrant and connected public spine. It is the key strategic link and an important green space for this rapidly developing innovation district of Sydney, Australia.

It connects the major train station – Central Station, through to Sydney’s entertainment and leisure precinct Darling Harbour. The Goods Line creates a new people-focused address to various cultural, educational, and media institutions such as UTS’s Dr Chau Chak Wing Building, which border the new park.

This 7,000 sqm linear park has seen a disused rail corridor running from Railway Square to Darling Harbour reimagined as a connected, energised civic spine.

Filled with ‘social infrastructure’ such as bleachers, bench seats and an amphitheatre, to facilities for Wi-Fi, a children’s play area, table tennis tables and raised lawns, The Goods Line supports the burgeoning public life of the city. This new platform for public engagement provides a transformative social and environmental role in the precinct. The project also serves as a powerful representation of the city’s move from an industrial past to a modern, knowledge based innovative economy.

The Goods Line considered multiple factors including most importantly the site’s rich and dynamic heritage. By retaining critical elements including the Ultimo rail bridge and rail infrastructure, and repurposing others, the project has demonstrated innovative approaches to designing with respect to the past.

The design features elements which encourage changes in user behaviour, including external work and study pods which promote social engagement and uptake by the community by providing fixed furniture, power and precinct Wi-Fi to insure that they are ‘always on’. Additional innovations which promote social engagement include a public amphitheatre, communal tables with power outlets, shared cycle paths and repurposed heritage elements as children’s play experiences which offer a range of additional public amenities.

The blurred boundaries along its length are designed to facilitate programmed pop-up events and festivals, injecting a sense of community into a previously disused urban expanse. A range of environmental / sustainability initiatives are implemented in the design of The Goods Line such as: Water Sensitive Urban Design; low energy lighting; indigenous planting; advanced fabrication techniques; use of recycled materials, minimising cut and fill by layering a new ground plane; preservation of the heritage rail tracks; retention of existing trees; and developing safe cycle infrastructure and dedicated spaces for walking / play.

Through the design development of The Goods Line, a partnership has formed with UTS’ Institute of Sustainable Futures (ISF) who will be undertaking a quantitative analysis of the multiple benefits (social, economic, environmental) of this new urban greenspace. ISF will deliver site-based metrics which will enable the team to quantify the charge in vitality (people movement), biodiversity (amount of insects, fauna, planting) and the uplift in the local economy of small business around the site. The ambition is to use The Goods Line as a case study of best practice urban renewal.

Dimensions Square metre area: 7,000 sqm Total Length: 275m Average Width: 20m Minimum width of shared path: 4.1m

Trees + Planting
Existing figs preserved: 21 New trees planted: 10 Other planting: 39 additional species of plants 17 of which are natives (43% native)

Hardware
Children’s play spaces Multiple seating areas Outdoor Exercise Equipment Bubblers / water re-fill station Communal work desk for 30 people with inbuilt power points for working externally Bleachers / Amphitheatre Purpose built table tennis tables Bins Lighting CCTV Facility for wi-fi

Materials
436 precast panels as surface for the shared path. Over 600 precast pieces in total (includes pavement panels, stairs, and seating). Each custom designed yellow steel furniture have laser cut chevron patterns.

The Goods Line – Building Information

Client: Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority
Scope: Concept Design, Development Application, Tender Documentation, Construction
Location: Ultimo, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Team: ASPECT Studios (Project Design Lead), CHROFI (Design Partner), ACOR, AR-MA, Deuce Design, GML, JBA, Lighting Art + Science, Gartner Rose
Year: 2015
Awards: 2014 Australia Award for Urban Design 2014; Policies, Programs and Concepts – Small Scale