Episode 6: The regeneration of Sydney’s Darling Square
In this episode of Better Cities by Design, Neil Arckless, Group Executive for Development at Lendlease is our guest. We talk with Neil about the sustainable redevelopment of Darling Square in Sydney, Australia. Darling Square, which is part of the Darling Harbour section of the Australian capital, has a rich history. This area was originally home to the Aboriginal people, the Gadigal, who lived on this land for thousands of years and continue to play an important role in Sydney. In the 1900s, Darling Harbour was an industrial zone, which was later converted into public space. This happened in the 1980s, at a time when the area had essentially been abandoned. As a result, a pedestrian and tourist precinct was established. Darling Harbour also hosted part of the 2000 Summer Olympic Games. But over the ensuing decade, Darling Harbour had once again lost its luster and was no longer adequately serving the people of Sydney. And this led to a second redevelopment, led by Lendlease, with support from Arcadis.Join Host Davion Ford and Neil, as they chat about the extraordinarily sustainable transformation of Darling Square from an underused part of Sydney, into a vibrant, mixed-use area, with residential, business, and commercial space for more than 4200 people. Neil talks about what led to the need to redevelop the area and how Lendlease approached this effort with an eye toward creating a space that residents could take ownership of. Neil discusses the complex task of carrying out the regeneration within the central business district, without fundamentally disrupting city life and how this is one of most walkable and highly rated sustainability projects ever delivered in Australia.