Project information

 

New community facilities to meet future demand

An important part of the procurement documents is the project design brief that sets out the components (including indicative rooms and functional relationships) to be allowed for in the bidder's design and commercial offer. The brief draws from a variety of independent studies for things like library and community facilities and open space provision, for example. The brief sets out the spatial requirements for the new facilities to meet the growing demand and forecast population increase of Ku-ring-gai over the next generation. This makes the Lindfield Village Hub a once in a generation project.

Revitalisation of the west side of Lindfield

The Lindfield Village Hub will provide the kick start needed and the entire existing retail precinct along the Pacific Highway will benefit from the uplift in footfall to the area. New housing, new park and playground, new shopping and new food & beverage outlets will bring life to the west side of Lindfield in the way that Harris Farm, Supamart IGA, Goodfields, Runaway Spoon and other retailers have brought life to the east side.  

Car parking

Commuter car parking funded by Transport for NSW will complete the balance of the 240 commuter spaces earmarked for Lindfield. 105 spaces have been provided at the Lindfield Village Green site, due to open February 2022. The TfNSW Funding Deed for the balance of 135 spaces to be built as part of the Lindfield Village Hub was entered into in June 2021 and countersigned by TfNSW in October 2021. Replacement of the existing on grade Woodford Lane car parking spaces is included in the project as well as additional parking demand that arises from the retail, childcare and residential components of the project.

New housing

Located directly across from Lindfield Railway station, the Lindfield Village Hub is well located to provide higher density housing, close to public transport shopping, and a new public park.  

Council prepared an indicative masterplan for the project to provide some design guidance, however it is the successful development partner that will be responsible to design the project. They will be required to meet Council’s design brief (so that we get the facilities that we know we need) and they also must work within the limits (including height and density) of the draft Planning Proposal.

By requiring them to design the project (within clear controls and limits), we allow them to bring their skills and experience to the delivery of the project.

What makes up the Lindfield Village Hub project?

At a high level the project comprises the following key components:

• Library and community facilities (see below for a break-down of the major spaces anticipated within the library/community facility).
• Childcare centre.
• Local park and children play area.
• Food and beverage park side speciality retail.
• Supermarket based shopping precinct.
• Associated car parking and commuter car parking.
• Residential housing and associated car parking.

What goes into the new Library and community facility?

A new 2,400m² community building will sit at the heart of the precinct, connecting to the park and providing a civic presence to the development.

Inside the building will be a range of inspiring and functional community spaces. These will provide the traditional library but also cater for growing demand for co-working, collaboration and other activities. The community venues will offer bookable rooms for a range of different group sizes and hirers, for uses such as meetings, fitness activities, community clubs, and children’s functions. 

Councillors and library and community staff have researched and visited some of the new generation successful community facilities across Sydney – such as Woollahra and Green Square. 

Staff have overlaid these learnings with their understanding of the people, place and programs most relevant to Lindfield and developed a vision and performance brief. The final design will be undertaken by the successful development partner and will reflect the requirements of the performance brief.  

The performance brief sets out the following zones:

A community shopfront

This will ideally be a two-storey space at the front of the building, highly visible and welcoming.

It will offer a place to talk and have meetings throughout the day, a meet-up for after school tutoring, and an extended community co-working venue when the library is closed. It will provide access to two large meeting rooms that can be joined to create a space for 80 people, and events held in these venues could spill out from the meeting rooms into the community shopfront and outside to the community terrace.

The community terrace

The community terrace zone will be the interface between the ground floor activity in the community building and the park. Areas will have sheltered seating and tables that invite people to linger and space for temporary activation and pop-up market events and promotion. The terrace will provide entry points to the loud Library and the community shopfront zones. 

Community centre 

The open community venues

This zone is intended to promote mixing across different groups and will offer bookable rooms for community use. There will be two hall spaces and activity space, with acoustic separation for concurrent noise-generating hirers. The hall spaces combined will seat approximately 200.

The discrete community venues

This zone will provide smaller meeting rooms with lobby space that is not exposed to the high traffic and activity of the Community Shopfront or the Open Community Venues.  Two rooms will be provided one for group meetings and one for a lounge break out setting, with the combination of both spaces providing a setting for extended group planning and workshops with a private outlook.  

Childcare

Council requires that a new childcare centre, owned by Council, be located on the site. The childcare centre will complement the mixed use precinct and support the principle of ‘Everything in one Place’. 

The minimum internal area of this facility is 550sqm which caters for approximately 60 places. The minimum external play area for the centre will be set by the statutory requirements and will be separate from the park and public domain. 

Council intends to appoint a childcare operator to run the facility.  

Library 

The loud library

This area contains resource collection highlights as well as open activities areas that can host scheduled free events such as book clubs, small informal talks, drop-in holiday activities, coding and maker kit workshops. People are free to talk and use phones in the loud library without the fear of disturbing others. There will also be settings for quiet reading for adults and children, using soft furnishings and floor coverings to create pockets of focus settings. 

The focus library

The focus library zone is where people can read, work and study quietly. People can move to external verandas or group rooms to meet and talk. The staff administration area is connected to the focus Library zone and the discrete community venues zone.

The two library zones can be secured and operated independently of the community zones. This means that the community areas can be accessed over longer hours than the library zones which demand more intensive resourcing. The staffing of community areas can also be linked directly to booking demand. 

An indicative masterplan is included in the procurement documentation. This shows the community/library building over three storeys with rectangular floorplates. Bidders are able to propose an alternative location and shape for the community/library building in their proposals. They will need to demonstrate how their proposed building size and shape can accommodate the key zones set out in the performance brief.

Once the developer has been selected and the building size and shape agreed with Council, the developer will commence a detail design of the building and the fit-out in conjunction with Council. The design will be undertaken by a specialist library/community building architect, appointed by the Developer and agreed with Council.  

Our structure

In 2018, Council established a Major Projects Unit within Council to manage the Lindfield Village Hub project and other major projects. The Major Projects Unit is staffed by people experienced in the managing delivery of major projects in a local government setting. The Major Projects Unit is separate to the statutory planning function of Council.

Project summary

2023 key activities (up to June 2023)

• On 14 February 2023 Council resolved to enter into exclusive negotiations with a preferred proponent (developer).
• Following the Council resolution above, a Negotiation Plan and a draft Negotiation Protocol were finalised.
• The Negotiation Protocol was presented to the developer and executed by them in mid-April 2023.
• Face to face negotiations commenced the week after execution of the Negotiation Protocol and remain ongoing.
• Concurrently, Capital Expenditure Review was prepared and submitted to the Office of Local Government.

2022 key activities

• Following the November 2021 resolution to proceed to the second stage of the bid process, being Request for Detailed Proposal (RFDP), the RFDP documentation pack was prepared early in 2022 and the formal bid process commenced in April 2022.
• A number of briefings and clarification rounds were held with the Proponents during this period and RFDP submissions were received in July 2022.
• Evaluation then took place over the next few months and a governance process was undertaken where the recommendation of the Evaluation Panel to enter into exclusive negotiations with a Preferred Proponent was considered by the Major Projects Steering Committee and the Major Projects Advisory Committee.
• The recommendation to enter into exclusive negotiations with the preferred proponent was presented to Council first in December 2022 and then again in February 2023 following a deferral.

2021 key activities

• On 20 July 2021 Council considered a revised market engagement strategy for the LVH project. Having considered the strategy, Council resolved to continue negotiations.
• The initial stage of the negotiations was undertaken, with a number of proposals received.  Analysis of the proposals suggests that a viable commercial outcome for the project may be possible. The results indicate a significant turnaround from the offers received during the 2020 tender and post tender negotiations.
• Meetings were held in December 2021 with bidders who expressed interest in proceeding to the second stage of the bid process where formal offers are expected. Submissions are likely in early 2022.
• Conditional Gateway Determination was received 22 January 2021 for the LVH Planning Proposal from DPIE. Further submissions have been made in response to the conditions and DPIE queries, which was endorsed by DPIE in August 2021.
• Public exhibition occurred during August with KRG Planning having submitted their report to the November OMC. Council resolved to adopt the Planning Proposal, subject to the amendments identified in KRG Planning Report and to submit it to the DPIE requesting to make the plan.
• Council entered into a Funding Deed with TfNSW for the funding of the balance of 135 commuter car spaces of the 240 proposed for Lindfield in 2012. 

• Second stage of the two-stage tender process was undertaken including a series of Tenderer briefings and an evaluation by the Tender Evaluation Committee.
• The formal tender phase was brought to a conclusion in June 2020 and Council resolved to commence negotiations. A report to Council in December 2020 advised that there was no viable outcome from the negotiations at that time, and that negotiations should continue.
• Council's regulatory planning department undertaken an initial assessment of the Planning Proposal.
• In June 2020 Planning Proposal was submitted to the Department of Industry and Planning for Gateway Determination. A series of updates of the Planning Proposal were conducted following a number of communications from DPIE with commentary.

2019 key activities

• The selection of preferred tenderers for the second stage of the two-stage tender process occurred in early 2019.
• A range of community engagement activities were undertaken leading up to the 23 July Council meeting which considered the draft Planning Proposal.
• There was no resolution on 23 July and the Planning Proposal report was relisted for debate at the 20 August Council meeting.
• On 20 August Council resolved to lodge a Planning Proposal for the project based on a nine-storey height limit.
• Now that Council has resolved to lodge a Planning Proposal, the community engagement process has concluded.
• Future community consultation will form part of the formal planning proposal review process.
• The Planning Proposal was submitted to Council's regulatory planning department in October 2019. The initial assessment process should be completed in early 2020 with the full process taking between 12-18 months.

2015 - 2018

• Council has had a strategic plan for the site since 2015.
• During 2015-2016 Council consulted with the community on the Master Plan.
• The Master Plan adopted in 2016 was incorporated into the Local Environment Plan (LEP) and Development Control Plan (DCP).
• In 2017, Council reviewed its strategic plans and policies as part of the Integrated Planning and Reporting requirements.
• The Master Plan will be developed in response to Council’s strategic planning.
• In November 2018, new site development scenarios were taken to the community.
• These scenarios are indicative only and a final masterplan will be prepared by the developer chosen through the RFT process.
• The masterplan will be put on public display (date to be advised).

Key documents