Surrenders a significant parcel of land along the western boundary of the town to enable the creation of a new road which can provide a precinct level link between Gilham Street to the north and Les Shore Place / Pennant Street to the south;. A new pedestrian link between Coolibah Street to the north and Pennant Street / Castle Towers Shopping Center to the south. Providing a considered transition in scale between the medium density area north of Gilham Street and the high density towers approved for the Toplace site to the immediate south;
Importantly, this landscaped domain will also provide improved amenity to the residents of the Toplace site located to the immediate south. Note, the proposed development will have no impact on Castle Hill Public School which adjoins the north west corner of the site. This allows for a high quality, legible and iconic architectural outcome that could become a benchmark for design excellence within Castle Hill.
To the southwest, the site adjoins a currently unoccupied site for future development, known as the QIc site. Given the prevailing low density of the site, there is significant scope to provide a wider mix of densities that can transition from the existing lower scale built form north of the site to a higher density built form closer to the commercial core and the future castle. Railway station on the hill.
SItE VIEwS
ExIStING mOVEmENt
130.183.4 tOPOGrAPHy
- ENVIrONmENtAL CONDItIONS
- FuturE CONtExt - PrECINCtS
- DEVELOPmENt OutCOmES
- tyPICAL tOwEr PLAN
- VIEw FrOm NOrtH
- VIEw FrOm NOrtH EASt
- ELEGANt
- FLuID
- ICONIC
- rESIDENtIAL AmENItIES IN GArDEN SEttING
- PuBLIC AND COmmuNAL OPEN SPACE
- rOAD DEDICAtION
The long access of the site is oriented slightly east of north, which will provide the opportunity for excellent solar access to both the ground level as well as future dwellings on the site. These sites include both the QIc future development site in addition to the approved development at Toplace. The elevated topography of the site, together with the direction of the prevailing breeze, will provide the opportunity for excellent cross ventilation to all dwellings.
This development site includes a total of five residential towers that each range from 18 to 23 stories in height, with approximately 900 apartments on offer. To successfully develop the site will require careful management of the change in scale and density on either side of Gilham Street. A key design objective for the future redevelopment of the subject area is to create a pleasant and human scale in the streetscape and a convenient and safe transition to the neighboring school.
Issues of privacy, views and density change are some of the areas carefully considered in the proposal. Primary pedestrian movements across the area will be journeys to and from the shopping center and station. How these fit together across different developments will require an integrated approach to ensure these connections are of high quality and are safe and accessible to the public.
The design proposal for the site offers a thoughtful urban and architectural concept that pursues the following development outcomes;. The amalgamation of Vivien Place roadway and associated paths and berms to allow for a consolidated development site;. Two tower elements (17 and 13 storeys) each set on a 2/3 storey podium provide terrace style residences that overlook Gilham Street, Gay Street and the central landscape ridge;.
A total overall yield of 220 dwellings, of which approximately 30 will be terrace style housing at ground level;. The creation of a new road along the western boundary of the site is considered to be one of the main benefits of the overall proposal. This new road, once fully extended along the QIc site, will provide direct connectivity from the area north of Gilham Street to Les Shore Drive / Castle Hill Public School, and then on to Pennant Street and Castle Hill town centre.
Land allocation for the new carriageway will be facilitated by the amalgamation of Vivien Place into the proposed development site. This amalgamation will reduce maintenance costs of a redundant road reserve while enabling a consolidated development site with generous and contiguous open space provision.
GILHAM STREE T
- PrECINCt PErmEABILIty
- StrEEt ACtIVAtION
- LANDSCAPE PrOVISION
- OPEN SPACE CONNECtIVIty
- VIEw SHArING + SEPArAtION
- AmENIty | SOLAr & CrOSS VENt POtENtIAL
- tErrACE HOuSING DEtAILS
- PrECINCt SECtIONS
- ExIStING OVErSHADOwING ANALySIS | COmmuNAL OPEN SPACE
- PrOPOSED OVErSHADOwING ANALySIS | COmmuNAL OPEN SPACE
- ExIStING OVErSHADOwING ANALySIS | APArtmENt SOLAr ACCESS
- PrOPOSED OVErSHADOwING ANALySIS
- PrOPOSED OVErSHADOwING ANALySIS | APArtmENt SOLAr ACCESS
NEW PRECINCT-WIDE PEDESTRIAN CONNECTIONS Another important benefit of the proposal will be to enable greater pedestrian connectivity between the residential areas north of Gilham Street with Castle Tower Shopping Center and the entrance to Castle Hill Public School. These terraces will not only offer greater diversity in residential types, but will also ensure the activation of the streetscapes and a safe and engaging ground level. The intended massing for the site offers very generous landscaping opportunities to a significant part of the ground level.
This edge also provides a natural landscaped break between the tower elements and the lower density housing and school to the west of the site. An important additional benefit of the proposal is the potential to provide more open space and amenities for the future residents of the Toplace location. The offset of the towers is a simple but very effective mechanism that helps break down the visual scale of the entire area, while at the same time facilitating the penetration of sunlight to all facades of the building and enabling a fair distribution of looks and views between the buildings.
The orientation of the site provides excellent solar access for the apartments and residences on the site. Collectively, the proposed development and building envelopes may exceed the requirements of the ADG and council standards. The following pages explore the potential for solar access of shared open spaces to Toplace.
The main common open space area affected by the Vivien Place development is the area located between buildings A and B, as indicated above. The diagram opposite summarizes the existing condition, where approximately 39% of the common open space has the potential to receive a full 4 hours of sunlight between 09:00 and 15:00 in mid-winter. The solar diagrams on pages 44 and 45 summarize the condition with regard to the proposed Vivien Place development.
These diagrams show that the open space to Toplace continues to receive 4 hours of sunlight from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. on June 21. It is worth noting that between the main lunchtime of noon and 2 pm, more than 50% of the open space is full of sunlight in the middle of winter. Furthermore, the proposed development to Vivien Place offers generous publicly accessible open spaces directly adjacent to the smaller common open space to the Toplace site.
The key apartments potentially affected by the Vivien Place development are located within buildings A and B, as indicated above. The diagram on this page provides a summary of the solar access potential to Toplace considering the proposed Vivien Place development.
