Tara Murray
A vision for the Sunshine Silos and surrounding area is slowly coming together.
The owners of the site, John and Adam Newton, along with their architects and team, held an online community forum last week to discuss their plans for 2 Wright Street, Sunshine.
The group is hoping to put out a masterplan for the public to view and discuss later this year.
MGS Architects senior urban designer William Priestley said this was the first stage of a longer conversation about trying to understand what the location’s future role could be in Sunshine, with the possibility to make the area special and unique.
The group has eight key principles it will focus on in the design of the masterplan.
They are: enhancing the site’s role as the southern gateway to Sunshine, improving connections with Sunshine, delivering social, environmental and economic dividends for Sunshine, looking at council’s housing plan and the JR Parsons Reserve masterplan, honouring the history and stories of the site, creating an integrated vision for the precinct, enhancing the value of the natural environment, exploring transport possibilities and delivering a mixture of uses.
The group acknowledged that the concrete silos were the most significant feature of the site and parts could possibly be developed for housing or workplaces, pending investigation into their structural safety.
John and Adam told Star Weekly that whatever the end result, the area must feel like it belongs in Sunshine.
“We know that sharing initial research and engaging community in ‘project vision’ so early on is a pretty unusual step for a developer,” they said.
“We feel it’s important to have open and genuine conversations so that community and council perspective can inform the very principles on which the master plan will be based.”
“We want our eventual plans to deliver a place we are all proud of, informed by local perspective which connects to and enhances the surrounds for many to enjoy – instead of a fenced-off dead-zone as it currently is.
“We got a sense on Monday that participants appreciated that approach. We’re looking forward to continuing the conversation.”
Details: www.2wrightstreet.com.au
