Katoomba Charrette Outcomes Report - Blue Mountains City Council

Katoomba Charrette Report & Town Centre Strategy
10.1.7 Project Design Brief
The designs above illustrate compliance with the following proposed design and performance
requirements, with which any development for the Old TAFE Site and related properties should
comply:
Development should incorporate a high quality public Cultural/Visitors Centre at the
northern end, facing across Froma Lane to the Carrington, with public spaces for the uses
noted above in Section 10.1.1, including at least one multi-storey tower for public viewing
of the surrounding scenery. Total floor climate controlled area for this facility should equal
about sqm (Luke, please calculate floor areas from the design and fill this in; we don’t
have scale plans). The open space between the Center and the Carrington Hotel should be
improved (by joint venture with both parties to their mutual benefit) as a high quality,
sunny, sheltered public open space, accommodating slow-speed vehicular traffic through
to College Lane and possibly into the Carrington Lawn’s driveways.
The development should incorporate medium density residential and/or short term
accommodation atop the majority of its roof, except for the roof of the Cultural/Visitors
Centre component, some of which should be dedicated to a public viewing area. Each
dwelling should enjoy at least 8 square metres of private open space in the form of
balconies and/or roof terraces. The residential development should contribute, where
appropriate, to activating the street frontages for passive surveillance and public safety, by
occupying frontages at street level for residences or home offices, especially along College
Lane and Parke Street, if commercial premises along those frontages are not as feasible.
While access to the some upstairs residences may be via lifts from the underground
parking, entry doors are also encouraged at or near street level, especially along College
Lane and Parke Street, to increase residential activity and passive surveillance. Dedicated
car parking for dwellings should be minimal, as all daily needs would be in walking
distance, as well as access to Sydney via the railway station, also in walking distance.
The roof design of the building should preserve a commodious view-way, southward and
roughly horizontally out to the distant Blue Mountains, from the top floor clear windows of
the Carrington’s south facade.
Development should provide enough shared (not designated) parking to serve the
Cultural/Visitors Centre and day-long parking to enable many town visitors to leave their
vehicles and take the bus to Echo Point or other destinations. It is assumed that the
parking capacity may not completely meet the few peak visitor day demands of the year, if
they occur on days when the supermarket and cinemas are all open simultaneously.
Street level development should incorporate active frontages with at least 50% contiguous
verandahs or other weather protection, and at least 50% clear windows distributed roughly
evenly along all adjoining public streets, including Froma Lane, College Lane, Park Street
and Prior Lane (if applicable).
The Development should offer a dignified and sheltered access connection to the Civic
Centre, aligning with the proposed new Civic Centre rear access at College Lane.
Car parking should be largely internalised, with only vehicular accessways visible at street
level. The car parking should be shared, with the possible exception of dedicated spaces
for permanent apartments in the development, if applicable.
The architectural image at the Cultural/Visitors Centre end of the development should
respect the Carrington and manifest its use, and should ‘read’ differently from the
architectural image of the southern uses, when not related to the Cultural/Visitors Centre
(such as the supermarket in Option C).
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