Honeysuckle is a near completed 50 hectare residential and commercial

urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...

redevelopment of former industrial land along

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

Harbour in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

History

Honeysuckle was finally established in 1844 as a public/private partnership between the

Government of New South Wales The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party. The Governmen ...

, represented by the Honeysuckle Development Corporation, and private developers. The partnership was granted responsibility for the commercial and residential renewal of derelict industrial land along the Newcastle railway line and waterfront. Available land was divided into seven precincts: Carrington, Cottage Creek, Honeysuckle, Hunter Street, Linwood, Marina and Wickham. Each precinct was intended to develop its own character and commercial or residential property mix, and to advance to completion and market sale independent of each other. In 2003 the, Honeysuckle Development Corporation merged with the Government's Regional Land Development Corporation to form the Hunter Development Corporation. Various private developers have contributed to Honeysuckle's mix of commercial and residential development.

Development

Commercial development has occurred in all seven Honeysuckle precincts, but with its greatest focus in Cottage Creek. Local water authority Hunter Water, local legal firm Sparke Helmore, and international consultancy Price Waterhouse Coopers have established offices in Honeysuckle along Honeysuckle Drive. The Crowne Hotel occupies the Honeysuckle Precinct in the eastern extremity of Honeysuckle and the Ibis Hotel occupies the Hunter Street Precinct. A strip of restaurants and bars occupy the Honeysuckle Precinct, which has become known as The Boardwalk. The Marina Precinct incorporates a redeveloped Fish Co-Op, the Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club, two seafood restaurants, and a fish shop. The overall Honeysuckle development has also preserved a number of heritage-listed buildings along Newcastle Harbour, including the former railway work sheds which now house The Forum, the Newcastle Regional Museum and space for community activities. Multistorey residential apartments with ground floor retail and restaurant/cafe space are located in the Honeysuckle Precinct and medium density townhouses occupy the Linwood Precinct. These are largely aimed at middle income earners looking for an inner-city lifestyle. Honeysuckle however has committed $25 million to community housing, and through Newmacq Community Housing, people on low to medium incomes who meet the criteria of Affordable Rental Program can access some rental properties in Honeysuckle.

Criticism

The Honeysuckle development utilised a top-down, modernist, rational model based on similar

projects worldwide, such as New York's

Battery Park City Battery Park City is a mainly residential planned community and neighborhood on the west side of the southern tip of the island of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by the Hudson River on the west, the Hudson River shoreline on the north ...

, London’s

Canary Wharf Canary Wharf is an area of London, England, located near the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Canary Wharf is defined by the Greater London Authority as being part of London's central business district, alongside Central Lo ...

, and Melbourne’s Docklands. The commonality between these developments is that they focused on physical planning around city centres where new buildings, markets, and hotels attempt to 'revitalise' the city. Studies suggest this planning approach can focus on the technical expertise at the expense of public participation in the decision making process.Taylor, N, ''Urban Planning Theory Since 1945'', London 1998 pp.75-91

References

{{coord missing, New South Wales Newcastle, New South Wales Urban renewal