Reimagining Sydney's Employment Lands

Our research reveals a way to create employment-led developments across metropolitan Sydney

We believe that there is a significant opportunity for industrial land, known as employment land in NSW, located close to centres, residential or other uses, to be redefined and reimagined and not just retained.

This will help maximise the use of existing employment precincts and in turn positively drive job growth and improve employment diversity across the Sydney metropolitan area.

An alternative approach

Our Urban Design and Planning experts have developed a research paper – Reimagining Employment Lands which is the second paper in our series to examine an alternative approach to the retention of employment land in Sydney.

The first paper, titled Unlocking Sydney's Employment Lands: Is Flexibility the Way of the Future? explored the economic viability and feasibility of genuine employment-led mixed-use developments.

This second paper – Reimagining Employment Lands aims to show how a more flexible approach to employment land use could help unlock the potential of Sydney's underutilised employment land. This paper explores the opportunity for employment-led mixed-use developments by analysing international best practice examples and identifying six urban design principles which can be used to guide employment-led development.

The tools for a better urban experience

These urban design principles coupled with innovative planning can be effective tools that, if used correctly, could deliver successful employment-led mixed-use precincts. These precincts will provide better placemaking outcomes, improve the quality of buildings, reduce environmental impacts and create a better urban experience for everyone.

For more information, please contact Stefan Meissner, Craig Allchin and Tim Ward.