Kiama Council's designers have completed the final plans for our Hindmarsh Park upgrade, and we've gone out to tender for a company to do the construction.
Council thanks our community for their feedback throughout the consultation process.
We received great feedback on the plans for upgrading Hindmarsh Park.
More than 85 per cent of the submissions mentioned the play space.
The feedback was very supportive of upgrading the existing play space, and we also got some excellent comments about where you'd like to see more detail about what is planned.
Our landscape designers, Civille, determined that a "wild play" play space would best suit Hindmarsh Park for several reasons.
These include retaining the park's open green areas and allowing flexible use of the space (including for events).
It was also important to retain the beautiful existing trees that give the park its character.
The play space final design (see image gallery below) is inspired by the indigenous and cultural heritage of Kiama including its natural environment, the harbour and maritime heritage, history of dairy farming and basalt mining.
The playground is designed to be distinctive and proudly 'Kiama'.
Other parks in the area offer more typical playground equipment, while the play space for Hindmarsh Park is designed to reflect Kiama's history and enhance the special character of Hindmarsh Park.
The play space combines elements you told us are important: it's accessible, it's sustainable (less plastic, more natural materials) and it's bespoke.
You won't see the same equipment here as in every other park, nor will you see it in a catalogue.
This includes the centrepiece 'bird's nest', inspired by the Satin Bowerbird, one of the totems for the Wodi Wodi people.
We know that Kiama is special and unique, so we wanted a park that reflected that.
Our finalised design for the play space has 5 distinct zones –water play, climbing, toddler play, and an adventure zone and nature play.
The zones all contain accessible areas and equipment and have soft fall to ensure they can be enjoyed safely.
We heard your comments about metal slides being too hot for kids in summer, so we've replaced these with a more suitable material.
We've also made sure to include areas in the park that cater to a diversity of needs.
There are quiet spots that are dementia-friendly and autism/sensory friendly.
There are multi-use places such as the Orry Kelly stage, which can host live performances but can also be a spot to chill and hang with friends, particularly for our youth, with SENTRAL nearby.
There's also plenty of shade including shade structures and natural shade and both traditional and non-traditional seating (park benches, seating walls and informal seating including boulders).
The tender for Stage 1 of the redevelopment works – the $3 million upgrade of Hindmarsh Park's main park and playground area – closed last week and will go to the December Council Meeting (in confidential) for endorsement.
The State Government, who are funding the project, has granted Council an extension to 1 February 2023 for the main redevelopment work to begin.
This will allow the park to be open and available over the Christmas holiday period, including New Year's Eve and Australia Day.
You can view the outcomes report for our Stage 2 community consultation:
Hindmarsh Park Community Consultation Outcomes Report Stage 2.pdf(PDF, 3MB)
