Evaluation

Honeysuckle fulfils the PCAL design objectives for retail areas, and demonstrates the application of a number of the design considerations, not only for retail areas but also for other categories in the PCAL guidelines. These include:

• Locate retail areas and shopping centres in a network of attractive and vibrant mixed use centres in a hierarchy of sizes and functions, closely aligned to the public transport system.

While Honeysuckle is more accurately described as a mixed use development rather than a solely retail area or shopping centre, it does include some small shops, along with a range of restaurants and cafes, a fitness centre, financial services firm and a beauty salon. An IGA supermarket is due to open in the second half of 2009. The development has created an attractive and vibrant mixed use area, with multiple functions.

Honeysuckle is well planned and laid out with both areas of dense use (such as the café and restaurant strip) and more open spaces, as well as good connectivity between the various functions. The development is well aligned with the public transport system, being within walking distance of both buses and trains.

• Locate retail areas so that they are easily reached and accessed by walking and cycling.

The Honeysuckle development includes a significant length of shared walking and cycling path, and can be accessed on foot or bicycle from the CBD. The development is well designed to meet the needs of pedestrians and cyclists, with wide paths and spacious public domain areas, seating, and bicycle racks located outside key destinations. The area is connected to existing retail areas of Hunter Street, via the railway crossing on Merewether Street, and is also connected at various points to on-road cycle lanes.

• Provide well-designed facilities in retail areas that foster community spirit and meet the needs of users of all ages and abilities.

Honeysuckle features well-designed facilities that provide access for a wide range of users and the area is well used by people of all ages and abilities. Gentle ramps from the foreshore path to the cafe and restaurant strip ensure access for people with reduced mobility. The foreshore path is wide and level, enabling use by large numbers of walkers and cyclists without conflict. As the path is well-lit and overlooked by adjacent hotels, apartments and cafes, it is perceived as safe for a range of users, and is well-used both during the day and evening.

The public domain areas of Honeysuckle have been well designed to encourage informal gatherings. For example, Harbour Square is an accessible area of open space featuring public art, seating, grassed and paved areas and an interactive water feature that is popular with children. The design enables parents to sit at the cafes overlooking the open spaces while their children play. Other features encouraging people to linger include seating, bicycle racks and drinking water bubblers.

There is a range of evidence that Honeysuckle is helping to foster community spirit. It has become a very well-used local area, with many people walking, cycling or skating in and through the area at all times of the day and evening, and others meeting at the restaurants and cafes or setting up for recreational fishing on the foreshore edge. The precinct has also been used as a venue for organised events. A community cultural program known as live sites runs a range of events in the public spaces of the development, including, for example, school holiday programs for children, a regular street performers festival, and an annual fire sculpture installation. The area has also been used for triathlons, with participants swimming a course in the harbour and starting the running and cycling legs along the foreshore path.

Design Considerations

• Integrate new shopping malls and large stores into mixed use urban centres. Avoid dispersed, isolated retail locations because they can only be reached by car and incur significant community and environmental costs.

This is not a mall-based retail area, but rather a mixed use development with residential and commercial uses and significant public space. It is characterised by cafes, restaurants and small shops rather than large stores. However Honeysuckle is very much integrated into a mixed use urban centre and far from being isolated or car dependent, the development is easily accessed on foot or bicycle.

• Encourage access by all modes of transport through site layout that balances the needs of pedestrians, cyclists, buses as well as driver comfort and visibility.

The integration of the foreshore shared path into this development encourages large numbers of people to walk or cycle to (and through) the area.

Honeysuckle is within walking distance of Wickham, Civic and Newcastle rail stations. Bus route 106/107 runs along Honeysuckle Drive, providing direct bus access to the precinct. A bus interchange at Newcastle rail station, and the inner-city and suburban bus routes that run along Hunter Street and Hannell Street, are also a short walk from the precinct. Honeysuckle is also within the Newcastle fare free bus zone, within which state government buses are free between 7.30am and 6pm every day of the week.

Access to the site by a range of transport modes is currently good, but it should be noted that there have been calls for this to be improved in particular through the removal of the rail line between Newcastle and Wickham. The March 2009 Hunter Development Corporation report on the renewal of the city centre makes this case, arguing that connectivity would be improved by the terminating the rail line at Wickham, constructing a new terminus there, and introducing bus links into the CBD and creating a pedestrian and cyclist shared zone that would follow the path of the former rail line. This would further enhance the active transport connections to Honeysuckle.

• Design retail areas/shopping centres to allow direct and convenient access from the street and adjacent uses by walking and cycling, as well as access for people with disabilities.

The various cafes, restaurants, small shops, market and other facilities of the development are all directly accessible from the street, either via the shared foreshore path, or along the footpath from the CBD. Ramps and textured pavement treatments at building entries provide easier access for people with disabilities or reduced mobility. Bicycle racks are also conveniently located at several points.

• Design shops to overlook the street where possible, rather than high blank walls that discourage the perceived safety of walking.

All the cafes, restaurants and shops in the Honeysuckle precinct overlook the public squares and/or the shared walking and cycling path along the foreshore. This provides a feeling of safety for path users, and also allows parents to sit and watch their children at play in the various areas of public space.

The mixed use design also sees residential apartments above the commercial uses on the ground floor, with balconies and verandahs providing a further level of surveillance and increasing the perception of safety for walkers. Many apartments overlook the shared path, while others look onto the paved or grassed areas of public space that are incorporated into the development.

• Provide public facilities for the comfort of shoppers such as seating, drinking fountains and clear signage, as well as cafes and restaurants, to encourage community interaction.

The public domain areas of Honeysuckle have been well-designed to provide for the comfort of visitors and to encourage community interaction. The development is well signed and includes various forms of public seating, drinking fountains and public art as well as cafes and restaurants. The design and layout of the development encourages community interaction whether via friends meeting at the various cafes and restaurants, casual interaction among the many users of the shared path and foreshore, children playing together in the interactive water feature, or attendance at organised events such as the live sites program.

• Provide safe, clear circulation routes and congregation points, with seating and non-slip flooring, especially in busy areas.

Honeysuckle features wide, generous circulation routes with clear sightlines, and space for many users to share the busy areas of the development. There is also ample space for groups to congregate, particularly in the paved public squares that are surrounded by cafes and restaurants. Seating is located at a number of points, and ramps and textured pavement treatments at building entries provide safer access.