Devon Street Carpark, Croydon Victoria
RPS has supported Maroondah City Council (MCC) to develop new car parking facilities for commuters, shoppers, and residents in the Melbourne suburb of Croydon.
Connecting people and transport infrastructure
As Melbourne's population continues to grow, transport accessibility is a key challenge for residents and government agencies alike.
With Federal Government support, Maroondah City Council made plans to develop new multi-level carparking facilities on a triangular parcel of land it owns, bounded by Croydon’s Main Street shopping precinct, adjacent to the Croydon train station and the nearby bus depot.
In addition to easing parking congestion on neighbouring streets and improving access for shoppers and commuters, a mixed-use tenancy to be occupied by a state government tenant would offer another benefit for local community members.
Council engaged RPS’ project management, communications and engagement teams to oversee the design and delivery of the new carpark, while actively engaging the community on the project’s intent, benefits, and progress.
Devon Street carpark takes shape
Drawing on our broad experience shaping transport infrastructure projects across Victoria and around Australia, RPS worked closely with Council to challenge and confirm the design brief, manage the procurement of design consultants and construction contractors, and engage with community stakeholders.
Engagement with stakeholders evolved to include the project’s construction contractor, Kane Constructions, and considered traffic, accessibility, aesthetics, construction and operational aspects of the project.
Positive engagement informed the design process and led to the inclusion of an impressive perforated metal façade, high-quality services and finishes, and sustainability features such as the photovoltaic panel array installed on the structure’s roof.
Designing for the future
With consumer behaviours and transport technologies both evolving rapidly, RPS project managers played a key role in supporting Council’s aspirations to think beyond the boundaries of carparking and consider future-proofing opportunities for the Devon Street development.
The result is a design that incorporates flexibility for future alternative uses, including larger floor-to-floor heights, services and façades that will facilitate adaptive reuse without the need for major demolition works, and of course the integration of a 1400m2 ground floor commercial tenancy.
Overcoming construction adversity
In addition to managing the typical challenges that come from delivering projects in busy transport, commercial and residential zones (traffic management was key!), RPS worked closely with Kane to manage the additional challenges of construction within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With a foundation of strong relationships on all sides of the project – client, consultants, and contractors – our team was able to successfully negotiate risk- and cost-sharing sharing arrangements to manage supply-chain interruptions, industry shutdowns, and COVID safety impacts on Devon Street’s construction program.
Despite labour and materials shortages and interruptions to site activity, RPS worked with Kane to secure staged completion of the tenancy and carpark in line with the original programmed dates.
An aesthetically pleasing addition to Croydon’s transport and shopping precinct, the new facility adds much-needed transport infrastructure to a busy outer-suburban hub while enhancing the commercial, transport, and residential amenity of the neighbourhood.
