Plans unveiled for a new high school at Macquarie Park
Plans have been unveiled for a new eight-storey high school in the bustling centre of Macquarie Park, in Sydney’s north, filling what was long considered the last missing link in the transformation of the area from industrial to mixed-use.
The new high school, located at Lachlans Line in Macquarie Park, is set to open to as many as 2000 students in 2029. It will contain indoor and outdoor sports courts and playgrounds – including some on the roof of the development – and its play facilities will be open to the public outside school time.
The plan for the new high school in Macquarie Park includes green space and rooftop outdoor areas.Credit: NSW government
The plans, released by the government on Sunday, mark a major departure from initial plans for a high school in the suburb planned by the previous Coalition government. It had planned to work with private developers to combine primary and high schools, with the same parcel of land as “mixed-use residential and commercial offerings”.
But since then, the Minns Labor government has radically upzoned the suburb, identifying it as one of eight accelerated precincts under the transport-oriented development policy. That means about 2000 more homes can be built around the Macquarie Park metro station than had been allowed under previous plans.
As recently as January, federal MP Jerome Laxale was telling constituents that the state government had told him it was planning a Macquarie Park Education Campus that would include a new public primary school with an attached preschool. But the government decided against putting either on the site, due to size constraints.
A new primary school is under construction in Midtown Macquarie Park, and despite the government’s promise to attach a public preschool to each new primary school, this school will not contain one because planning was completed before the policy came into effect.
An artist’s impression of the new high school planned for Macquarie Park.Credit: NSW government
The new high school will also change the catchment areas of the surrounding high schools, but a government spokesperson declined to comment on what the new areas would be, saying zoning was usually adjusted annually.
Construction is due to start next year. Before that, the government needs to submit detailed plans for the school to a separate team in the Education Department, and put the plans on public display.
Courtney Houssos, the acting minister for education and early learning, said the community had waited “far too long for a new, desperately needed high school”.
“We can now give families certainty – this school will be built, with construction to start next year.”
The Liberal member for Ryde, Jordan Lane, said he had been “waiting with bated breath for an update from the government”, and that a high school was needed in the area now, and even more so when more housing arrives.
“Ryde’s always been a heavy lifter on housing,” Lane said. “[But] it only works if you build the infrastructure to go along with it.”
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