SIPA has developed a concept plan for the development of a new St Ives Village Community Centre (SIVCC) on the Cowan Road car park site.
The objectives of the concept plan include:
To provide for a new facility on the Cowan Road Car park site: –Owned wholly by Council. –Perhaps stratum of lower parking levels, additional parking over 800 spaces –Serving the community with appropriate, relevant facilities, including: - New enlarged Library, - New larger Neighborhood Centre, - New Early Childhood Centre, - New Occasional Day Care Centre, - An older persons facility, - A flexible space on the top floor with both enclosed space and open space for community events, display of art works and small scale performing space together with potential for private functions. - Meetings rooms and storage space for community groups, - Each of the proposed spaces includes an open area to allow flexible use. - Direct connection by underground passage to the Shopping Centre. and, – Providing support for activities on Cowan Oval and the Village Green, including an underground passage below the Village Green Parade.
The Concept plan replaces the concept plan for a community facility and inadequate town square on Woolworth's site, together with some community facilities spread throughout the Shopping Centre
Notes: 1. Many existing facilities are not be wholly owned by Council as they are integrated with the Shopping Centre. 2. The concept does not replace the Memorial Hall on the Village green and the integrated Youth Cafe. 3. Nor does the concept proposal eliminate the need for the Community facilities on Mona Vale Rd and Rosedale Rd site which are leased under license to other users and invariably unavailable for alternate community needs.
•SIVCC would be possibly the best community facility on an iconic site integrated with Cowan Oval and Village Green.
Development of the concept, over more recent times, has been in collaboration with the St Ives Village Shopping Centre which has expressed the desire to develop additional levels of car parking in conjunction with the SIVCC to ease parking and enable redevelopment of the shopping centre.
An architects' representation is below, together with typical floor plans