Breathing new life into places: Wallerawang Power Station

Since 2020, Greenspot has been working with the community of Wallerawang to reimagine the 620-hectare site which includes Lake Wallace, 150 kilometres from Sydney CBD and 115 kilometres from the Western Sydney Aerotropolis. The site contains several historic and modern buildings and structures, some of which were built to house the former Wallerawang Power Station which closed in 2014, as well as large amounts of open space. It’s hoped that the Wallerawang site can provide a prototype for repurposing former industrial sites for a sustainable future, diversifying and building resilience in economies like Lithgow which have traditionally relied on coal-based industry.

Greenspot is dedicated to collaborating with government, industry, and the community. Understanding what the community of Wallerawang wants to see on the site is one part of achieving this goal.

Seeking feedback on the plan for the site, ECF supported the Greenspot team in the planning and delivery of four drop-in sessions. These were held over the space of a month during the day and at night. Members of the community could drop in at any time during the session, talk with members of the urban design, planning, engagement, and project teams and complete a survey asking for their feedback on the proposed uses for the site. ECF collated and analysed the data collected and prepared a report for inclusion in the planning proposal.