Ryde Central will deliver a new ‘heart of Ryde’ to the local community through the redevelopment of the Ryde Civic Centre.

Following a 10-year process to align local community needs with and the City of Ryde‘s vision, Ryde Central was designed to create a multipurpose community and cultural centre that will deliver a four-fold increase in community space. The City of Ryde want the development to reflect the character of the city, promote sustainability and respond flexibly to the needs of council and the community.

Due to the complexity, cost, scale and overall size of the development, the City of Ryde recognised they needed the support of a dedicated Project Management firm with the necessary skills, systems, processes and experience needed to deliver this significant project. In 2020, the City of Ryde engaged STAR PMCA to undertake the end-to-end project management of the construction of Ryde Central including the:

• Administration building and supporting civic spaces.
• Multipurpose Community and Cultural Centre, featuring a 700-seat community hall, gallery exhibition space, and numerous multipurpose rooms.
• A small amount of additional commercial space (dedicated within the administrative building) and ancillary food and beverage retail outlets (dedicated in each building).
• Appropriate levels of onsite car parking.
• An attractive public domain and open space where the community can congregate and celebrate.

Our project management methodology assists Council executives to make informed decisions throughout the project without feeling overwhelmed. To date we have:

• Established the project governance through the formation of the PCG with a term of reference including identification of working and user groups to aid the decision making of the council, followed by definition of objectives, vision and mission statement.
• Established the PM delivery strategy, team, client budget, procurement and program leadership and management.
• Successfully delivered an Approved Development Application, Demolition Development Application, Contractor RFT, over 20 consultant RFTs and completion of the early contractor Involvement portion of the design and construct contract with early work separable portions.
• Guided the council in with the authorship of an ICT Strategy and Implementation Guide for Ryde Central’s smart buildings and smart places, ensuring a cyber secure built environment.
• Guided the council with their request for proposals for their commercial workplace & food and beverage strategy. Our team are responsible for the delivery of up to 2000m2 of PCA Grade B accommodation, cafe, roof top bar/restaurant and a commercial kitchen to cater for up to 800 people.

This has all been achieved through the challenges of lockdowns and site restrictions that were frequently in place in NSW throughout the second half of 2020.

Demolition of the existing council building was completed in mid-2021 and construction of the new Ryde Central development is now on track and is expected to be completed in 2024. We continue to work closely with the City of Ryde to guide their way by tailoring our processes and systems to their needs. Our ongoing work through until 2024 includes:

• Design and construct contract works of the entire Ryde Central development through to completion.
• Whilst undertaking the required client-side project management with the D&C Contractor we will simultaneously facilitate the contract administration of the base build. We will also manage a potential of up to four or more fit out contractors for commercial and F&B providers, including the City of Ryde’s change management, decanting and transition planning.
• Our ICT project management team will guide the procurement, installation, transition and commissioning of the entire IT capability into the new building.

“With his experience and tenacity, Nathan is a good person to have on your side for a complex project like this one. He gets in and gets the job done.

I feel Nathan and David Wing genuinely look after our interests. They’re willing to have the hard conversations with the contractor, because they have the experience and capability. They’re very good at getting things back on track if needed.”

Wayne Rylands, City of Ryde