Randwick City Council has announced an international ideas competition for the urban design of two of its town centres, Kensington and Kingsford in Sydney.

The council is seeking ideas for the strategic direction, sustainable growth and creative transformation of the town centres as they head into a period of significant urban redevelopment.

Located to the south-east of Sydney’s CBD, the town centres are linked by a major road, Anzac Parade. The proposed Sydney CBD and South East Light Rail will run along the road through Kensington town centre, terminating at Kingsford town centre. Due to be completed in 2019, the light rail is likely to result in significant challenges for the public domain of the town centres.

A Randwick City draft issues paper, which provided the precursor to the competition, identified that the local government area is projected to have an additional 36,500 residents by 2031, equating to an additional demand of 15,050 dwellings.

The international ideas competition will be conducted in two stages. In the first stage, the council is seeking expressions of interest from practices and design teams with diverse skills in architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, planning, transport planning, sustainable design and community consultation. In the second stage, up to four contenders shortlisted by an independent jury will proceed in the competition.

The jury comprises Malcolm Snow (chair, National Capital Authority), Ben Hewett (NSW Government Architect’s Office), Jennifer Neales (Fred St), Kerry Clare (Clare Design) and Tim Greer (Tonkin Zulaikha Greer).

Registrations for the competition close on 13 July and expressions of interest must be submitted by 15 July. Shortlisted contenders will be announced on 29 July.

Competitors will then have until 16 September to submit their ideas, which will be publicly exhibited from 21 September to 5 October. The winners will be announced on 17 October.

The council is offering a total prize pool of $300,000, with a total of $140,000 to be shared equally among the shortlisted competitors and $120,000 awarded to the winner. The jury may wish to award $40,000 to a commended competitor.

The council is concurrently conducting an online community survey, which will help form a brief for the competition.

To enter the competition and for more information, click here.