After eight months of construction, a new community plaza in the heart of Kingsford is opening to the public today Wednesday 8 March 2023, Randwick Mayor Dylan Parker announced.

Located at the intersection of Meeks Street and Anzac Parade, the plaza includes new paving, a timber performance stage, large grass lawn area and new trees and shrubs.

Randwick Mayor Dylan Parker thanked the local community and businesses for their patience during the works.

“The Meeks Street Plaza creates a new civic heart for the Kingsford community. It provides a much-needed gathering space for local residents, shoppers and students to spend time.

“Kingsford is widely regarded as Sydney’s undiscovered Chinatown with a range of quality restaurants, proximity to UNSW and NIDA and access to the light rail.

“I’m very pleased that we have been able to deliver this new space for the Kingsford community.

“This has been a vision for many of us at Council over the past few years and I particularly want to acknowledge the dedication of West Ward Councillors Philipa Veitch, Alexandra Luxford and Andrew Hay as well as former Councillor Harry Stavrinos,” Mayor Parker said.

As part of the upgrade works, powerlines have been put underground, new street banner poles installed as well as sustainability features such as water permeable asphalt on the adjacent car park draining to a water retention tank.

The timber stage and grass lawn area provides opportunities to support local buskers and musicians and pop events like fete stalls and markets.

Meeks Street was closed to traffic in August 2016 during light rail works to create a temporary community space. Community consultation was conducted in 2019 on plans for a permanent plaza and the new $1.5M plaza started construction in August 2022.

An official opening will be held on Saturday 17 June 2023 from 4-8pm with a community celebration currently being planned.