Waterloo Metro Quarter Master Planning

The Metro Quarter is the site above the proposed Waterloo Metro Station. It has its own State Significant Precinct (SSP) study requirements. Early Visioning and study preparation was undertaken jointly with the Waterloo Estate SSP. On 18 May 2018 it was announced that the Metro Quarter master plan would be decoupled from Waterloo Estate master plan and that development of the Metro Quarter would be fast tracked to be built by 2022, two years before the station is scheduled to start operation. The announcement came simultaneously with 13 days notice of a 21 day "non statutory" exhibition of the draft master plan proposal for the above and below ground aspects of the site. The announcement broke undertakings given by LAHC, representing themselves, UrbanGrowth and Transport for NSW, that there would be a 6-8 weeks break between the release of the Visioning and consultant report summaries before there was any master plan consultations. During this time there was to be workshops run by the consultants on the main studies so the community understood the issues raised by the consultants that should be reflected in the the master plan. The decoupling makes it difficult to deal with site wide issues such as what community facilities might be best located on the estate or at the station.