TAP3 – East Hills / Yagoona – Social Outcomes

The East Hills and Yagoona Station Upgrades are part of the third tranche of Transport for NSW’s Transport Access Program, known as TAP 3, which seeks provide accessible, modern, secure and integrated transport infrastructure to the community, ensuring equitable transport for a growing population. Providing accessible transport services for everyone in the community is one of the six priorities for Transport for NSW’s Future Transport Strategy.

The East Hills and Yagoona Station Upgrades have been delivered by Arenco. Arenco in conjunction with the project design partners, GHD and Design Inc, took a holistic approach to achieving sustainability goals by achieving a meaningful reduction in embodied emissions along with ensuring positive community and social outcomes.

“Arenco has been proud to partner with Transport for NSW to deliver two Transport Access Program station upgrades at East Hills and Yagoona under the Infrastructure Sustainability Council (ISC) framework. We have found the key to building a smarter, more efficient and sensitive asset is by prioritising early engagement with our designers, supply chain, key stakeholders and the local community. Delivery under the ISC framework encourages the project, at all levels, to take a holistic approach to sustainability in construction and ensure that it is forms a key part of the decision-making process from design concept through to commissioning. We have indeed arrived at a time where sustainable thinking is no longer an abstract concept but an ineradicable part of the design and construction process, and encouragingly, of the general activities of life.” – Steven Williams, Arenco Construction Manager.

“Transport for NSW has a strong commitment to working with our industry partners and NSW communities to deliver sustainable infrastructure, enhance our environment, improve outcomes for transport users and connect to the needs and experience of our local communities. We aim to achieve this through active involvement of the community in initiatives that explore and develop the links between residents and their public places and to deliver a richer, more relevant urban environment.” Radivoie Miletich, Senior Project Manager, Transport for NSW

The project team recognised the opportunity for the stories of the local community to form part of the ongoing legacy of East Hills Station. A lift shaft wall was utilised as a canvas for a mosaic artwork which sought to tie in the station’s proximity to the Georges River and the community’s connection with this river. Those memories, provided by the local community, were then engraved onto the tiles of the mosaic, forming a lasting legacy and cementing the ownership of the asset with the local community. The dedicated community engagement teams at TfNSW and Arenco were able to ensure that the memories came from a wide variety of community members and received an overwhelming number of responses which made the impact of the artwork that much more meaningful.

The art installation celebrates the history of the Georges River. It was made possible through engagement with the community to encourage them to share stories, history and memories of the place, to build a connection between the East Hills community and the station as a place.

The community was invited to participate via a media release which gained traction with local news outlets, social media, and community notifications. Local community groups were contacted, and relationships were established with key community members and their existing networks were leveraged off to promote further engagement. Stakeholders the project engaged with included local councils, local Members of Parliament, the senior citizens centres, local bloggers and a local historian who provided further connections.

The community was asked to share their memories - “We’re calling on the community to share their fondest stories about life on the river in East Hills…” A large number of responses were received from people from 5 to 93 years of age discussing their stories about the river, examples include:
• “Boating up and down the Georges River all the way to Botany Bay, fishing and picnicking all along the river.”
• “Getting engaged on the banks of the Georges River.”
• “The old showboat named Mirabel which used to go down to the wharf at Sylvania with lunch and a piano player, and dancing to Jazz on the way back to the wharf.”

These memories were engraved onto tiles and integrated into the mosaic artwork creating a last legacy for the community.

On the 28th of April 2022, the East Hills Station opening was recognised with a Welcome to Country by Aunty Deanna Schreiber and a moving smoking ceremony by Uncle Dean Kelly. The station was officially opened by the Member for East Hills, Wendy Lindsay MP and included the unveiling of the art installation ‘memory plaques’ located at the station lift shafts, with members of the community invited who had contributed a tile quote.

In addition to the social outcomes, the project team recognised that great opportunities for positive impact often come at the earliest phase of the project lifecycle. During the value engineering process, it was found that by changing methodology from piles to rock anchors would result in a reduction of 8.5tCO2e as well as improvements in constructability.

The project team identified early on that there was a significant opportunity to reduce embodied emissions through material selection, with concrete being a significant contributor to the overall footprint. The project has achieved a 11% reduction in embodied emissions which was the result of material selection and value engineering initiatives. Boral was selected as the concrete supplier for the project and was able to deliver a range of structural and non-structural products with a high level of supplementary cementitious material (SCM) resulting in an average SCM content of 53% across the project, translating to a reduction in emissions of 82tCO2e.

The project has achieved a 29% reduction (40.85% inclusive of operational greenpower) in emissions associated with energy consumption and a 20% reduction in water consumption over the lifecycle of the asset. The key impacts in these areas were achieved by specifying efficient appliances to be installed such as LED lights, timers for electricity consuming equipment and using above average fixtures and fittings.

Transport for NSW sought to engage with local residents, historic societies and bloggers and senior citizens groups so that the widest possible range of stories and perspectives was gathered. This connection will be shared with the current and future community and visitors to East Hills, as the station preserves each memory for many generations to come.

The artwork, titled ‘Reflections on a River’, has two layers of meaning: the interpretation of the play of light and colour on the surface of the river water, and the memories of recreational activities that occurred on and alongside the Georges River that are embedded in the collective community memory, of both young and old, such as swimming, fishing, picnics, boating, family events and romantic experiences.

There are 57 plaques in total, with 25 plaques at Lift 1 and 32 at Lift 2. The memory plaques are strategically placed at eye level so visitors to the station can see each plaque and take time to read the memories from the banks of the Georges River as they pass through the station.

Examples include:
• ‘Celebrating my 21st on the river in 1980 aboard the ferry Mirabel’
• ‘We spent many years swimming in the George’s River at East Hills, Fitzpatrick Park, George’s Hall when there were shark nets there back in the 1940/50s’
• ‘Getting engaged on the banks of the George's River’
• ‘I remember the day I raced to the milk bar, opposite the railway station, to get new decimal currency coins on the way to East Hills High!’
• ‘Dad waking me at 3am. Off we would drive in his old truck from Revesby to the Georges River to go black fishing. Very serious business.’

The East Hills and Yagoona station upgrades contributes to UN SDG 11 Sustainable cities and communities. TAP 3 aligns with Target 11.2 ‘By 2030, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons’.

The key benefits of the East Hills station upgrade include:
• 2 new lifts connecting from the underpass to the station platforms
• upgrade of the station entrance on Park Road to provide improved pathways for customers
• upgrade of the two existing accessible parking spaces in the commuter car park
• a new kiss and ride area on Park Road
• upgrade of the pathway connecting Maclaurin Avenue to the station entrance
• reconfiguration of the existing bathroom facilities to provide a new family accessible toilet, and a new female and male ambulant toilet
• installation of hearing hoops and new boarding assistance zones on all platforms
• improvements to lighting, CCTV and wayfinding signage.

The key benefits of the Yagoona station upgrade include:
• new lift and stairs connecting the concourse to the station platform
• new concourse at the station entry
• new station building and facilities
• additional platform canopies to provide continuous cover from the new lift and stairs to Platform 1
• new accessible parking spaces
• new kiss and ride area on Hume Highway
• new accessible pathways
• family accessible toilet and male and female ambulant toilets
• upgrades to CCTV and lighting.

The East Hills and Yagoona station upgrades aligned to Target 11.7 ‘By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities.’ The project improved station accessibility and enhanced the public space through installation of the mosaic artwork which sought to tie in the station’s proximity to the Georges River and the community’s connection with this river.