Join us for the official opening from 10–11am on Saturday, 1 February to explore the new playground, enjoy a free coffee, and more.
We're pleased to announce our $1.6 million McIlwaine Park Upgrade is now complete, including the delivery of a new:
- Playground
- Amenities building
- Barbecue picnic shelters, and
- Pathways
As well as a renewal of our beloved Putt-Putt golf course.
Background
In 2019, we asked the community for feedback on our plans to upgrade the McIlwaine Park foreshore for our growing Rhodes Community
Some of the most common pieces of feedback from the community were to upgrade our amenities building and playground. This included providing a more diverse range of play equipment. You can view the full feedback report here.
Following the first round of consultation, we commenced stage one of our McIlwaine Park upgrades, which included a new beach area, sandstone seawall, discovery seawalls, picnic shelters, and more. Stage One was officially opened in November 2023.
In September 2023, we sought community feedback on our upgrade concept designs, including plans for a new playground and amenities building. Recommendations from our local police and the Access and Inclusion Committee helped inform the concept designs.
In response to your feedback, we signed off on our final designs and completed the upgrades from July–December 2024.
Playground
Our new playground is designed to be more fun, safe and accessible for park users.
We installed a range of new play items including a new play tower, climbing net, musical instrument area, spinner and more.
To make the playground safer, we've installed rubber softfall and constructed a partial boundary fence to separate the play equipment from the carpark.
People of all abilities will find it easier to get around thanks to the new pathways and rubber soft-fall delivered throughout the site.
The playground was designed in line with Council’s Let's All Play Strategy and NSW Planning’s Everyone Can Play Guidelines.
Final Design
Click image to view in full screen.
McIlwaine Park, like many of our foreshore parks, was reclaimed in the 1970s and filled with construction waste. Environmental testing has found that non-friable (bonded) asbestos in the form of fibre cement fragments (fibro) was found to be present within the fill material. The risk of exposure to asbestos during earthworks is considered to be low based on the asbestos contamination considered to be predominantly bonded in nature with limited ability to become airborne and respirable in the soil. Other than fibro pieces, no other major contaminants were discovered during the environmental investigations.
Before any works commence a Remediation Action Plan (RAP) will be prepared by a professional Environmentalist to manage the risks associated with the known asbestos contamination within the park. An Asbestos in Soil Management Plan (AMP) will be prepared for the works in accordance with NSW legislation, industry standards, codes of practice, guidance documents and guidance from the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and SafeWork NSW for the management of asbestos in soil.
Once works are complete at Long Term Environmental Management Plan (LTEMP) will be prepared to implement management practices to manage the residual risks relating to the presence of bonded asbestos in soil beneath capping material within the site.
