Parramatta continues cementing its place as the 2nd CBD in the greater Sydney metropolitan area with an announcement by the University of New South Wales & the Western Sydney University teaming up to create a new Engineering focused university campus which will be built on the current site of the Commercial Hotel in the Parramatta CBD, just a stones throw away from Parramatta Station.
The name given to the vertical campus is the “Engineering Innovation Hub”.
The development is set to cost $280M & the project will be built by Charter Hall. Charter Hall built the $220M PSQ1 (Parramatta Square 1) 14 story vertical campus for the Western Sydney University, completing it in 2017 just metres away from the current proposal for this University.
These recent developments are pushing Parramatta towards becoming a major education hub, particularly as the University of New England has a distance education campus in the Parramatta CBD & both the University of Sydney and the Western Sydney University have major medical campuses in Westmead which is only 2km or 1 stop on the train from the CBD, which are both set to undergo major investment for campus expansion with the University of Sydney stating they plan to start offering more courses at the campus (source link).
To add to this, the Western Sydney University campus at Rydalmere will be connected with campuses of Westmead, PSQ1 & the future Engineering Innovation Hub by the Parramatta Light Rail Stage 1, turning Parramatta into a truly accessible education city.
It will be the first ever JV (joint venture) between two Australian universities to build & operate a university together, signalling it could be the way forward for the university sector in Australia.
It is expected that the Commercial Hotel at 6 Hassel St in Parramatta will be demolished to make way for the 27 level, 27,000sqm vertical campus.
It is expected that construction will start in 2019 & the development to be completed and begin enrolling students in 2021.
The face of Western Sydney is changing by the month. At this rate, Parramatta will become the 5th biggest CBD a lot sooner than expected only trailing the Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne & Sydney CBDs.
