Share your ideas - Honeysuckle
Creating great places through strategic community engagement and targeted communications

- CLIENT:
- Hunter and Central Coast Development Corporation
- SECTOR:
- Government, place design, urban development, infrastructure
- SERVICES:
- Stakeholder and community engagement, communication, media management
- DURATION:
- 2020 - 2021
Creating great places in Honeysuckle
The picturesque Newcastle waterfront, known as Honeysuckle foreshore, wrapping the working harbour, was once bustling with industrial and maritime activities. The 50-hectare site has been transformed over the past 28 years, emerging as a mix of commercial and residential development that continues to thrive.
The urban transformation of the Honeysuckle precinct is continuing, with the invigoration and future development of the remaining parcels of land at the western end of the city of Newcastle.
The Hunter and Central Coast Development Corporation (HCCDC), the NSW Government agency changed with transforming the waterfront, is inviting community members to join the conversation about the future use and function of the western end of the Honeysuckle precinct.

Mara’s role
HCCDC engaged Mara Consulting to gather feedback about the community’s future aspirations for the remaining land in the Honeysuckle precinct. This information will be used to guide the future development and divestment of the site.
Mara created a comprehensive and COVID safe engagement strategy to talk with a broad section of the community. Part of our role was stakeholder analysis, risk identification as well as mitigation measures and actions.
The team at Mara focused on digital engagement activities to generate ideas and feedback.
Outcomes
Information gathered through the engagement will identify common themes against HCCDC's key pillars (environmental, social and economic) as well as developing a set of project objectives to guide future development on the land. The final report will include all the outcomes of the engagement activities, which will become a public document and will be used in the divestment of the site (commercial process).
The Honeysuckle Ideas Outcomes Report is now available. The report outlines the engagement process and explains how the diverse feedback received was translated from specific ideas and feedback into themes before becoming project objectives.
More information:
- Honeysuckle Ideas Outcomes Report - Download PDF
- Honeysuckle Ideas Outcomes Report - Executive Summary PDF
- Honeysuckle Ideas - Themes and Objectives
- Honeysuckle Ideas - Webpage
Consultation was open
24 September to 18 October 2020
- Share your feedback on the ideas wall
- Complete the online survey
- Email honeysuckleideas@maraconsulting.com.au
- Phone 02 49654317.
About the project
Since the early 1990s HCCDC has led the renewal and revitalisation of the Newcastle harbour foreshore. The Honeysuckle precinct has helped transform the inner city and create residential, tourism, recreation and job opportunities as well as thriving outdoor and public domain spaces.
The final parcels of land located at the western end of Honeysuckle Drive at Wickham will be transformed over time to link with the emerging CBD and provide easy access to the new public transport hub. Currently, these parcels of land provide temporary car parking until a future use is identified, as well as housing several old buildings, including the former Wickham School of Arts building, which is listed in the Newcastle Local Environment Plan (LEP) as a heritage item with local significance.
This final transformation of Honeysuckle lands is an exciting opportunity to continue to create something special for people to enjoy. Thanks for being part of the conversation!