The suburb of Mernda sits within a dynamic growth corridor to the north of Melbourne. The need for essential services, retail options and amenities to service the expanding Mernda population was addressed with the introduction of Mernda Town Centre, providing locals with a neighbourhood hub for shopping, dining and community engagement.
Construction of the Town Centre commenced in 2021, and the new local hub quickly gained popularity after opening in 2022, with a large Woolworths supermarket and other retail stores driving sales and visitor traffic. For users commuting on public transport, direct transport connections via the Mernda Railway Station and Bus Interchange on-site allow for convenient, easy access.
Visitors arriving at Mernda Town Centre by car can take one of 480 car parking spaces in the expansive car park. A mixture of steel bollards and concrete landscape elements were installed along the boundary of the carpark, protecting the pedestrian walkways from vehicle encroachment.
Anston (then SVC Urban) was contracted to provide the precast concrete components in the landscape, including 3.3m long Canyon planters and bespoke precast seating modules, which were installed with timber seat tops and seat backs for extra functionality. The use of these elements soften the threshold between pedestrians and traffic, introducing attractive greenery and seating areas for visitors while still providing physical barriers that protect pedestrians from potential vehicular impact.
The area is primed for further development, with a nearby hospital under construction and adjacent plots of land zoned for commercial, retail or medium density residential development. Already a thriving locale for Mernda residents, the future of Mernda Town Centre is bright.