Recreation, visitor use and open space planning is one of Gondwana Consulting’s key strengths. The practice offers clients outstanding abilities and comprehensive experience in planning and managing for recreation and appropriate visitor use or tourism activities in both natural and developed settings.
Gondwana Consulting can successfully synthesise and balance natural/cultural values and heritage conservation objectives with recreation, visitor use and tourism desires to achieve both environmentally sustainable outcomes and high quality visitor experiences. This encompasses projects at all scales – from Statewide and regional conservation and tourism strategies, through concept plans or development strategies for major new parklands/open spaces or protected areas as well as open space and recreation strategies, to development plans or site management plans for individual parks or recreation destinations.
Both Gondwana Consulting Directors and other senior staff are experienced in formulating guidelines for the sustainable management of individual visitor use sites – from destinations receiving hundreds of thousands of visits to those seeing only a few hundred users annually. Project outcomes/products can include Park Concept or Development Plans, Site Management Plans, Masterplans, Monitoring and Management Programmes, or other documentation as required.
Gondwana Consulting offers extensive experience in liaising and collaborating with site managers, recreation and user groups, the tourism industry and organisations, and individual recreation and tourism operators. The Practice can also carry out surveys and research – including both quantitative and qualitative data, usage surveys, satisfaction surveys, demand analysis, site assessments, and so on – where required to inform the recreation/visitor use and open space planning process. Gondwana Consulting also offers specialist abilities and extensive experience in preparing plans of management for parks, reserves and open space – the Directors having prepared more than 50 plans of management for areas ranging from small urban reserves to large diverse national parks. We can also direct or manage interpretive projects to provide a range of visitor/management information and messages, and serve as an important visitor use and impact management tool.
Related Portfolio & News Items
Gondwana engaged to review Boronia Park Plan
Hunters Hill Council has engaged us to review and update the Boronia Park Plan of Management. Boronia Park is the single largest area of open space in the Hunters Hill LGA and encompasses significant areas of remnant bushland as well as sporting fields and associated facilities. With a total area of 24.2 hectares the site […]
Hurstville Oval Plan of Management
In late 2018 Gondwana Consulting was engaged by Georges River Council to prepare a Plan of Management and Masterplan for Hurstville Oval and the adjacent Timothy Reserve. The site supports a State level cricket oval and fringing velodrome and associated built facilities and a passive open space area. Being in proximity to Hurstville CBD the […]
New Plan of Management for National Park, Newcastle
For Newcastle City Council. Gondwana Consulting prepared a replacement Plan of Management for National Park out the outskirts of the Newcastle CBD for Newcastle City Council. National Park is an historic sporting park, covering approximately 20 hectares, which has played a significant role in the provision of major sporting facilities for Newcastle and the wider […]
Cattai Wetlands Future Direction Strategy
For Greater Taree City Council. Gondwana Consulting prepared a “Future Direction Strategy” for Greater Taree City Council for the Cattai Wetlands – an area of nearly 500 hectares with a range of significant biodiversity, cultural heritage, tourism/recreation and landscape values located approximately 22 kilometres north of Taree on the NSW mid-north coast. Council’s management of […]
Aquatic Recreation Usage Studies of Narrabeen Lagoon
For Warringah Council. Narrabeen Lagoon is a highly valued recreational, environmental and scenic asset for the residents of Warringah, Pittwater and beyond. The lagoon, which covers 2.2km² in surface area, has a long and well established history of recreational use – for pursuits such as kayaking, canoeing, sailing, boating, fishing, windsurfing and more recently for […]
Beresfield Recreation Precinct Masterplan.
For The City of Newcastle. Gondwana Consulting assisted The City of Newcastle in preparing alternative masterplans, a masterplan report and accompanying cost estimates, feasibility study and implementation pathway for the redevelopment of recreation and community facilities within the Beresfield Recreation Precinct on the western margin of the Newcastle LGA. The project examined the existing open […]
Review of Commercial Recreation Licensing in Gosford Public Open Space
For Gosford City Council. Gondwana Consulting undertook a comprehensive review of the management of commercial recreation licences within the public open space areas managed by Gosford City Council. This project was carried out in 2013/14 through the on-site evaluation of existing commercial use locations, the determination of capacity and sustainable management assessment criteria and a […]