Steel City to Green City

Steel City to Green CityThe old Strokers Pool Hall on King Street was once a favourite haunt of bikies and other colourful characters about town.Very much associated with Newcastle’s reputation as a Steel City, the site is about to undergo a stunning transformation to enhance Newcastle’s growing reputation as a Green City.The work of local firm, Space Design Architects, Civic Green will be a boutique 32-apartment complex featuring passive ventilation chimneys, a lush green facade, balcony plantings and central light wells.It will comprise a mix of one-bedroom, one-bedroom-plus-study and two-bedroom apartments.Conceived to complement both the emerging Civic precinct and Newcastle City Council’s cycle strategy, Civic Green has a large number of dedicated parking spaces for bicycles and motorbikes, but only a small number for cars.Within walking distance of the new university campus, Civic Park, Marketown, and Hunter Street Mall, construction will start in June this year for what will be a nine-month build.Two new levels will be added to the existing building using lightweight construction materials to answer the design challenges of retrofitting so much onto an existing small site with mine subsidence issues.Since development approval in late December, the $13 million project has attracted a mix of buyers who like its smaller scale and prices starting from $335,000.