The Boomtown! Greater Western Sydney Project of the Year Awards have awarded GroupGSA’s Wylde mountain bike and BMX facility the Category Winner for Outstanding Sport, Recreation and Tourism.
Located at Western Sydney Parklands, the GroupGSA and Dirtz collaboration features more than 15km of purpose-built mountain bike trails, a BMX track and the largest pump track in the southern hemisphere.
Wylde opened in September, with thousands of riders anticipated to visit the facility each year. Western Sydney Parklands’ Southern Parklands precinct is considered the green heart of Western Sydney. The 150-hectare area forms part of the 5,280-hectare park, which spans three LGAs.
“Wylde with its striking architectural features has design excellence as a core objective, being specif-ically designed to seamlessly integrate a new biking facility within the sensitive Cumberland Plain Woodland vegetation,” says Western Sydney Parklands Senior Manager Design and Strategy, Oriana Senese.
“The design ensures low impact to the environment and offers a genuine bushland experience for the rider in the heart of Western Sydney.”
GroupGSA Principal Steven Hammond says the practice’s design seeks to meet the evolving demands for recreational activity amongst mountain bike and BMX riders, with 30,000 riders visiting the former site each year.
“Wylde has been designed to attract people for major riding events but also serve day-to-day recrea-tional amenity for leisure riders and families,” he says.
“The expanded facility contributes to the growing visitation to the district and development of the wider Western Parkland City.”
The original Wylde MTB Trail was completed in 2013 by GroupGSA, with the site relocated to its current location following the creation of the new M12 motorway. GroupGSA retained and reused the multi-purpose shelters from the previous site.
Seventeen tracks have been designed for various skill levels and weave in and out of the Cumberland Plain Bushlands. Each is integrated into the landscape, with each track featuring a mix of creative landscaping and trail markers to guide riders through the terrain.
Dirtz specialise in the design and construction of off-road cycling facilities. Dirtz Director, Brett Barnes, says the tracks have been created to allow for all skill levels of cyclists to participate.
“Very few facilities across Australia or the world do this for MTB, BMX and pump track,” he says.
Wylde MTB & BMX Hub will now be considered a finalist for the Boomtown! Project of the Year Award, announced on December 7. For more information regarding Wylde, click here.
