City Square to reconnect William Street

Located “on” William Street, City Square is one of five locations where the Perth City Link will connect the CBD and Northbridge.

In the second of articles on each new connection, Connect looks at William Street and City Square, which the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority will transform into a dynamic public space.

Perth City Link’s crowning feature, City Square, is set to become one of Perth’s top public destinations.

A pedestrian space built largely within the arms of the Horseshoe Bridge, City Square will be a prime location for concerts, exhibitions and functions with capacity for up to 6,000 people for major events.

It will be a large and busy open space fringed by restaurants, cafes, small bars and shops.

City Square will be a central destination and point of arrival in the city, with more than 80,000 people a day expected to use the area – including busy commuters, tourists and locals.

The public space may include islands of seating, landscaped gardens, water features, dramatic lighting, public art and street stalls to create a vibrant and inviting central square offering activity by day and night.

Terraced gardens will lead down from the heritage-listed Horseshoe Bridge, providing a welcome place to relax, while also providing a view to the Fremantle rail line as it starts to ‘dive’ underground.

When the rail project is completed, this William Street link will be one of the first of five new Perth City Link connections, allowing pedestrians to seamlessly walk directly from Northbridge, through to the CBD and on to the new Elizabeth Quay development at the river’s edge. It will also house portals to the new underground bus station and Perth Station.

Work on City Square will begin when the rail works are completed in 2014 and will be finished by 2016.