What's New
Always great to see Leamington Domain playground buzzing with activity both in the weekdays and weekends. The Xyst team was fortunate to have a role in shaping the original masterplan, which was then brought to life through concept and detailed design by the talented team at Brodie Hailwood, mana whenua and the amazing staff at Waipā District Council. I have been told the playground has had huge knock-on effects for a community organisation supporting children and youth, and it has even become a much loved birthday party destination. How good to get our tamariki outside and active! Moments like this remind me why I love what I do. Listening to community aspirations and helping to plan future public spaces people truely enjoy is incredibly rewarding.
Congratulations to the seven parks in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia who have achieved the Green Flag Award for 2025/26! Achieving this award signifies that a park not only meets high international standards of upkeep but also plays a vital role in the community it serves. Clayton Campus, Monash University, Victoria
First time winner / First University campus winner in Australia Roma Street Parklands, City Parklands, Queensland
Previous winner FY24/25 Chinchilla Botanic Parkland, Western Downs Regional Council, Queensland
Previous winner FY 24/25 Queanbeyan Park, Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council, New South Wales
Previous winner FY24/25 Queen Elizabeth II Park, Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council, New South Wales
Previous winner FY 24/25 Queens Park, Toowoomba Regional Council, Queensland
Previous winner FY 24/25 Lochiel Park, Campbelltown City Council (SA), South Australia
Previous winner FY 24/25 This accolade emphasises the value of well-maintained parks and their crucial contribution to enhancing the quality of life for all who enjoy them. “Toowoomba Regional Council is proud to receive the Green Flag Award for the second year, an award that recognises our staff’s outstanding commitment to caring for Queens Park. This achievement reflects their ongoing commitment to maintaining high standards, creating welcoming spaces, and ensuring the park remains a place the whole community can enjoy, inspiring us to continue enhancing our green spaces and preserving them for future generations,” - Cr Tim McMahon, Toowoomba Regional Council “It’s an honour to receive a Green Flag Award for our Clayton campus and be the first university in Australia to receive this award. This recognises Monash’s deep commitment to creating sustainable, inclusive and vibrant spaces for our students, staff and the wider community.” - Mr Simon Kupec, Monash University Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice-President “Receiving the international Green Flag Award is a tremendous honour for our Community. It highlights how Council, the Friends of Lochiel Park and other volunteers work together to help our green spaces flourish — and shows what we can achieve when we cultivate our parks side by side.” - Mayor Jill Whittaker OAM, City of Campbelltown Read more on our website: https://lnkd.in/gkwbzykj Green Flag Award
World Urban Parks
Keep Britain Tidy #GreenFlagAward #ParksManagement #ExcellenceInParks #SustainableParks #EnvironmentalLeadership #AustraliaParks #CommunityGreenSpaces #ParkExcellence #AwardWinners
First time winner / First University campus winner in Australia Roma Street Parklands, City Parklands, Queensland
Previous winner FY24/25 Chinchilla Botanic Parkland, Western Downs Regional Council, Queensland
Previous winner FY 24/25 Queanbeyan Park, Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council, New South Wales
Previous winner FY24/25 Queen Elizabeth II Park, Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council, New South Wales
Previous winner FY 24/25 Queens Park, Toowoomba Regional Council, Queensland
Previous winner FY 24/25 Lochiel Park, Campbelltown City Council (SA), South Australia
Previous winner FY 24/25 This accolade emphasises the value of well-maintained parks and their crucial contribution to enhancing the quality of life for all who enjoy them. “Toowoomba Regional Council is proud to receive the Green Flag Award for the second year, an award that recognises our staff’s outstanding commitment to caring for Queens Park. This achievement reflects their ongoing commitment to maintaining high standards, creating welcoming spaces, and ensuring the park remains a place the whole community can enjoy, inspiring us to continue enhancing our green spaces and preserving them for future generations,” - Cr Tim McMahon, Toowoomba Regional Council “It’s an honour to receive a Green Flag Award for our Clayton campus and be the first university in Australia to receive this award. This recognises Monash’s deep commitment to creating sustainable, inclusive and vibrant spaces for our students, staff and the wider community.” - Mr Simon Kupec, Monash University Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice-President “Receiving the international Green Flag Award is a tremendous honour for our Community. It highlights how Council, the Friends of Lochiel Park and other volunteers work together to help our green spaces flourish — and shows what we can achieve when we cultivate our parks side by side.” - Mayor Jill Whittaker OAM, City of Campbelltown Read more on our website: https://lnkd.in/gkwbzykj Green Flag Award
World Urban Parks
Keep Britain Tidy #GreenFlagAward #ParksManagement #ExcellenceInParks #SustainableParks #EnvironmentalLeadership #AustraliaParks #CommunityGreenSpaces #ParkExcellence #AwardWinners
Mark Corea and Mark Smith from Xyst had an inspiring week at the Parks and Leisure Australia National Conference held in the picturesque Hobart, Tasmania.
Mark Corea presented a session titled: “Fact-Check: Is Your Organisation Excelling in Parks and Open Space Management?”.
This presentation explored insights from #Yardstick, to help organisations evaluate and improve their performance in managing parks and open spaces. Mark also covered the Green Flag Award, highlighting options to explore and demonstrate ways to showcase your high-performing parks and delivery teams to a wider audience. #PLA2025 #Yardstick #YardstickGlobal #YardstickParksBenchmarking #ParksAndRecreation #Benchmarking #LocalGovernment #PublicSpaces #WeHaveGreatClients #GreenInfrastructure #EnvironmentalStewardship #UrbanDevelopment #ParkManagement
Mark Corea presented a session titled: “Fact-Check: Is Your Organisation Excelling in Parks and Open Space Management?”.
This presentation explored insights from #Yardstick, to help organisations evaluate and improve their performance in managing parks and open spaces. Mark also covered the Green Flag Award, highlighting options to explore and demonstrate ways to showcase your high-performing parks and delivery teams to a wider audience. #PLA2025 #Yardstick #YardstickGlobal #YardstickParksBenchmarking #ParksAndRecreation #Benchmarking #LocalGovernment #PublicSpaces #WeHaveGreatClients #GreenInfrastructure #EnvironmentalStewardship #UrbanDevelopment #ParkManagement
Xyst's Karl Nesbitt will be one of the panelists at next weeks Coffee n Coffins Chat "... where we’ll be taking a deeper, more conversational look at Limited Tenure Plots. Following the strong interest and great discussion from our last Limited Tenure Webinar, we’re bringing the conversation back, this time in a round table format. This is your opportunity to ask questions, share insights, and hear from others across the sector who are actively navigating the challenges and opportunities of limited tenure. Our panelists are being finalised currently with more information made available here once confirmed. We’ll be exploring how limited tenure can support future cemetery planning, what lessons are being learned across Aotearoa, and how it can help address capacity challenges. Even if you can’t make it live, register anyway, everyone who registers will receive a link to the recording afterwards. If you’re running out of room in your cemeteries or planning to open new land, this is a discussion you’ll want to be part of." Register here: https://lnkd.in/gvn4gqNy NZ Cemeteries & Crematoria Collective (NZCCC) Ngā Rau Hotu
Join Xyst's Karl Nesbitt and Mark Corea at the IPWEA Parks Online Course Asset Management for Parks, Open Spaces and Community Facilities Designed specifically for professionals involved in the planning and management of recreational facilities and open spaces, this course covers the key concepts of asset management, as they apply to a parks and recreation context. With a focus on developing capability and understanding this course will aid participants in understanding their role in asset management, understanding the process of asset management and the fundamentals of asset management accountability, risk, service and financial efficiency. This course will be conducted online, involving a mix of lecture type sessions, group activity, discussions, and assessment. This course provides a great opportunity to learn from peers working in other jurisdictions and to share and debate current practice. For more details and to register visit IPWEA here https://lnkd.in/gy-MTuWj
Welcome Kirsty Huxford! Xyst is pleased to welcome Kirsty to our Christchurch Team. Kirsty has worked in environmental policy and planning for 20 years, including roles in local government and for iwi organisations working on a wide range of environmental projects and programmes. "I'm passionate about recreation and open spaces, and enjoy bringing people together to find practical solutions for environmental issues and opportunities. I value meaningful engagement with mana whenua, communities and stakeholders and bring a collaborative, pragmatic and organised approach to every project. " We're looking forward to working with you Kirsty!
https://lnkd.in/g2RW_M2h
https://lnkd.in/g2RW_M2h
Play Week 2025: A Visual Celebration of Safe, Inspiring Play Spaces
This Play Week, we’re celebrating the spaces that bring our communities together through play, and the people who make them exceptional.
We’re proud to share a few highlights from recent projects, showcasing the creativity, care, and collaboration that go into designing and maintaining our playgrounds and play spaces. From imaginative playground design and thoughtful landscape architecture, to surface impact testing and Level 3 playground inspections, councils across Aotearoa are raising the bar for safety, accessibility, and our communities wellbeing.
Xyst continues to assist Councils to make sensible asset management decisions that inspire efficiency in operations and deliver play value for our Tamariki. A huge thank you to the teams behind the scenes who make it all possible. Let’s keep improving our spaces to inspire play, connection, and pride. Check out recent Play Spaces projects completed by the Xyst team https://lnkd.in/gk5Fm-3n Tom O'Neill
Jane Wright
Liz Oldfield
#PlayWeek2025 #PlaySafe #PlaygroundDesign #LandscapeArchitecture #CommunityWellbeing #LocalGovernment #SurfaceImpactTesting #Level3Inspections #InclusivePlay #PublicSpaces #UrbanDesign #AotearoaPlay
This Play Week, we’re celebrating the spaces that bring our communities together through play, and the people who make them exceptional.
We’re proud to share a few highlights from recent projects, showcasing the creativity, care, and collaboration that go into designing and maintaining our playgrounds and play spaces. From imaginative playground design and thoughtful landscape architecture, to surface impact testing and Level 3 playground inspections, councils across Aotearoa are raising the bar for safety, accessibility, and our communities wellbeing.
Xyst continues to assist Councils to make sensible asset management decisions that inspire efficiency in operations and deliver play value for our Tamariki. A huge thank you to the teams behind the scenes who make it all possible. Let’s keep improving our spaces to inspire play, connection, and pride. Check out recent Play Spaces projects completed by the Xyst team https://lnkd.in/gk5Fm-3n Tom O'Neill
Jane Wright
Liz Oldfield
#PlayWeek2025 #PlaySafe #PlaygroundDesign #LandscapeArchitecture #CommunityWellbeing #LocalGovernment #SurfaceImpactTesting #Level3Inspections #InclusivePlay #PublicSpaces #UrbanDesign #AotearoaPlay
PARKS CONSULTANT - MELBOURNE We’re on the hunt for our next amazing Parks Consultant to be based in Melbourne! If you're keen to work across a wide range of clients and projects and you'd like to help us grow our business in Victoria and across Australia, we'd love to hear from you! Apply here: https://lnkd.in/gDA9zGZ3