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We are a global team of biourbanists shaping resilient cities, places and environments. Landscape Architecture | Urban Design | Environment | Biourbanism Lab

McGregor Coxall is a global collective of innovators committed to shaping prosperous cities and environments. Interdisciplinary design is our DNA, research is our validation, humanity is our motivation and environmental regeneration is our resolve. A world thriving is a legacy of today’s positive action.

08/10/2026

Reconnecting community with the Nepean River through regenerative landscape moves.

We're celebrating Regatta Park, recognised with the Parks and Open Space Award and the ShadeSmart Award at the 2026 AILA NSW Australian Institute of Landscape Architects Award Ceremony.

The realignment of River Road was the project's most consequential decision. Removing the road that bisected the park reunited the landscape into a continuous whole for the first time, enabling an unbroken foreshore experience from entry to river edge. What seems like a single move enabled everything that followed.

Designed on Dharug Gundungarra Yandhai Country in Penrith, the park now brings riparian restoration, active recreation, cultural identity, and genuine civic gathering together along 400 metres of the Nepean River. A clear east-west access spine draws visitors from street to water, flanked by double rows of canopy trees that provide both shade and spatial definition. At the river's edge, continuous foreshore paths, over-water viewing platforms, terraced river stairs with integrated seating, and kayak launch areas offer multiple connection points to the water — from quiet observation to active participation.

The impact is already visible. The 2025 community celebration drew crowds large enough to require a dedicated shuttle bus service — a measure of civic uptake that landscape design made possible. Over one million people are projected to visit annually, transforming Penrith's relationship with its river.

What makes this park exemplary is how each element reinforces the others. The riparian planting stabilises the bank that the viewing platforms celebrate. The Water Sensitive Urban Design swales protect the river that the kayak launches access. The First Nations artwork grounds the park in the cultural history of the place that the road realignment finally allows people to fully experience.

Delivered through a $24 million partnership between Penrith City Council, the Australian Government, and the New South Wales Government.

Design collaboration with Breakspear Architects

Photo credit: Martin Mischkulnig, Ruth Gold

06/10/2026

Connecting communities through integrated landscape and civic design.

We're celebrating the Parramatta Aquatic Centre, recognised with the Civic Landscape and Climate Positive Design Awards at the 2026 AILA NSW Australian Institute of Landscape Architects Award Ceremony.

Rather than imposing a building on the landscape, the centre reverses the traditional aquatic typology — embedding the structure within Parramatta Park's topography. Located on Burramattagal (Dharug) Country within a UNESCO World Heritage site, it brings landscape, architecture, and cultural engagement together to create a destination where community life genuinely happens.

The impact is already showing — with more than 20,000 residents attending swimming lessons, nearly 4,000 school children participating in carnivals, and over 2,000 enrolled in swim programs. The facility has become a year-round destination, with more than one million visitors expected annually.

Early data reveals what genuine integration achieves. The dense urban forest provides essential shade and cooling during summer months. Pedestrian and cycle pathways have become genuine thoroughfares connecting the centre with the broader park and C*D. Seating integrated throughout the precinct is consistently occupied. Cultural narratives embedded in the design have resonated deeply with the community, providing a framework for understanding the site's continued significance as a gathering place.

For us, the measure of the project is not only the infrastructure itself, but who can now use it — and how it is changing the way people gather, exercise, and connect within a landscape that honours Country.

The jury noted that "the project demonstrates landscape-led design as a framework for creating civic places of genuine community consequence."

Congratulations to the City of Parramatta and everyone who helped bring this important gathering place to life.

Andrew Burges Architects, Grimshaw Architects

Photo credit slide 1: Peter Bennetts
Photo credit slides 3-7: Martin Mischkulnig

02/10/2026

What one coastal intervention, design or idea you'd you like to exist, and what would have to change to make it possible?

Our Founder and CEO Adrian McGregor participated in the inaugural Coastal Design Assembly at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia on 26 August 2026, a gathering of architects and designers working at the intersection of city and sea.

Adrian presented McGregor Coxall's Tsukiji Tokyo Urban Waterfront, sharing the Biourbanism thinking that shapes our approach to coastal and waterfront design. The evening featured six projects focused on coasts, harbours, headlands, tidal pools and reefs—alongside work by CHROFI, Bangawarra, Besley Spresser, Floorplan Studio, artist Anna May Kirk, and host Sophie Lanigan.

Each speaker responded to the same closing question. This framing highlighted that coastal resilience requires not just exceptional design, but systemic change across policy, regulation and collective values.

We thank Sophie Lanigan for bringing together such a rigorous gathering of practitioners committed to design excellence and ecological regeneration at the water's edge.

30/09/2026

Aldea Tropicalia. Biourbanism in practice. Adrian & Adriana's shared conviction for new regenerative health and well-being village in the Dominican Republic.

Fundación Tropicalia, Tropicalia
Client: Cisneros

29/09/2026

The 2026 AILA NSW Australian Institute of Landscape Architects Awards brought together the landscape architecture and planning community to recognise the diverse body of work shaping NSW. It was a significant occasion celebrating design excellence and the collaborative efforts that drive meaningful change to cities and places across the state. For McGregor Coxall, the night delivered substantial recognition, with five awards spanning three public projects:

+ Civic Landscapes Award [Burramattagal Country] — Parramatta Aquatic Centre with Andrew Burges Architects and Grimshaw Architects for Parramatta City Council
+ Parks and Open Spaces Award [Darug & Gundungarra Country] — Regatta Park with Breakspear Architects for Penrith City Council
+ Landscape Planning Award [Gadigal Country] — Cooks River Activation Study for the Cooks River Alliance
+ ShadeSmart Award — Regatta Park
+ Climate Positive Design — Parramatta Aquatic Centre

These awards represent the cumulative effort of sustained design practice, strategic client partnerships, and collaborative innovation. Each project reflects many years of design, consultation, and a commitment to delivering prosperous, sustainable, climate resilient places that support local communities. The recognition acknowledges not just the final outcomes, but the rigorous research and conviction that underpins our practice.

We're thankful to our clients, collaborators, and team who have contributed to these successes. We extend a special thanks to Cooks River Alliance, Parramatta and Penrith City Council for joining us on the night.

23/09/2026

The Plant Portal has been shortlisted for Best Use of AI – Sustainability at Momentum Media Australia's AI Awards.

The platform addresses a fundamental challenge: how to guide landscape design decisions across one of the world's most ambitious urban development programmes. NEOM spans coastal sabkha plains, wadi systems, and mountain terrain reaching 3,500 metres, each with radically different ecological contexts.

Plant Portal reframes plant selection from preference to evidence-based governance. Using 24 years of climate data at 500m resolution, habitat classifications across thirteen habitat groups, and elevation mapping, a plant suitability model generates ecologically accurate recommendations for over 1,207 validated species. A parallel invasive species register, currently tracking 383 species, prevents climate-risk plantings. The underlying principle: ecological intelligence must be embedded into the infrastructure itself.

Developed by McGregor Coxall in partnership with NEOM.

21/09/2026

Congratulations Jack, on being named on the Dean's List of Excellence in Academic Performance at the University of Sydney for his master's in urban design, it is awarded annually on recommendation from the Deans, the prize recognises high performing students in each faculty based on annual average marks and enrolment.

Since joining McGregor Coxall, Jack has grown into a thoughtful and increasingly capable designer. Across a diverse range of projects, he consistently brings clarity to complex challenges, approaches problems with care and precision, and contributes meaningfully to studio culture and collaborative teams.

We love having you as part of the team.

18/09/2026

From Design to GeoAI.

The next evolution of design practice is not simply about generating images faster. It is about connecting geospatial intelligence, AI, environmental data and design workflows to make better decisions.

In this recent article, Dr Hossein Rizeei explores how GeoAI is moving from experimentation into practical design and planning workflows; from automating spatial analysis and testing design scenarios to building interactive tools that support evidence-based decision-making.

At McGregor Coxall, we see this as an important shift: from mapping places to understanding how places perform.

By bringing together GIS, remote sensing, AI, digital twins and design expertise, we can move towards workflows where data, analysis and design are more closely connected; allowing teams to test, measure and iterate before decisions are locked in.

A useful read for anyone working at the intersection of design, planning, geospatial technology and AI.

Read the full article by Roderic McLauchlan below.

16/09/2026

2026 Landscape Australia Awards Shortlist. We're excited to have two projects shortlisted in the Public Design Category; Regatta Park and Drying Green.

Accessible recreation. Ecological regeneration. Two projects, one principle: landscape architecture that creates systems resilience.

Awards announced October 22.

Photo Credit 1: Simon Wood
Photo Credit 2: Martin Mischkulnig

14/09/2026

This year's 2026 Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) NSW Chapter Awards will be held on September 24, celebrating the projects and practitioners who are reimagining how we live with landscapes and each other.

McGregor Coxall has three projects shortlisted across the Parks and Open Space, Civic Landscape, and Landscape Planning categories.

Our nominated projects span multiple scales and environments and showcase diversity and impact. Among them are Regatta Park, a vibrant community playspace celebrating accessible recreation and inclusive design; Parramatta Aquatic Centre, a contemporary civic landscape integrating water-sensitive design and community gathering; and the Cooks River Activation Study, a strategic landscape planning initiative that consolidates regional ambition into a prioritised, implementable recreation network spanning multiple LGAs

A huge thank you to all our talented clients and collaborators on these shortlisted projects.

Address

Suite 101, Level 1/39 E Esplanade, Manly
Sydney, NSW
2095

Telephone

610299773853

Website

http://www.mcgregorcoxall.com/

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