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October 2011
| AUTHORITY NEWS |
EVENT NEWS |
| Leasing to bring new tenants to The Rocks | |
| Promoting The Rocks to international and domestic visitors | |
| The Rocks visitation | |
| PRECINCT NEWS | |
| A note from The Rocks Local Area Command | Seven Bridges Walk comes round the foreshore |
| SUSTAINABILITY NEWS | Cruise ship arrivals |
| Pony chips away at food waste | RETAIL TIPS |
| Retail tips from The Rocks Local Area Command |
AUTHORITY NEWS
Leasing to bring new tenants to The Rocks
The Authority has been working hard over the past few months to attract new tenants to our precinct and now has strong interest in 9 of the 20 available properties. The properties, which are in various stages of lease negotiations, are:
- Shop 13, The Rocks Centre
- 31 George Street
- 37 George Street (Level 1)
- 47 George Street
- 105 George Street
- 127-129 George Street
- 139 George Street
- 140 George Street (Shop 2.02)
- 29a-31a Playfair Street
- 157-161 Gloucester Street
Stay tuned for more information on the Authority's leasing activities in next month's issue.
Promoting The Rocks to international and domestic visitors
The Authority's recent marketing activities to promote the precinct and tenants have included:
- 'The Rocks What's on this Spring' publication, which was distributed in 318,000 metropolitan copies of the Sydney Morning Herald, handed to 5,000 people at CBD train stations and provided to the Sydney Visitor Centres and a number of hotels, cafes and retail locations within The Rocks
- advertising in the new Sydney Official Guide, a bi-annual publication distributed at airports, tourism kiosks at Circular Quay and Town Hall, the Sydney Visitor Centres, regional visitor centres, business and conference events and local tour operators. Printed in English (750,000 copies) and Japanese and Chinese (140,000 copies), the publication has a wide reach to potential visitors.
The Rocks visitation
In August 2011, people movements in the precinct were down 2.8 % to 1,010,013 when compared to August 2010. The 12-month rolling people movements to The Rocks from September 2010 to August 2011 decreased by 1.3% to 13,752,990.
PRECINCT NEWS
A note from The Rocks Local Area Command
The NSW Police Force welcomes input from tenants into how they can better serve your needs. If you have any concerns regarding criminal activity in your area or suggestions about how the police can improve their service to you, please contact Inspector Jackie Smith at smit2jac@police.nsw.gov.au. If you require urgent police attendance, please contact the emergency service number: Triple '0' (000).
SUSTAINABILITY NEWS
Pony chips away at food waste
Results are now in on a new program to manage waste in The Rocks, which was launched in July, and introduced coloured bins in waste rooms to make it easier to recycle and separate food scraps for composting. Participation by tenants has been very positive with a 28 per cent decrease in general waste through controlled access, as well as more than three tonnes of co-mingled waste (glass, plastic and paper) diverted into recycling streams. Congratulations to everyone involved on a great result!
Chef Neil Nolan from Pony Dining is an enthusiastic supporter of the new waste management regime. He believes the key to managing kitchen waste is staff education combined with clear processes and accessible waste bins, "A commercial kitchen such as ours can fill up to two 60 litre bins a day with food scraps, including 5.5 kilos of potato peel just from our thick cut chips. It's pretty easy to just use a separate bin to collect it before it goes to the main waste room. I am glad my food waste has now found a proper home to help the environment," says Neil.
In just one month, over nine tonnes of food waste from The Rocks has been diverted from landfill into the compost bins in the Mill Lane waste room. This is now being put to good use as the Authority sends all compostable waste to EarthPower in Western Sydney where it is processed to produce green electricity and a nutrient-rich-by-product fertiliser.
EVENT NEWS
Fun and games at the Museum
This school holidays, the Authority is presenting a great program of entertainment at The Rocks Discovery Museum to attract young families into the precinct. Kids can immerse themselves in games of past and present including marbles, wooden train set and dominoes, make an old-fashion toy, and see special children's artefacts in the museum. The program will run until Friday 7 October, cost is a gold donation, and bookings are essential at www.therocks.com.
Summer Fashion Showcase at The Rocks Market
More than 50 designers from The Rocks Markets will be showcasing their wares on a catwalk in The Rocks Square on 22-23 October. The event will see Sydney's emerging top models from Electric Safari dressed in an eclectic range of stallholder fashion, jewellery and accessories, and there will be kids and teen shows too. With special guest DJs from independent Sydney music makers Future Classic, this free event will add an edge to the market this October weekend. Timings for the fashion show are: Children and teens collections, 12 noon; and designer fashion and accessories, 1pm, 2pm and 3pm.
The Rocks Village Bizarre at Markets by Moonlight
This year, the Authority's moonlight market event transforms into an authentic village fair with a distinctly new twist. A 'village host' will guide visitors on a journey though The Rocks' secret alleys and hidden rooms where they can see an intimate performance, grab a bite at the markets, join in a poetry slam, rock out at the silent disco, relax at the lounge bar, go on an artisan tour, and check out local designers at a pop-up store, before enjoying some relaxed dining at any one of the great restaurants in The Rocks. The format has been designed to maximise the visitor experience and increase stallholder and tenant benefits. The free event will be held every Friday 5.30 pm - 10 pm from 4 November to 23 December.
New Pop-Up participants and social media event
It's been almost five months since The Rocks Pop-Up Project first popped up. Since then, the project has contributed to The Rocks' retail environment by making use of otherwise temporarily vacant shopfronts, and drawn a new creative audience into the precinct. This month we see the FBi Radio Set Up Shop competition welcome two beautifully creative projects in Shops 24 and 27 Nurses Walk (until 30 October) and new emerging designers join internationally renowned furniture designers Trent & Henry at 47 George Street .
The Rocks Pop-Up Project participants continue to host a diversity of events and the final of the Social Media Marketing for Small Business series should spark your interest. To be held on Thursday 20 October, passionate social media strategist Scott Drummond, Social Media Director at Host, will provide guidance on how to make social media marketing part of a very affordable marketing plan. For more information on Scott's talk visit www.creativelybelle-social-media-marketing-eorg.eventbrite.com.
If you would like to provide any feedback on The Rocks Pop-Up Project, or if you have any suggestions about how it could work better for the precinct, please feel free to contact me directly.
Seven Bridges Walk comes round the foreshore
The Cancer Council NSW Seven Bridges Walk will make its way into The Rocks on Sunday 30 October. Seven 'villages' dotted around the foreshore, including one at Cadman's Cottage, will offer food, music and activities for participants as they complete the circle walk from 7.30am to 4.30pm. No special event clearways or road closures will be in place.
Cruise ship arrivals
There are five ships scheduled to dock at the Overseas Passenger Terminal this month on 4, 5, 15, 27 and 29 October.
For more information on cruise ship arrivals to the OPT visit Sydney Ports.
RETAIL TIPS
Retail tips from The Rocks Local Area Command: Protecting your business against retail theft
You can prevent retail theft by taking some simple steps in the following areas:
Store layout and design -
- Make the layout of your store as open as possible, with good visibility between aisles or areas.
- Keep shelves tidy and goods neatly stacked.
- Consider using surveillance mirrors so that staff can monitor awkward or hidden areas.
- Consider CCTV and have it connected to a VCR.
- If appropriate, consider having in store security staff.
- Where possible, lock expensive and easily portable goods in cabinets.
- Stack goods tightly on your shelves, so that removal takes longer.
- Limit the entry and exit points to your store.
- Clearly display signs that state that police will be called if anyone is caught stealing regardless of the excuse.
- Clearly display signs explaining your bag checking policy.
- Limit access to keys for locked cabinets.
Staff education and training - Ensure your staff members understand:
- the store policy on both bag checks and stealing
- that you, or store management, expect of them under these policies
- the procedures you want them to follow if they suspect someone has stolen property
- that the value of the goods stolen can never outweigh the value of the health and well being of the staff.
