Works will start this week on a planned upgrade of the much-loved Brick Pit Reserve as part of the Frenchs Forest Town Centre plan.

Over recent years, the area has been impacted by construction of the Northern Beaches Hospital and associated major road works. 

The design for the site responds to these impacts by providing an opportunity for residents to have a connection to the social, built and environmental heritage of the area. 

New amenities will include a playground, a boardwalk with features that celebrate and interpret the site’s history, picnic facilities and a public toilet block.

The upgrades will also provide a natural link from the town centre to Garigal National Park and Manly Dam, and a filter to clean the water that runs off Warringah Road before it enters the Manly Dam catchment.

Upgrades have been designed in close consultation with the local community and will re-establish the area as a popular open space for locals, and patients and staff at the nearby hospital. 

The name of the reserve recognises the early 1900s Hewes brick factory established on the site to take advantage of the abundant clay and timber. Many early brick houses in the Manly area were built using local bricks, prior to its closure around WW1 when the natural resources ran out.

Brick Pit’s new look is part of the rezoning of the Frenchs Forest Town Centre by the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI). The DPHI have funded the works via a grant specifically to embellish existing open space and parks within urban growth areas in Sydney. Other open space in the area will be upgraded through the Frenchs Forest Contributions Plan.

The upgrade works should be complete by April 2025, weather pending. For more information on the reserve, to view the designs and concept images visit the project page.

For more information on the precinct you can visit the Frenchs Forest Town Centre project.