Gender Impact Assessment, Warburton Mountain Bike Destination Project

Yarra Ranges Council is committed to working towards a Yarra Ranges where everyone has equitable access to resources, power and opportunities. This commitment is documented in the current Council Plan 2022-25. The Gender Equality Act 2020 requires local governments to conduct Gender Impact Assessments on all policies, programs and services which directly and significantly impact […]

Open Space and Tree Management Market and Service Delivery Assessment

City of Melbourne - Open Space

City of Melbourne engaged Xyst to undertake a market and service delivery assessment and make recommendations on the best model for packaging the Open Space Management and Tree Management service contracts. The Xyst team gathered market intelligence on the current and potential service providers and considered the market in which they operate. We identified any […]

Open space contract quality audits and asset management condition inspections

The City of Whittlesea maintains 2,173 sites within its municipal boundaries where individual assets are located to be audited. All assets are inspected across the full range of park categories and measured for compliance with the relevant KPIs and outcomes detailed in the parks services contract, acting impartially and without bias. In any given month […]

Tree Strategy

Port Pirie wishes to be a region that has pride in, and appreciates the values of its trees within public parks, streets and open spaces. It wishes to provide streets that are attractive and town centres which are visually appealing and inviting, to complement the network of parks and open spaces ranging from urban to […]

Trail Survey

Yarra Ranges - Trail Survey

In early 2022 Yarra Ranges Council engaged Xyst to undertake a performance assessment of three shared use trails: the Lilydale Lake Trail, the Lilydale to Warburton Rail Trail, and the Yarra Valley Trail. This was a follow-up to an earlier survey carried out in 2019. Performance assessments were conducted in March 2022 using the Yardstick […]

Yardstick Parks User Surveys

Yardstick Parks User Surveys were developed in around 2008 initially as a paper based intercept survey designed to target park users and measure satisfaction with a range of parks related services and features. The product was initially called Parkcheck and is still known as this by some users. The surveys were taken online in 2015 […]

Bold Park User Satisfaction Review

Xyst completed a comprehensive engagement strategy involving user intercept surveys, obtaining feedback from non-park-users in surrounding areas, and a matching on-line survey to establish an overall satisfaction rating for the Park. In addition, gaps in service provision were identified and reported that would increase the overall satisfaction.

Child Care Centre Playground Performance Assessment

Key findings of the performance assessments, accompanied by some high level analytical commentary was completed, with each playground assigned an overall performance assessment score. Analysis included site design, play value, quantity of play items, equipment condition, safety surface condition and an assessment of remaining life of the asset.

Parks Performance Assessments

The purpose of the parks performance assessment was to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each park, from a multi-faceted holistic perspective, and particularly from the users’ perspective. Recommendations to retain, change or assign (where none previously existed) service classifications for each park were made.

Shade Audit of Open Spaces

Xyst provided a qualitative assessment of existing shade throughout the network and completed a current condition assessment for structural shade infrastructure. Analysis was provided to assist the Council to determine the current and future needs for shade within the facilities, and objective recommendations were made based on results and findings of the audits.

Parks User Survey

City of Greater Dandenong - Parks User Survey

Xyst carried out surveys within various parks and reserves in the City of Greater Dandenong. These surveys recorded visitor expectations of levels of service and then compared them with the visitor satisfaction for the same levels of services. This measurement gives an indication of performance measured against expectations, along with an indication of under or […]

Botanic Garden Education Program

Xyst analysed the current education program that Geelong Botanic Gardens was using and created an issues and opportunities report. The report identified a number of issues and opportunities, fundamentally identifying a lack of strategic direction for the program. It was recognised that a business plan was needed to address many of the key issues. The […]

Playground Performance Assessment

Undertook an assessment of each playground using the Playable Space Assessment Tool, Play England 2009, which has been adapted by Xyst. The tool enabled an assessment to be made of location, play value and ancillary facilities to produce an overall percentage score for each playground, ranking each playground to enable priorities to be identified objectively […]

Botanic Gardens Staff Resourcing Review

Xyst provided an independent review of staffing resourcing to help the Parks and Open spaces department to determine appropriate resources and a structure for the Botanic Gardens in the future. There was only enough staff to perform basic maintenance of the gardens so Xyst carried out a benchmarking analysis to assess how other Botanic Gardens […]

Play Strategy Review and Open Space Quality Assessments report

Xyst undertook park quality performance assessments on all City of Greater Geelong owned or managed community parks and other open space types. We were also asked to review the Geelong Play Strategy 2012-2020 and produce a report around how well the city implemented the strategy and advice on strengths, weaknesses, lessons learnt and any significant […]