ACT Partners & Sponsors
2021 ACT Awards Winners
2021 PIA ACT Awards for Planning Excellence presentation was held on Monday 8 November at the Duxton, O'Connor to celebrate with the winners for awards and commendations. Thank you to those who attended and helped celebrate the achievements of their colleagues and the planning profession.
Award winners will progress to the National Awards, to be announced at the 2022 Planning Congress.
PLATINUM PARTNER
SUPPORTING PARTNER
AWARDS FOR ÁñÁ«¹ÙÍø EXCELLENCE
University of Canberra Campus Master Plan
MGS Architects with Turf Design Studio, New Learning Environments, Canberra Town Planning, WSP, Waters Consulting and Vector Consulting
As Covid-19 threatens to undermine the University sector in Australia, the University of Canberra Campus Master Plan provides a vision for an education campus of the future. The Campus Master Plan brings together meaningful engagement processes, contemporary community and education planning, sustainability and reconciliation around a once in a lifetime opportunity to draw the Belconnen Town Centre to Civic light rail corridor through the Campus. The judges were impressed by the scale and vision of the Campus Master Plan which proposes a series of connected neighbourhoods, supported by active travel networks, and looks to bring the academic and broader community together. The celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture into the built environment alongside the placement of ecology and biodiversity at the centre of the Plan was applauded.
ACT Planning System Review and Reform - Project Directions Papers
ACT Government - Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate
The judges were impressed by the scope of this ambitious project which sets the scene for the drafting and implementation of the next stage of planning reform. They recognized the scale of the task in transitioning the planning system and commended the direction set by the ‘plain English’ focus papers. Integrating national and international benchmarking alongside meaningful community engagement promotes an evidence-based approach to planning review and reform whilst acknowledging and incorporating the voice of the community. The 2018 ACT Planning Strategy sets out a bold vision for the transformation of our city’s urban form, which can only be achieved if the ideas within this piece of work are successfully translated into planning reform.
Downer Residential Precinct
CHC Australia
This development is a great example of participatory planning processes in action. The judges were impressed by the transition of this former school site into a medium density residential precinct that respected community input, heritage and ecological constraints, social inclusion and delivered both aged care and affordable housing. The balancing of these competing interests through an inclusive master planning process leading to land rezoning and three stages of development is a credit to CHC Australia and their consultancy team. Community wellbeing and diversity is evident in both the processes undertaken and outcomes being achieved through this project.
Land Release Sites in the Belconnen Town Centre Place Design Brief
Suburban Land Agency, PLACE Laboratory, Town Team Movement, TAKTICS4 and Murrimatters
The judges recognise that the collaborative approach developed in the Place Design Brief demonstrated leading practice for building meaningful stakeholder engagement bringing together community, indigenous people, industry and government for complex infill sites in a town centre setting. Based on a rating system that defines undesirable, successful and highly desirable place outcomes, the Place Design Brief provides a performance-based guide focused on local urban experiences. The judges recognise that as a tool, this approach can be used to guide built environment professionals, developers and community members to articulate the values underpinning a locality’s sense of place in order to achieve high quality public realm outcomes and high-quality urban experiences.
Smart Design: Disruption, Crisis, and the Reshaping of Urban Spaces
Richard Hu, University of Canberra
The judges commend the leadership set down in this smart design manifesto. Advancing new and innovative ideas in smart urbanism and addressing change head-on this work provides established practitioners and the next generation alike with a framework to consider new design approaches to address the dynamic disruptors reshaping our urban spaces.
COMMENDATIONS
Dickson Pool Forecourt
Environment Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate in collaboration with Major Projects Canberra, City Renewal Authority, Transport Canberra and City Services, ACT Property Group and Suburban Land Agency; Dickson Aquatic Centre; Complete Constructions, Place Laboratory, Sonia Van De Haar and the Arbor Centre.
Drawing visitors from across Canberra, the Dickson Pool is an iconic community facility. The pool forecourt was identified by the community as an important public space in need of upgrade and attention. The judges commend the innovative approach taken to its rejuvenation. The combination of permanent fixtures and light touch moveable interventions allows for new ideas to be tested prior to long term investment. The intervention provided joy to users of the pool cementing the forecourt as the place to meet friends and family enroute to the pool and when visiting the wider Dickson area. The judges noted the decision to take a tactical urbanism project underpinned by participative planning processes and driven by before-during-after monitoring and evaluation through place audits sets a new benchmark for public space delivery in the ACT.
ACT Staged Assessment and Decision-making Model
ACT Government - Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate
The judges commended EPSDD for the implementation of new internal processes to facilitate the processing of large numbers of development applications whilst ensuring consistency for applicants and integrity for planners. The reorganization is anticipated to deliver positive planning processes in the short to medium term as broader planning reform is undertaken. The wellbeing of employees is central to the new internal processes alongside many other identified benefits include early identification of key assessment issues, consistency in assessment and decision-making, even distribution of workflows, more flexibility for team members, shared responsibility and more robust decision-making processes.
Queanbeyan Civic and Cultural Precinct
SMEC Australia, Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council and COX Architecture
The judges commended the focus on community wellbeing and diversity for this catalyst project in the heart of Queanbeyan. Once finalized the precinct will create a central destination for the community providing arts and cultural offering in a heritage setting. The inclusion of a ‘smart hub’ to provide a dynamic shared work environment for local business-people will further strengthen Queanbeyan as a live work environment. The judges noted the bringing together of Council’s workforce as a bold move to reinvigorate Queanbeyan’s central business district.
Managing Buildings Better - Unit Title Reform Consultative Group
ACT Government - Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate
Unit living and mixed-use developments are a key part of Canberra’s housing market. The judges commend the stakeholder engagement approach employed in this Project to address the complex and challenging issues facing the development, governance and management of unit titles buildings in the ACT. The wide-ranging consultative group established to advise on multiple reform tranches demonstrated positive collaboration integral to the successful introductions of the Unit Titles reforms in the ACT.
Section 76 Watson
Environment Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate with Dhawura Ngunnawal Caring for Country Committee, Tait Network , Transport Canberra and City Services and Suburban Land Agency
The judges commend the high-quality engagement practices designed to inform the planning of this inner-city infill site and for protecting its ecological values. The engagement approach demonstrated adaptability and strength in its design by being able to be mindful of COVID-19 challenges, while still providing extensive and diverse activities to reach a broad cross-section of the community. The judges were impressed by this project’s delivery of a flexible program of engagement allowing for voices to be heard in a meaningful manner.
Red Hill and Surrounds Integrated Plan
ACT Government - Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate
As our city grows and evolves there is a need to reimagine underutilized and aging assets to unlock their potential for the next generation. The Red Hill and Surrounds Integrated Plan demonstrates a pathway to deal with this complex problem. Rather than resorting to traditional planning processes this project sought a collaborative approach to address the concerns of interested parties, including neighbourhood character, protection of the natural environment, housing choice, access and amenity. The judges commended this innovative approach to balance competing constraints and challenges. The Integrated Plan provides for the protection of an important inner city nature reserve alongside enabling neighbourhood appropriate development of an underutilized golf course.
Ginn Zhang MPIA, Purdon Planning
Ginn exemplifies the qualities sought in emerging planners. She is highly valued by her employer, providing leadership and peer support, and by introducing innovation to complex projects. Ginn couples her dedication to the planning profession through active participation in the ACT PIA Committee and mentoring program. Her accomplishment as a young planner with English as a second language establishes her as a role model to young women and non-English speaking background planners to engage in the profession and in the workplace.