The Suburban Land Agency (SLA) is adopting a place-based approach for the remaining land on the eastern side of Gungahlin Town Centre, capturing the community’s priorities and aspirations for this area.
The Gungahlin Town Centre East Design and Place Framework will ensure the realisation of a vibrant and successful urban centre that fulfils the community aspirations. Thank you to everyone who has contributed their ideas during the 2022-23 community engagement program.
The Framework’s six key place strategies aim to:
This Design and Place Framework has been developed with and should be read in conjunction with the Gungahlin Town Centre East Place Ambition.
The full report is available to download here: Gungahlin Town Centre East Design and Place Framework.
Over the coming years, the ACT Government will be releasing the remaining land on the eastern side of Gungahlin Town Centre. The 32-hectare Gungahlin Town Centre East precinct is located in the area bounded by Anthony Rolfe Avenue, Manning Clarke Crescent, Camilleri Way, The Valley Ave and Kate Crace.
The linear park is an important open space development in the Gungahlin Town Centre East development area. It will provide an open space connectivity from the Mulanggari Grassland Nature Reserve in the south to Anthony Rolfe Avenue in the north.
Five leading practitioners presented their unique perspective and ideas for creating a sustainable, community-focussed and vibrant town centre in Gungahlin.
The ACT Government established the Gungahlin Community Panel, who were key contributors during the engagement process. The Panel was developed through an EOI process and was made up of 100 community volunteers.
Stage 1 - Define a Place Ambition
A Place Ambition captures a community’s desired look, feel and experience of a development project and defines the key outcomes that need to be delivered to create a great place for current and future generations. Through a series of engagement opportunities, the Gungahlin community has defined the Place Ambition for GTC-East. The key questions explored with the community included:
Stage 2 - Design and Place Framework
This is informed by the Place Ambition and existing relevant planning controls for Gungahlin Town Centre East. This stage will include the development of a Design and Place Framework which will guide future development within the precinct. Our consultants worked closely with us and participated in the engagement activities to ensure feedback was incorporated into this document as it developed. Whilst these are two distinct stages with clear outputs (the Place Ambition, and Design and Place Framework) the timing overlapped with our engagement activities diving into the development of both documents.
Stage 3 - Land Release
Following the completion of the Place Ambition and the Design and Place Framework, land will be released to the market in accordance with the ACT Governments Indicative Land Release Program.
It is envisaged that the Gungahlin Town Centre East will recognise Gungahlin’s diverse multicultural and demographic mix and embrace the Ngunnawal culture and heritage.
The Place Ambition Report for Gungahlin Town Centre East has now been released. Since October 2022, we have undertaken substantial community and stakeholder engagement leading to development of the Place Ambition Report which will help us to create a place that:
Cares for Country, connects the community, creates new ways of living and working, and curates partnerships to achieve outstanding outcomes.
The Place Ambition outlines four ‘Place Pillars:’
Whilst we finalise the Design and Place Framework that responds to the Place Ambition, we have released the Gungahlin Community Panel feedback to the draft Design and Place Framework document.
The final Design and Place Framework will be released later this year. The Place Ambition and the Design and Place Framework will together guide the future development of the precinct.
It has been a busy few months working with the community and key stakeholders to develop a Place Ambition for the Gungahlin Town Centre East precinct. We have heard from over 220 voices through a range of activities including pop up events, a young person workshop, self-paced online surveys, face-to-face and online workshops and a Future Thinking Panel event. You can read more about our engagement activities and ‘what we heard’ in our Listening Report.
Specific engagement with Ngunnawal Traditional Owners and stakeholders is being undertaken with the assistance of specialist consultant Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation. SLA is committed to undertaking a meaningful engagement with the Ngunnawal Traditional Owners and stakeholders and will be guided by them to ensure this project captures their knowledge and the unique social, spiritual, and historical connection to place as part of the engagement, land release and development process.
Based on the insights gained throughout the engagement program to date, the following emerging Place Pillars will guide the development of the Place Ambition document:
(*) Biophilic design - integrating the natural environment and ecosystems into urban areas. A considered approach to increasing the biodiversity of urban areas, reinstating/enhancing natural systems, prioritising native plantings, and creating sensory places that enhance community health and wellbeing.
Your views have helped to shape a Place Ambition and a Design and Place Framework for the Gungahlin Town Centre East which will guide future land releases and development.
We acknowledge the Ngunnawal people as traditional custodians of the ACT and recognise any other people or families with connection to the lands of the ACT and region. We acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of this city and this region.
