The overarching vision for the Knutsford precinct is:
To see an aged industrial area become a high amenity, diverse and adaptable precinct while protecting and incubating Knutsford’s unique creative culture and sense of place. Knutsford will be a community asset and an exemplar for design and sustainability across Perth.
The release of this much anticipated vision for Knutsford will be a watershed moment in Fremantle’s 21st century evolution. In Knutsford, the challenge for all of us is to create a model for 21st century urban living which resonates with Fremantle’s unique landscape and creative culture. Responding to this challenge Western Australia’s land development agency LandCorp, in conjunction with the City of Fremantle and the Australian Urban Design Research Centre (AUDRC), is developing an overarching vision for the Knutsford precinct. This vision will see:
...an aged industrial area become a high amenity, diverse and adaptable precinct while protecting and incubating Knutsford’s unique creative culture and sense of place. Knutsford will be a community asset and an exemplar for design and sustainability across Perth.
The 23 hectare Knutsford precinct will deliver a diverse range of housing styles and living options, including apartments, townhouses and mai-
sonettes for more than 2,000 people, while retaining the signifcant buildings and landuses that give Knutsford its unique character.
The new dwellings will be focussed around significant new public spaces, such as the bustling and creative streetscapes of Knutsford St and the tranquil and relaxing Swanbourne St park with its sunken garden in the historic resovoir site.
Through the Knutsford project Landcorp will set new benchmarks for delivering infill development which benefits both existing and future residents while at the same time enhancing sense of place and creative culture.
1. Planned redevelopment
2. Possible future redevelopment 3. Knutsford Street
Hilltop park 6. Substation artwork
The overarching vision for the Knutsford precinct is:
To see an aged industrial area become a high amenity, diverse and adaptable precinct while protecting and incubating Knutsford’s unique creative culture and sense of place. Knutsford will be a community asset and an exemplar for design and sustainability across Perth.
The Knutsford vision and accompanying design principles have been prepared to guide both the development of individual development precincts and the intervening public domain. Ultimately the aim of having a vision is
to produce an urban precinct which is unified in terms of its broader goals and aspirations, yet eclectic in its feel and aesthetics. In this sense the vision and underlying principles are meant to be interpreted creatively rather than being followed prescriptively.
This vision is supported by a number of principles which are set out in the following sections.
Principle 1: Enhance the sense of place
As well as being one of the earliest settlements in WA, Fremantle is also one of the most innovative and interesting. People live and work together with the port and the smell of the sea. Industrialists and householders, artisans and business people live and work in this place, shoulder to shoulder in an eclectic mix of modern, creative architecture and beautiful historic buildings. To enhance this sense of place Knutsford should:
▶ Respond creatively to its topography, and emphasise Knutsford’s ‘valley’ form
▶ Incorporate iconic topographic features such as limestone cuttings into the public domain.
▶ Protect significant trees, both endemic and introduced, which give character
▶ Plant species, both endemic and introduced, which have local significance
▶ Re-use existing building materials
▶ Retain, re-inhabit and enhance existing industrial heritage
▶ Celebrate and retain Knutsford’s weird anomalies (for example the ‘stranded tractor’ pictured)
▶ Avoid the tendency to sanitise the urban environment, allow informality and messiness
▶ Expect and embrace unexpected uses – encourage non-residential uses in places where they have the best chance of being viable
▶ Furnish the public domain with art and heritage interpretation which creatively responds and furthers heritage rather than mimicking it.
Principle 2: Densify appropriately
The Knutsford precinct is a ‘Planned Growth Area’ and is becoming a place to live. Already some exciting conversions, studios and apartments are emerging in its quirky industrial character. The area has been zoned to deliver a substantial number of infill dwellings and it is crucial that these are delivered with the appropriate amenity, height and scale and in the appropriate locations:
▶ Residential development such as apartments (which have limited private open space) should be adjacent to well designed and useable public open space to maximise access amenity for residents and allow passive surveillance of open spaces
▶ Where high rise is contemplated, it should correlate with access to views
▶ Lower to medium density housing types (such as townhouses and low rise apartments) should be used to provide a gradual transition and a buffer between the surrounding low density suburban form and high rise development.
Principle 3: Incubate creative capacity
Arts and cultural endeavours abound in Fremantle and particularly in the Knutsford precinct – these include a bicycle recycling centre (Dismantle), vintage and antique stores, an ‘ideas incubation chamber’ (Fremantle Fibonacci Centre) and a live music and poetry reading venue (Blinco St Café). These uses should be supported and others incubated:
▶ Map and audit sites of cultural creativity so as to protect them throughout the urban development process
▶ Design building typologies which are both adaptable and affordable enough to contain creative uses
▶ Do not sanitise the often messy process of creativity
▶ Plan a flexible and inclusive public realm which is able to accommodate displaced, or indeed incubate, new creative uses.
Principle 4: Encourage public transport usage, walking and cycling
Knutsford is only a 15 minute walk, or a 5 minute cycle from downtown Fremantle. Public transport is available (on high street ) and so private car usage can be kept to a minimum. To encourage active transport, development should:
▶ Plan a legible street network that enhances accessibility and way-finding and is integrated into the structure of the existing streets
▶ Provide attractive, safe and convenient pedestrian and cycle connections which give priority to pedestrians/ cyclists and link Knutsford with surrounding destinations
▶ Recognise destinations both within and outside of Knutsford - encourage non-residential uses in places and on pathways where they have the best chance of being viable
▶ Carefully design the way buildings activate and overlook the adjacent streets to ensure the streets are safe
▶ Deliver convenient end of trip facilities and secure bicycle parking
▶ Design public transport nodes (bus stops) which provide a dignified and comfortable public transport experience for users, and locate bus stops within easy walking distance of the majority of residences
▶ Promote car share or the option to opt out of buying/leasing car parking.
▶ Develop car parking in such a way as to allow adaptable uses as the demand for parking is reduced over time
▶ Provide EV charging for electric bikes, scooters and cars
▶ Develop parking facilities which are integral to development and, where above ground, are sleeved or creatively screened from view
▶ Discourage excessive car parking in the public domain.
Principle 5: Develop green links
Many plants and animals need to move to survive a changing climate.
In Fremantle ecological connectivity is provided by a ‘green’ network, the ‘Fremantle Green Plan.’
As well as providing ecological connections and recreational amenity for residents, such green networks also enhance the attractiveness of walking and cycling as a viable alternative to the car. To facilitate the ecological and human connections within the Knutsford precinct:
▶ Provide an unobstructed open space corridor along the length of Knutsford St as a linear park. This could act as a pathway to the City centre as well as enhancing ecological connections between Monument Hill
and Fremantle Golf course /Booyeembara Park
▶ Provide an unobstructed open space corridor, furnished with endemic species connecting Monument Hill to Stevens Reserve
▶ Facilitate way finding and explain, through appropriate signage, the function of these green connections to the community.
Principle 6: Be productive
Cities are often entirely dependent on resources extracted from a global hinterland. However this does not need to be the case in Knutsford if we encourage it to remain productive and embrace new opportunities in terms of producing energy, water and food, and supporting biodiversity. This could be encouraged by:
▶ Developing district scale energy and water infrastructure such as solar PVs, batter storage, community bores, wind turbines and water treatment plants
▶ Design buildings which are energy and carbon positive
▶ Deploy water sensitive urban design and water recycling such as the re-
use of waste water. Use engaging signage to explain how water is purified and re-used
▶ Plant a mix of species, including endemic species, to support local biodiversity and enhance cooling.
▶ Construct communal gardens for vegetable and fruit production, and plant streetscapes, where appropriate, with fruit trees.
Principle 7: Use resources efficiently
The original concept of sustainability relates to making things last. A crucial aspect of ‘sustainability’ is therefore the efficient consumption of resources:
▶ Conduct site responsive urban design that optimises solar and wind orientation and minimises the need for mechanical cooling and heating
▶ Minimise the use of building materials which compound Perth’s basic raw material shortages, including sand and clay
▶ Re-use existing building materials on site
▶ Plant trees which have sufficient space to grow to maturity and in turn will shade buildings and reduce mechanical cooling requirements
▶ Where recycled water alternatives are not available, encourage endemic/ water-wise plant species which reduce irrigation water consumption
▶ Express the functioning of otherwise hidden water and electricity infrastructure in the public realm so as to increase awareness of the use of these resources
▶ Explore opportunities for innovative infrastructure solutions to water supply, waste water and low carbon living at the building and precinct scale
▶ Employ a sustainability rating system (Greenstar or similar) for all developments.
Principle 8: Be adaptable
The design of the Knutsford precinct needs to be adaptable to allow for emerging social, economic, technological and demographic changes. Just as industrial uses have been able to be creatively converted to residential and artistic spaces, so future development should be adaptable:
▶ Provide a variety of dwelling types to accommodate a range of household structures, lifestyle and aesthetic choices
▶ Cater for changing mobility and access needs for the elderly, physically disabled or young children in prams
▶ Allow for changing patterns of care for children and the elderly. For example, provide an additional dwelling within a development which is suitable for extended family or an aged care nurse
▶ Ensure that urban form in strategic locations allows for a potential change of use such as from residential to of-
fice, commercial or creative uses. For example along Knutsford Street
▶ Provide home office dwellings that allows for flexible work patterns
▶ Provide a public domain which is adaptable to provide for a wide variety of user groups at the same time and over longer periods.
Dr Julian Bolleter’s role at the AUDRC includes teaching a master’s program in urban design and conducting urban design research projects. Julian has authored a number of books including ‘Made in Australia: The future of Australian cities’ (with Richard Weller), ‘Take me to the River: A history of Perth’s foreshore’ and ‘Scavenging the Suburbs’ – a book which sets out how Perth could be transformed into a dense yet liveable and biodiverse city.
Joerg is Director of the Australian Urban Design Research Centre (AUDRC) and has been researching, practising, educating and exploring Urban Design and Architecture for more than 20 years in Australia, Europe, Africa, and on the Arabian Peninsula.