Mackay Waterfront – Turning a Great Idea into a Great Place

Kylie Rogers Mackay Regional Council

The Mackay Waterfront is set to be a game changer for the region. It will be a destination that will significantly increase the liveability, economic diversity and tourism appeal of the city and the region. Mackay Waterfront will deliver an active and engaging range of spaces and experiences that will unlock the character and true value of Mackay’s Pioneer River and city centre.

The redevelopment of the Mackay Waterfront is a long term (20 year) vision and council is invested in ensuring all relevant activities to support the key outcomes are well co-ordinated and considered.

The diversity of the project drivers means the delivery of the project is multi-faceted and involves the planners, creatives, engineers and technical decision makers to work together to achieve the key outcomes. There are five key elements that are the focus of Mackay Regional Council (MRC) in bringing these drivers to life: 1. Planning and Infrastructure 2. Governance 3. Council Investment 4. Economic Development 5. Placemaking and Activation

1. Planning and Infrastructure

Planners often have great ideas and are excellent at solving problems, some of which you never even knew you had. Too often however, those great ideas, hidden in strategies, master plans and planning reports get left on the shelf and aren’t realised, despite the opportunity to deliver significant benefits to a community.

Particularly within a local government context, there are a few primary reasons this can occur, such as a failure to navigate the complex project pipeline process, local government department silos, and not clearly communicating the project outcomes to a diverse audience.

There has been significant investment by Council to ensure the Mackay Waterfront does not sit on the shelf. The project pipeline process and the complexity of converting this great idea into reality is widely understood by all parts of the organisation and there has been extensive consideration of matters such as risk, opportunity, asset life-cycle, and financial and environmental sustainability in decision making.

The Mackay Waterfront has been in the project pipeline since 2016, with the first few years focussing heavily on the PDA planning framework (development scheme) and infrastructure investigations. This extensive prework identified clear constraints and opportunities and the declaration of the PDA in 2018 was heavily backed by the studies undertaken. This understanding, in conjunction with good governance is a key element driving the project forward.

2. Governance

The concept and declaration of the Mackay Waterfront PDA began several years ago as a strategic planning initiative, with oversight by an established advisory committee of the mayor, some councillors, and five external, highly experienced technical professionals from varying fields. The intent of the advisory committee, is to challenge, test and provide learned insight into similar projects and initiatives so as not to ‘re-invent the wheel’ and to help guide priorities of where council should best focus energy and resources to achieve the best value. The advisory committee has no decision-making power, they provide advice and recommendations to enable the project team and Council to make decisions.

As the Mackay Waterfront is a key priority from a political perspective, there is very strong support and buy-in from an organisational level for the project.

Council made the decision two years ago, to establish a dedicated stand-alone project team to align and deliver all elements of the Mackay Waterfront project drivers. This team is primarily responsible for infrastructure planning and design within the Mackay Waterfront area, driving and enabling private investment, and placemaking and activation. There is considerable effort by the team to regularly engage and work together with a range and external and internal stakeholders to ensure these responsibilities can be delivered.

3. Council Investment

Council is committed to a

long-term investment of the infrastructure and public realm improvements to support growth and liveability within the Mackay Waterfront area. The Mackay City Centre was revitalised in 2017 for $18M thanks to shared funding from council and the Australian Government. Queens Park, the “Green Heart” of the Mackay Waterfront has undergone a $8.86M revitalisation thanks to full funding support from the State Government.

The current focus is the Riverside Revitalisation project. The Australian Government has recently committed to investing part funding of $4.1 million through the Building Better Regions Fund, to kickstart the Council $9 million revitalisation project that will re-orient the city to its beautiful blue Pioneer River. The prime Riverfront location between the iconic Paxton’s and the Mackay Fish Market will be transformed and returned to the community with new public realm, a pontoon development and building upgrades to a former waterfront restaurant building. The first stage of the project is under construction and due for completion December 2022.

Council has also undertaken strategic riverfront purchases to protect the long-term vision of the Mackay Waterfront and to enable the Riverside precinct to remain accessible to the community and reach its full development potential.

4. Economic Development

The Mackay Waterfront was declared as a PDA in May 2018 in conjunction with the State Government, through the Minister for Economic Development Queensland (MEDQ), to establish the necessary policy framework to support the intended development, economic and community outcomes for the area. The establishment of the PDA means there is a longterm commitment by council to facilitate investment and streamline the planning and approval process. Council has a range of supporting development incentives including a dedicated First Point of Contact and Facilitating Development Policy. This policy offers concessions on infrastructure charges of up to 75% for eligible development based up to a concession value of $2M.

Further, Council has recently gone through an expression of interest process for the private development of six prime Council-owned land parcels within the Mackay Waterfront to stimulate private investment. The process resulted in the shortlisting to a local development consortium, ReNew Mackay, with a development vision of circa $300M, who Council is now working with to establish a development agreement.

5. Placemaking and Activation

Placemaking is seen as a key enabler for the Mackay community to connect with the Mackay Waterfront and particularly, the public realm investment. Creating an expanse of public area without adding the ‘soul’ is akin to building a show house without furnishing it, and having no-one move in. As engineers and technical decision makers, we often underestimate and undervalue the soft elements that make a house a home, or a public space a wellloved destination. The reality is, if we build the infrastructure, on time and on budget, as per the design plans, and have no community filling the space or having private investment follow, the project has failed to meet its objectives.

Council has dedicated resources and funding towards placemaking, activation and facilitating events with the Mackay Waterfront. A Place Audit and Place Plan has been prepared to understand the opportunities, focus areas and to ultimately have community-led outcomes to be a major part of stimulating economic growth.

In summary, the Mackay Waterfront after years of planning and project development, is now in the implementation phase and there are exciting things to come. The current construction of the Riverside Revitalisation project has generated heightened interest and confidence from private investors and the community. Accordingly, placemaking and economic development initiatives are at the forefront of delivery to complement the public realm investment to help convert this great idea, into a great place.

Acknowledgements

Mackay Regional Council – Mayor and Councillors, Mackay City and Waterfront program, Strategic Planning program, Economic Development program, Capital Works directorate and all other relevant internal stakeholders

Minister for Economic Development Queensland

Australian Government (Building Better Regions Funding)

Kylie Rogers is a civil engineer with over 20 years’ experience in the planning, design and delivery of public infrastructure in Central Queensland and the UK. During her career she has worked extensively as an engineer and manager in the water industry and of recent years, has focussed her skills towards the revitalisation of Mackay’s city and riverfront area. Kylie is currently the Manager of the Mackay City and Waterfront redevelopment at Mackay Regional Council and is passionate about delivering high quality services to the region.

Three Fun Facts: • My favourite drink is a cold pint of Guinness • One of my favourite movies for a laugh is ‘Hunt for the

Wilderpeople’ • I have a passion for art and creativity