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COMMUNITY ASSETS & INFRASTRUCTURE INITIATIVE – PROJECTS OVER $2.5 MILLION
Initiatives that maximise benefits to the community and showcase partnerships in developing and managing community assets. This section is for projects that cost over $2.5 million and are new and a one-off activity of a capital nature.
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JUDGING CRITERIA
Clarity of the initiative’s outcomes Demonstrated leadership Innovative features Transferability Cost benefits
WINNER
FINALISTS
Yarra Ranges Council, Burrinja Cultural Centre Redevelopment Wyndham City Council, Wunggurrwil Dhurrung Centre Casey City Council, Autumn Place Community Hub South Gippsland Shire Council, Karmai Community Children’s Centre
WINNER
In researching, implementing and testing an innovative approach to decommissioned and legacy landfills, East Gippsland Shire Council has shown that “phytocapping” technology holds great promise for Local Government. By transforming the site into an attractive and beneficial community asset while achieving significant positive environmental outcomes, the Council has demonstrated what is possible. Using trees and other vegetation as a natural pump, phytocapping ensures that rain is intercepted and evaporates without leaching through remnant waste, thereby avoiding harmful effects on groundwater or nearby waterways. The Council has also produced an asset that contributes to urban cooling and gives people a recreation area, incorporating 2.7km of walking/bike trails, a dog park and observation platforms overlooking the nearby Macleod’s Morass wetlands. Phytocapping is an emerging technology which will change the management of decommissioned landfills. East Gippsland Shire Council has a small population and 44 legacy landfills. This project has given the Shire an economical way to manage decommissioned landfills, creating positive environmental outcomes and providing recreation opportunities. Significant environmental benefits have been achieved, including urban cooling, carbon storage and a creation of wildlife habitat. The technology is emerging, but hugely promising and East Gippsland Shire is the first in Victoria to use the process to manage decommissioned landfills. Bosworth Road now has a range of community assets, including walking/bike riding trails, an off-leash dog park, picnic tables, and viewing areas for residents and visitors to relax and enjoy East Gippsland’s natural environment. With the area providing a wildlife corridor including fauna habitats connecting the nearby Magee’s Gully with the Ramsar-listed Macleod’s Morass, significant environmental benefits have been achieved, including urban cooling and carbon storage through strong vegetation growth. The development has been enthusiastically accepted, with many residents and tourists making a beeline for Bosworth Road, where they enjoy exercising their dogs and walking or bike riding through the beautiful natural environment. Through researching, implementing, and testing an exciting and innovative approach to decommissioned and legacy landfills, East Gippsland Shire Council has shown that phytocapping is a technology which holds great promise for Local Government. In transforming a potentially expensive former landfill site into an attractive and beneficial community asset while achieving significant positive environmental outcomes, the Council has demonstrated that similar results are within the reach of other councils across Victoria and Australia. East Gippsland Shire Council welcomes enquiries from other councils and is excited about the possibilities which this technology holds for the Local Government sector.
FINALISTS
YARRA RANGES COUNCIL
BURRINJA CULTURAL CENTRE REDEVELOPMENT
Creativity is the common thread that runs through the Burrinja Cultural Centre in Upwey. Areas are designed for making, presenting, performing, exploring, working and playing. The Burrinja environment attracts and encourages social connection, to build community through arts. Between 2017 and 2020, Yarra Ranges Council undertook a $3.3 million redevelopment of the centre, creating functional yet aesthetically striking galleries, artist studios, multi-function and hospitality spaces, with a welcoming contemporary entrance. Burrinja is a Council asset developed in partnership with the community. The Council’s vision of “Building Community through Arts”, ensures deep cultural engagement, social connection and strong community ownership, with 80,000 patrons each year. Located in old Council offices, the redevelopment transformed Burrinja’s undeveloped spaces, opening up internal pathways, connecting creative spaces and providing improved accessibility to activities. The project responded to Council’s Creative Communities Strategy, 2019 – which, “Aims to shape Yarra Ranges as a creatively vibrant place where participation in the cultural life of our communities is sustained as a seamless and deeply meaningful experience”. Key to the project’s success was innovation. A creative design approach informed the Functional Brief, embedding innovation within the project. Environmentally Sustainable Design principles were pursued to achieve world-leading innovation in the thermal attributes of the gallery and collection areas. The design prioritised equally functional effectiveness with the interconnectedness between spaces physically, conceptually and creatively. The design prioritises functional effectiveness, usability and requirements of each space with the interconnectedness between those spaces physically, conceptually and creatively. It now includes a gallery, café and studio.
WYNDHAM CITY COUNCIL
WUNGGURRWIL DHURRUNG CENTRE
The Wunggurrwil Dhurrung Centre, which means strong heart in the local Wadawurrung language, was completed in late 2019. It is an Aboriginal Community Centre, with an Integrated Family Centre and Neighbourhood Hub in Wyndham Vale. The $13.2 million energy efficient centre provides a sustainable inclusive space for local Aboriginal people as well as the broader community to strengthen cultural development, facilitate improved coordination of services and programs. The Wunggurrwil Dhurrung Centre is a new centre for the growing community of Wyndham Vale providing early years, family support and early intervention services to families as well as the broader community. It is a dedicated space for the Aboriginal community that is culturally sensitive and is informed by community-led design in partnership with the Koling wada-ngal Committee. People can learn about culture just by being in the building, connected to its location through sustainable design, local native landscaping and the incorporation of the Wadawurrung language. The design provides distinct areas within one centre: • Koling wada-ngal – A dedicated Aboriginal Community Centre, informed, designed and managed by the diverse local community to strengthen culture. It includes men’s and women’s sheds, an art space, meeting and consulting rooms plus outdoor ceremonial spaces. • Balim Balim – an Integrated Family Centre for universal services including kindergarten, Maternal Child Health consulting rooms, youth and support service with a focus on learning through
Aboriginal culture. • Yaluk – a Community Centre with public consulting and meeting rooms, and community kitchen for people to connect in their local area.
FINALISTS
CASEY CITY COUNCIL AUTUMN PLACE COMMUNITY HUB
Autumn Place Community Hub, Doveton, is an integrated community centre, providing meeting spaces, Maternal and Child Health services plus a kindergarten with a focused science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) room. The centre is the first of its kind in Casey and includes public art to invite children into a fantasy world of sculptures based on a book written for the project: Fantastic World of Autumn Place. The hub is also part of a wider plan to revitalise the area and it contributes to supporting priorities such as enhancing a sense of place, building a more positive image, improving safety and increasing community engagement. In 2017, the Council received $3.6 million through the Local Government Victoria Growing Suburbs Fund and ultimately delivered the $5.3 million Autumn Place Community Hub, park and playground, in May 2019. The Autumn Place Community Hub aims to be a place: • that offers a focal point for community interaction • where people can build relationships and a community identity • where residents can meet and carry out activities that help strengthen the life of the community, and • where residents can access a range of activities, programs and services. The park includes a multi-purpose space for events and playground catering for all ages. Retention and careful management of significant trees undertaken has elevated its landscape design value. Key to its success has been extensive consultation to understand the needs of this vulnerable community, and establishing relationships with key stakeholders and local groups, to enable the Council to deliver on identified needs. The Karmai Community Children's Centre in Korumburra consolidated multiple South Gippsland Shire Council early years services onto one site, all within an education precinct in a low socio-economic town. Early on project planning identified outdoor areas were as important as indoor, in assisting the children to develop and learn. The building has significant sustainable features, which not only make the centre an amazing place to visit, but also assist in teaching children about the environment. The project has strengthened the relationship between the early years and infrastructure departments through a collaborative approach to delivering great community outcomes. The $3.2 million project has exceeded expectations with improved outcomes and increased patronage. The aim was to reverse the cycle of low social outcomes for the youth of Korumburra. Providing high-quality education has been proven to be a big driver in improved early years outcomes. The centre was built with capacity to last 10 years, however due to its success, capacity has been reached within five. It was quickly recognised by parents and early years educators as “the place to be” in the region. Educators love working in the space, and parents were impressed with the standard of facilities and after nearly five years of operation, it is evident the that the new facility has had improved social and learning outcomes for the children. The initiative began with the children’s centre raising $100,000 as seed funding, and approaching the Council for support.
SOUTH GIPPSLAND SHIRE COUNCIL
KARMAI COMMUNITY CHILDREN’S CENTRE
