ENQUIRY BY DESIGN Outcomes Summary Report City of Swan and the Midland Redevelopment Authority for public comment july 2008 ii Enquiry by Design - Outcomes Summary Report Note: This report is a summary of the Enquiry by Design Detailed Outcomes Report prepared by the City of Swan and the MRA. This report provides an overview of the background to the EbD, the challenges and opportunities facing Midland and the various outcomes and proposals which evolved during the EbD workshop. Should you require further detail regarding the proposals described in this summary report, together with actions for implementing them, please refer to the Enquiry by DesignThis Detailed page hasOutcomes been Report.left blank intentionally. Enquiry by Design - Outcomes Summary Report iii TPG Town Planning and Urban Design in collaboration with Ecologically Sustainable Design Pty Ltd The MRA can provide the text in larger font or alternative format on request by calling MRA on 9374 5500 iv Enquiry by Design - Outcomes Summary Report This page has been left blank intentionally. Enquiry by Design - Outcomes Summary Report v Contents Introduction 1 What is an Enquiry By Design, and Why Did We Do It? 1 Scoping Workshop 1 The Enquiry by Design Workshop 2 Defining the Midland City Centre 3 Interlocking Challenges and Opportunities 4 Outstanding Impediments 4 New Challenges and Opportunities 6 Key Enquiry by Design Objectives 9 Enquiry by Design Outcomes 10 Summary of Key Enquiry by Design Outcomes 10 Integrated City Centre Plan 10 Interlocking Solutions for Interlocking Challenges and Opportunities 13 City Wide Proposals 13 Precinct Indicative Plans 23 Midland’s West End 27 Former Primary School 29 Poynton Avenue 30 Morrison Road Adjoining Developments 31 Swan Regional Riverside Park and Related Developments 32 Great Eastern Highway / Victoria Street East 33 Midland Gate 35 Brockman Precinct 36 Great Eastern Highway (East of Lloyd Street) 37 Midland Oval (Southwest Corner) 38 Health Campus Site 40 Western Australia Police (WAP) Site & Helena River Frontage 42 The Workshops 44 Next Steps as a Result of The Enquiry By Design 49 Contacts and Further Information 50 vi Enquiry by Design - Outcomes Summary Report This page has been left blank intentionally. Enquiry by Design - Outcomes Summary Report 1 Introduction In 2007, the Midland Redevelopment Authority approach to achieve this given that: (MRA) and the City of Swan agreed to undertake • The 1997 Charrette set a basic direction a joint planning initiative known as Midland 2017 that is still fairly widely supported and being – The Challenge. implemented; The aim of the initiative is to develop a plan that will pull together past planning for Midland • Midland needs to have a strategy to deal with and to prepare a comprehensive action plan emerging opportunities and threats; and for Midland’s continued revitalisation over the next ten years. The plan will enable community, • It would engage key stakeholders to identify business and government to have a clear picture Midland’s key issues of importance as well as of how the City Centre will develop and grow provide an opportunity to create a vision and over the forthcoming years. explore innovative proposals for the future of An Enquiry by Design process was chosen to Midland. assist in developing the plan. Scoping Workshop What is an Enquiry By Design, and Why Did We Do It? Prior to the Enquiry by Design, a Scoping Workshop was held on the 1st August 2007 at An Enquiry by Design (EbD) is an intensive and the MRA offices to scope the challenges for stakeholder-collaborative planning approach Midland over the next 10 years. The workshop that involves establishing ideas and principles brought together representatives from the City and preparing plans to identify how future of Swan, the MRA (and its consultants) and development may occur in a given area. State government stakeholders to identify a An Enquiry by Design brings together a design range of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities team comprising relevant local authority and and threats. It also included a briefing and state agency staff, Councillors, landowners, consultation session with members of the community representatives and other key Midland community. stakeholders. The outcomes of the Workshop formed a brief The outcomes of an Enquiry by Design are for the Enquiry by Design. typically non-binding, with design concepts produced still being subject to normal statutory planning processes. The MRA and the City of Swan agreed to undertake an Enquiry by Design for the purpose of developing a plan for the Midland City Centre which builds upon past planning and revitalisation work since the 1997 Charrette (community interactive intensive planning and design process) and which identifies the way forward for the next 10 years. An Enquiry by Design was considered to be the most effective 2 Enquiry by Design - Outcomes Summary Report The Enquiry by Design Workshop The Enquiry by Design workshop was held between the 19th and 25th October 2007 at the offices of the MRA. The Enquiry by Design comprised representatives of State government agencies, selected land owners, elected officials, consultants, the City of Swan and the MRA, who were formally invited to participate. Over the first few days of the Enquiry by Design, cross-disciplinary teams of approximately 8 people each (including a highly experienced designer/facilitator and relevant key stakeholders) worked together to test by design key opportunities, principles and objectives identified from the Scoping Workshop. The subsequent few days involved representatives from the City of Swan, the MRA and consultants resolving the evolving designs and initiatives. These designs and initiatives were then presented to the public on the evening of the concluding day at the Midland Town Hall. Key stakeholders involved in the design exercise, the local Member of Parliament and the Minister for Planning and Infrastructure also attended the presentation. Enquiry by Design - Outcomes Summary Report 3 Defining the Midland City Centre Centre Precinct, it also focused on parts of Woodbridge to the west towards the Swan River A city centre can be defined in several ways, for Regional Park given its close proximity of the example, by its physical characteristics (such as parkland to the City Centre and a desire to major roads, rivers, parks), predominant land ensure that there is a strong connection and uses/activities, or by particular administrative relationship between the two areas, as well as boundaries. In some cases, the boundary is land along Great Eastern Highway east of Lloyd clear, whilst in others it is somewhat blurred. Street. The WAPC’s Metropolitan Centres Policy For the purposes of the EbD, the Midland City Statement, which provides the broad framework Centre is defined as per the Midland Place for the location and distribution of retail Plan. and commercial activity within the Perth metropolitan area, identifies Midland as a Strategic Regional Centre. Strategic Regional Centres are intended as the main centres outside the Perth CBD designed to accommodate a full range of shopping, office, administrative, social, entertainment, recreation and community services. Strategic Regional Centres are included within the Central City Area zone under the Metropolitan Region Scheme, which is the statutory land use planning document for the Perth metropolitan area. The Central City Area zone for Midland includes land bound by Morrison Road to the west and north, Lloyd Street to the east and the rail line to the south. The City of Swan’s Midland Place Plan regards the Midland City Centre as land within the ‘Midland Strategic Regional Centre Precinct’, being land bound by Morrison Road to the north, Lloyd Street to the east, the Helena River to the south and Amherst Road/William Street to the west. Whilst the EbD focussed on the majority of land identified within the Midland Strategic Regional 4 Enquiry by Design - Outcomes Summary Report Interlocking Challenges and Opportunities The Enquiry by Design identified several key that offers opportunities for activities such as challenges and opportunities which face Midland. walking and social interaction which in turn Generally these challenges and opportunities supports the economic development of the City are considered to be interlocking, that is they Centre. all need to be dealt with together as they are Freight Rail Through City Centre functionally connected. Only focussing on one challenge or opportunity will not revitalise The freight rail line which bisects the centre Midland to its full potential. of Midland poses a significant impediment to Midland’s revitalisation. The freight rail line Outstanding Impediments limits the ability for the Railway Workshops redevelopment to properly integrate with the City Several impediments previously identified in Centre area to the north, resulting in a lack of the 1997 Charrette are still considered relevant connectivity and fragmented land use activity. today. These are described below. Noise and vibration issues associated with the Partially Remaining Stigma and the ‘Chicken freight trains severely impact on the quality and Egg’ Challenge of the land along the rail reserve creating Although it has come a long way since the underutilised land with low land values. closure of the Railway Workshops, several small One-way Pair but highly visible challenges remain and which are hindering the levels of investment desired The Great Eastern Highway and Victoria Street for Midland to unleash its full potential. one-way street network currently dominate the City Centre’s movement network acting as The challenge for Midland then is to ensure high divisive one-way ‘highways’ that flush traffic quality development and good decision making through the City Centre with little benefit to occurs, to build on past successes to the point it. This contributes to the problem of a lack of where this perceived perception of Midland is balanced circulation within the Centre resulting transformed once and for all. in fragmentation of land uses and activity.