The Mackay City Strategy sets out a new vision for the City Centre and includes detailed recommendations on built form, streetscapes, land use and movement. It sets a new agenda for sustainability and design for climate, emphasising the city’s walkability, its liveability and its connection to the Pioneer River. The City Strategy has informed planning, land use and built form requirements for Mackay’s draft planning scheme and has been instrumental in developing new standards for street and public realm responses.

The strategy is due for public release in June 2012, timed to coincide with the release of the new Draft Planning Scheme.

BCC approved the scheme in December 2011, less than 12 months after the project’s design commenced.

Deicke Richards and Brannock and Associates worked closely with Metro Property Development during 2011, in an inclusive and collaborative process, to reach this milestone.

The project provides more than 150 residential apartments and ground floor commercial space in a prime location. It is strategically located adjacent to South Bank and Musgrave Park, within walking distance to public transport.

Visit our projects pages for more information and imagery.

The development has given residents an opportunity to relocate to higher ground, and the first residents moved in this week. The first home in the new development is one of three built and funded by the Brisbane Housing Company.

Working with the Lockyer Valley Regional Council and the community, Deicke Richards was involved earlier this year in developing the master plan for the rebuilding of Grantham. The practice has maintained ties with the community this year and designed a BBQ shelter for the new community park within the development.

Director Cameron Davies and urban designer Hayley Phillips attended Saturday’s opening event, held at the new Grantham park on Saturday 10 December.

  

LVRC Mayor Cr Steve Jones and Qld Premier Anna Bligh

This is a significant planning project for Brisbane City Council, providing an integrated water management project in a capital city catchment and a rejuvenation for Norman Creek and its surrounds.

The master plan will balance economic, environmental and social sustainability needs and be responsive to community inputs. Among the goals is to build knowledge and appreciation of the catchment’s behaviour during drought and flood and to contribute to the resilience of its urban community.  Spaces for sport and recreation and safe wildlife corridors will also be on the agenda, as will the re-engagement of a number of centres with the waterways and catchment area.

The project team is led by John Gaskell, of John Gaskell Planning Consultants, and other core team members include Malcolm Eadie from e2designlab and Damian Thompson from Lat27.

The plan will be a ‘big picture’ guide for the next 15 years and deals with an area of about 30 square kilometres. It is scheduled for completion mid 2012.

Director Cameron Davies and Urban Designer Cassie Boyle are working on the project for Deicke Richards.

Right: Members of the master plan team cycled and walked their way along key catchment routes as part of a ‘site visit’ earlier this year.

The title is the most significant annual award given by the Australian Institute of Horticulture, from the AIH member body in Australia and overseas.

The award was presented at a ceremony in Canberra last Saturday night and it specifically recognises King’s work on the Kim Walter’s Choices Garden.

The Choices program offers support for women living with breast and gynaecological cancer and is based at The Wesley Hospital, Toowong. The new garden, designed by King, will create a green entry to the Choices building and a tranquil backdrop for its outdoor terrace.

‘The garden has already generated interest from the wider hospital population on site, so we’re keen to see the project as an indicator of what can be achieved in healthcare environments,’ says King.

The garden project has been a voluntary commitment for Deicke Richards. Its design and development has taken place over the past year and a team of volunteers celebrated a key milestone with ‘planting day’ last month.

One of the challenges for King has been to select plants able to cope with the site’s deep shade.  A special part of the project has been the donation of cordylines by the International Cordyline Society and the special naming of three new cordylines -  ‘Kim’s Choice’, ‘Pink Ribbons of Hope’ and ‘Ann Moran’. The latter references one of the garden project’s founders and longest standing supporters, Ann Moran.

The garden’s development will continue, with future planned stages including a regenerative garden nearby and the installation of artwork.

For information about the garden project or to make a donation contact (07) 3232 6584 or email jo.thompson@uchealth.com.au. To find our more about the Choices program, visit www.uhc.com.au/choices

The practice provided urban design and planning inputs into a structure plan and statutory development scheme for the ‘Gabba. The work won a merit award in the category for Best Planning Ideas for large, regional or urban projects.

The plans for the ‘Gabba shape a transit oriented precinct incorporating residential, retail, commercial, employment, recreation and community facilities, highly serviced with public transport, pedestrian and cycle accessibility. The work was completed for the Urban Land Development Authority. One of its achievements is the creation of high quality public space, with a ground plane almost entirely free of infrastructure intrusion.

For more details about the Woolloongabba UDA, follow this link to our case study.

Receiving the award from left to right: Cameron Davies, Steve Connor (ULDA) and Stephen Smith, with Gavin Elphinstone (Sinclair Knight Merz, category sponsor)

The rebuilding of Grantham was nominated in the Hard Won Victory category by the Queensland Reconstruction Authority and the Lockyer Valley Regional Council (LVRC). Deicke Richards was involved in the earliest stages of the project, working with the community and LVRC to develop Grantham’s master plan.

For more details about the Grantham master plan, follow this link to our case study.

After co-presenting an urban design master class with John Byrne at the 2011 PIA State Planning Conference in Toowomba last month, Richards flew to Perth to assist leading a design master class for the ACNU.  The master class was prior to The New Urbanism and Smart Transport 2011 International Conference, 26 and 27 September, and was led by Stefanos Polyzoides, CNU founder and principal of Moule and Polyzoides in Pasadena, California and Wendy Morris from ESD in Melbourne.

Perth’s proposed light rail corridor was the focus of the master class. Three teams looked at each of the light rail routes, linking three universities and a major hospital to the city centre. An additional team investigated appropriate densification typologies and an architecture of place.

Peter led the ‘south-east route’ team, working with local urban designer Malcolm Mackay and John Stimson from Fairmont Homes in Adelaide.   The team investigated a route from the city centre — through Victoria Park, past the Australian Resources Research Centre and the Hayman Road Technology Park to Curtin University. Detailed analysis of the preferred route was undertaken, examining the two primary alternatives of Albany Highway or Shepperton Road. The light rail stops were seen as catalysts for development of contemporary medium rise, mixed-use urban buildings. (Image at right shows potential built form at the intersection of Shepperton Road and Duncan Street.)

The workshop outcomes will be published within the next few months.

Our landscape architect Arno King has designed the garden and assisted the Choices team in getting support from nurseries, landscape suppliers and landscape contractors.  With their assistance the garden has now been transformed in time for spring planting.

Come and join Arno and the team for ‘Planting Day’, this Saturday 1 October from 10am until 12pm.  It will be a fun day a chance to get your hands dirty and watch the garden literally come to life.  RSVP to arno@deickerichards.com.au

Director Peter Richards joined fellow urban designer and QUT Adjunct Professor John Byrne to present an urban design master class yesterday.  Associate Director Stephen Smith speaks today about planning for growth in regional towns and the value of the enquiry by design process to produce fast, effective planning results. In the final day’s programming, Director Cameron Davies joins Jamie Simmonds from Lockyer Valley Regional Council to speak about the Strengthening Grantham Project.  Deicke Richards worked on the master plan for Grantham in the months following the 2011 floods.

Our fourth conference speaker is urban designer Hayley Phillips, who has a spot in the closing session, ‘Fast, Funny and Passionate’.

Deicke Richards is a bronze sponsor of this year’s conference, ‘Planning with Altitude’, which continues today and tomorrow in Toowoomba.

Visit our services pages for more detail on the enquiry by design process.

Image (right): Strategic framework for Mirani, near Mackay – one of the hinterland locations where the enquiry by design process has been used.

Clients, colleagues and friends joined us for a picnic in the park.

PARK(ing) Day calls attention to the importance of open public space in the city and this year there were sites in Fortitude Valley, the CBD, Paddington and West End.

Deicke Richards has participated in four PARK(ing) Days and sees the event as a fun, community spirited way to advocate for open space in the city. The event prompts communities to rethink how our streets are used and sparks conversations about sustainable cities.

Our site was designed by landscape architect Arno King and interior designer Magda Myszkowski, with support from Dig-It! Landscapes, Pallara Trees, Leda Security and furniture and lighting designer Darcy Clarke. The site’s forest theme was chosen, in recognition of international year of the forest.

For images visit our PARK(ing) Day 2011 project page or the Brisbane PARK(ing) Day site.

The site provides a detailed library of image-rich case studies across architecture, interior design, urban design and landscape architecture.

Comprehensive information on the range of services, specialist team and research interests rounds out what the team hopes to be an ever evolving online resource for clients and colleagues.

Deicke Richards thanks its digital agency Silver Pistol, particularly Ian Butler (Creative Director), Glenn Murray (Managing Director) and Matt Heyes (WordPress guru); Marketry’s Elizabeth Graetz; and the photographers whose work features on the site, including Scott Burrows, Adrienne Campbell (Pixel Tree), David Sandison and Jon Linkins.