An illustration of the West Basin Stage 2 project. Images: City Renewal Authority.
A tender has been issued for a consultant to manage the next stage of the City Renewal Authority’s Lake Burley Griffin West Basin development plan on behalf of the government.
The tender comes a week after the National Capital Authority announced the North Curtin horse paddocks land swap with the ACT.
The ACT Government has already contracted Chincivil Pty Ltd to build Stage 2, which involves extending the boardwalk and reclaiming the lake bed. The government is now looking for a project manager for the 18-month construction period and the two-year consolidation phase.
The 2019-20 budget includes $10 million for early work on the project, with a further $25 million allocated across the next two financial years.
The overall West Basin development, described as transformational and a priority project for the government, is part of the City to the Lake concept and eventually will mean the construction of about 2000 apartments behind lakeside parkland and a promenade.
“West Basin is an opportunity to unite Canberra City with the Lake Burley Griffin foreshore,” the tender document says. “This catalyst precinct will set a new standard of the design and realisation of the public realm in the ACT and encourage a rethinking of applicable standards to ensure best practice urban environments.”
Stage 2 involves extending the Henry Rolland Park boardwalk, with the construction of 500 metres of 8.1 metre-wide pre-cast concrete boardwalk and lake wall.
About 2.8 hectares of the lake bed will be reclaimed for future works, requiring about 80,000 cubic metres of fill. It will need to settle and be topped up.
The reclaimed area will be landscaped, subject to a further NCA Works Approval, as a temporary measure until further development is approved.
City Renewal Authority CEO Malcolm Snow said last week that future stages would include a new lakefront park and landscaped public spaces adjacent to the boardwalk that will separate the lake edge from any new buildings.
One idea is to use the reclaimed area as a tree nursery for future stages.
Buildings would be set back a minimum of 55 metres from the lake edge and the tender documents say the reclaimed land would be filled so that it can accommodate building foundations, including those for multi-storey structures. Construction will have to account for basements below the waterline.
The old boat hire building and jetty facilities, former bike hire building, and picnic facilities will be demolished and about 120 trees, mostly willows and poplars, will be removed.
The tender documents say no new permanent tree planting is planned for Stage 2, which will be part of the future Acton Waterfront development. However, the temporary landscape plan for the reclaimed area considers using the area as a tree nursery for future planting there.
The new West Basin lake edge and reclaimed area.
Other works include temporary traffic management measures such as car park closures and temporary realignment of the shared path network, and the installation of boardwalk lighting and furniture.
While the number of apartments envisaged for West Basin has been flagged at 2000, Mr Snow said the master planning previously undertaken for the Acton Waterfront project was being reviewed before any decision was made on its scope, timing and delivery method.
“Building development will proceed in accordance with timing set out in the 2019-20 to 2022-23 Indicative Land Release Program which would see the first blocks of land being released to market in the mid-2020s,” he said.
Construction of Stage 2 is scheduled to commence in the second half of 2020, but this may have to be reviewed in light of the coronavirus emergency.
While West Basin is now ACT land it remains subject to the National Capital Plan and future stages will need NCA approval.
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