16 January 2018

Doma lodges plans for $160 million development on Dickson motor registry site

| Ian Bushnell
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The Dickson Interchange project will cost $160 million.

Doma Group has lodged plans for a $160 million redevelopment of the former motor registry site in Dickson, comprising four six to eight-storey buildings, including an ACT Government office block, residential and retail space, basement parking, a public plaza and an internal laneway.

Two development applications have been lodged, one each for the northern and southern sections of the site bordered by Northbourne Avenue, Challis Street and Cape Street.

In the south, one building will house ACT Government public servants from early 2020 with a café on the ground floor and an Access Canberra front desk. The other will contain 140 serviced apartments, a 90-place child care centre on the first floor, ground floor retail and commercial areas and two levels of basement parking.

To the north, two L-shaped residential buildings will interlock and contain 259 units, 10 of which are non-residential, with ground floor retail and commercial areas, including medical services, a mini-mart and a number of small food outlets and retail outlets. They will also have two levels of basement parking.

The internal laneway, ‘Challis Lane’, at the east of the development providing an intimate ‘eats street’ with cafes and restaurants throughout. Challis Lane will have the Jackie Chan mural to the north bringing a Melbourne laneway feel into the development, the development application says.

It says there will be associated works and landscaping throughout the site, including a large public plaza within the central portion of the site.

‘Challis Lane’ promises a more intimate urban experience.

A shared way will connect the northern and southern sections of the development.

The plans say the new Civic Plaza has been designed as a large, sunny active public space protected from southerly winds, with a series of retail tenancies and opportunities for al fresco dining.

Civic Plaza is designed to be a large active sunny public place.

The traffic assessment by Aecom says the total of 776 parking spaces (361 for the southern end and 415 for the north) is adequate for the site “given the excellent opportunities to reduce the reliance on private motor vehicle with close proximity to the light rail station and bus interchange, consistent with ACT Government transport policy initiatives at locations such as this.”

Both carparks will work by number-plate recognition.

The site is expected to generate up to 582 vehicles in peak hour but the assessment says that while Northbourne Avenue continues to be constrained, the Challis Street/Cape Street and Challis Street/Morphett Street intersections are adequate. The impacts from the development on Badham Street are expected to be manageable with around a 7.5 per cent increase in traffic during the peak periods.

Doma won the right to develop the site last year.

Comments close on the development applications in the last week of January. Click here to comment.

What are your thoughts on this new development? Do you think traffic would be manageable as predicted? Let us know by commenting below.

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