8 October 2020

Work starts on Canberra Brickworks redevelopment access road

| Ian Bushnell
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Access road to the Canberra Brickworks redevelopment

Trees make way for the access road to the Canberra Brickworks redevelopment. Photos: Ian Bushnell.

Work has started on a $7.7 million project to construct a new access road to the proposed Canberra Brickworks redevelopment and to upgrade Dudley Street in Yarralumla, Transport Canberra and City Services has confirmed.

The area has been fenced off and heavy machinery has begun clearing trees to make way for the 130-metre long access road from Dudley Street where a new roundabout will be built.

The new road is part of the ACT Government’s sale and development deal with Doma Group, which in 2017 won the right to develop the 16-hectare site and plans to build about 380 dwellings and repurpose the historic brickworks.

READ ALSO Doma finally gets the go-ahead on Yarralumla Brickworks site

About nine protected trees will make way for the new road, the increasingly busy Dudley Street will be widened by 10 metres, and the alignment improved to meet current design standards and improve its safety.

The ACT development application and NCA works application were approved earlier in the year, and the project conditions include some environmental offsets for the endangered Golden Sun Moth.

An earlier Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act approval required an Offset Management Plan, with the Franklin Grasslands identified as an offset site.

Dudley Street

Busy Dudley Street will be widened by 10 metres.

This approval has also resulted in some areas of the project site being rehabilitated with native grasses to become habitat suitable for the Golden Sun Moth, including the smaller site compound along Dudley Street, TCCS says.

The ACT DA requires any Golden Sun Moth populations to be moved to neighbouring grassland habitat.

The project will take 12 months and Dudley Street will remain open under traffic controls and delays can be expected.

TCCS says some works will require short-term closures such as when roadside barriers need to be installed to protect road users and workers during construction and the final stages of road resurfacing towards the end of the project. These are expected to take place on weekends where possible. Signs will advise road users of any closures at least one week beforehand.

A 2017 study found Dudley Street carried 8100 vehicles per day, and the new estate is likely to generate 3000 additional vehicles per day when fully developed.

About 80 per cent of this new traffic – or 2400 vehicles per day – would access the estate via Dudley Street, Cotter Road or Novar Street. Even more traffic is expected from further development and growth in Yarralumla, Deakin and Molonglo.

Brickworks

The Brickworks site. Image: Supplied.

The project will also include formalising the crossing of the recreational Uriarra Track and the construction of off-road shared paths.

The Canberra Brickworks development will include low-density houses, terraces and apartment buildings, up to a maximum height of three storeys.

Some of the brickwork kilns will be retained for commercial and retail use and there are plans to restore others.

The proposed development is divided into four precincts: a low-density residential precinct to the east; a mix of terrace houses, apartments and single dwellings to the south; a high-density residential precinct to the west; and a combined retail/commercial precinct within existing, re-purposed buildings onsite.

Doma also plans a public park and a lake, and says it intends to achieve a 5-star Greenstar Communities rating.

Doma is currently preparing a draft Environmental Impact Statement.

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And as usual, the realignment gives priority to the minor side road (2400 vehicles per day), while causing maximum inconvenience to the major road (8100 vehicles per day).

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