UPDATE - August 2022
We have engaged Paul Barnett Design Group to develop the design. Based on our initial brief, they have developed two concept plans, which were shared with the community at the Clean Up Australia Day event in March at the Shops. You can see both designs below, as well as the feedback we received so far.
Option 1 expands the green space into the courtyard at the same height, with a dry creek bed right through the centre of both patches of lawn. Option 2 involves lowering some of the green space to courtyard (paving) height, with a dry creek bed on the eastern side only.
Both options incorporate rocks, logs for sitting and walking on, a low level planted barrier adjacent to the bus shelter, and water smart features.
We have engaged Paul Barnett Design Group to develop the design. Based on our initial brief, they have developed two concept plans, which were shared with the community at the Clean Up Australia Day event in March at the Shops. You can see both designs below, as well as the feedback we received so far.
Option 1 expands the green space into the courtyard at the same height, with a dry creek bed right through the centre of both patches of lawn. Option 2 involves lowering some of the green space to courtyard (paving) height, with a dry creek bed on the eastern side only.
Both options incorporate rocks, logs for sitting and walking on, a low level planted barrier adjacent to the bus shelter, and water smart features.
Feedback we have received so far:
- Consider visual access - no visual barriers between shops and gardens
- Shade over seating
- Careful plant selection - hardy, non-invasive local natives
- Allow Nature Play throughout the space
- Provide for community art
- Allow space for pop-ups / community gatherings / events
- Provide a space for a Nature "shop" (play)
- Lots of rocks and logs
- Consider a bridge
- Paly for older people - accessibility, height
- Avoid stairs - consider various accessibility requirements
- Make it inclusive - young, old, teenagers, dogs...
- Consider Road Safety - effective low barriers to kids running on the road, without blocking pedestrian access to the bus stop
- A meeting space
- Space to sit with a coffee, read a book, chat to a friend
- Don't forget bike parking
We'd love to hear from you. Please use the form below to send us your feedback, thoughts, concerns or ambitions for the space by the end of August 2022
Background
From Lucy Hopkins & Maree Wright:
In 2018, following a long tradition as Hackett Preschool parents, we used to take our kids to the shops on Friday afternoons for icypoles. We lamented the lack of stuff to do, the appeal of the bus shelter as a 'plaything', and its proximity to the road. Maree is a community organiser with an interest in sustainability, and as NAPS P&C president recently coordinated the consultation for the re-design of the North Ainslie PS oval space. I am an academic and social scientist with an interest in childhood and play, and so we decided to put our skills together to see if we could do something in the space. In 2019 we applied to the ACT 'Adopt-a-park' programme for some funding, and were advised to apply for some money for community consultation events and developing a master plan for the space, which can be acted on later with subsequent funding applications. We were successful in our application, and our deepest thanks to the Hackett Community Association who auspiced our grant application and have been a great help (and very patient with all the delays).
As Hackett as a community is made up of older, established residents and young families (and everything in between!), we saw the need for:
· Nature play
· Sitting spaces/meeting with friends
· Shade
· Safe place for kids to play
· Community facilities (eg stage for party at the shops)
· Habitat/bird life
· Aesthetic beauty
· gardens
These were our ideas, so of course community consultation could bring forth more innovation and further great ideas!
COVID stopped us in our tracks, and the funds have been sitting there since, as has the shops precinct, without the beautifully landscaped green space that we had imagined! So now we would like to get the project off the ground, COVID times or not.
Our remit is:
Additionally, we are interested in gathering support for park care volunteer groups across Hackett, and would like to do this in the process of getting our project off the ground.
Beyond this initial project would be the implementation of the planning document that is produced for the space: the work on the ground.
From Lucy Hopkins & Maree Wright:
In 2018, following a long tradition as Hackett Preschool parents, we used to take our kids to the shops on Friday afternoons for icypoles. We lamented the lack of stuff to do, the appeal of the bus shelter as a 'plaything', and its proximity to the road. Maree is a community organiser with an interest in sustainability, and as NAPS P&C president recently coordinated the consultation for the re-design of the North Ainslie PS oval space. I am an academic and social scientist with an interest in childhood and play, and so we decided to put our skills together to see if we could do something in the space. In 2019 we applied to the ACT 'Adopt-a-park' programme for some funding, and were advised to apply for some money for community consultation events and developing a master plan for the space, which can be acted on later with subsequent funding applications. We were successful in our application, and our deepest thanks to the Hackett Community Association who auspiced our grant application and have been a great help (and very patient with all the delays).
As Hackett as a community is made up of older, established residents and young families (and everything in between!), we saw the need for:
· Nature play
· Sitting spaces/meeting with friends
· Shade
· Safe place for kids to play
· Community facilities (eg stage for party at the shops)
· Habitat/bird life
· Aesthetic beauty
· gardens
These were our ideas, so of course community consultation could bring forth more innovation and further great ideas!
COVID stopped us in our tracks, and the funds have been sitting there since, as has the shops precinct, without the beautifully landscaped green space that we had imagined! So now we would like to get the project off the ground, COVID times or not.
Our remit is:
- Community consultation on community need for the green space.
- Creation of a master planning document
- Creation of a group of interested volunteers who are keen to enact the project/apply for funds to carry out the work and look after the park.
Additionally, we are interested in gathering support for park care volunteer groups across Hackett, and would like to do this in the process of getting our project off the ground.
Beyond this initial project would be the implementation of the planning document that is produced for the space: the work on the ground.