Co-design and a 'razzle dazzle boat' in fresh start for Kingston Arts Precinct project

A fresh process of community engagement will allow arts organisations to benefit from the heritage buildings while also ensuring they have fit-for-purpose contemporary spaces, the newly appointed lead architect has said.

The government's Suburban Land Agency cancelled a deal with Geocon to build the project in November 2021.

The agency has now detailed how the project, which will include facilities for arts organisations and residential development around the heritage-registered Kingston powerhouse, will be delivered.

The government said construction on the would begin in 2024-25, and released a plan for engaging artists that included a "razzle dazzle boat" as an entrance experience and commissions for new work.

Astrid Jenkin, a director of Melbourne-based NH Architecture, said the idea of new and old buildings working together was fundamental to the project, which needed to be designed with the communities it would serve.

"One of the key findings that we were aware of in the material that we received was a sense of immense passion and previous involvement in the site," Ms Jenkin said.

"The previous schemes that were done and the level of engagement that people were looking for seemed to correlate enormously well with, I guess our overall studio attitude towards design: which is really the notion of co-design."

NH Architecture has been appointed by the Suburban Land Agency as the principal design team on the project, while RPS AAP Consulting and Turner & Townsend will serve as project management and quantity surveyors.

The Suburban Land Agency outlined at least a four-year program of work on the project to a community panel on Friday, including community consultation to take place until the end of the year.

The agency also released a place brief for the precinct, which notes global successes in clustering arts organisations.

"It not only supports collaboration, attracts talent, and achieves administrational efficiencies, but also drives urban regeneration and creates activity and vitality for the city centres," the place brief said.

The agency also released an arts, cultural and creative plan which said the precinct offered an opportunity for an "ambitious cultural project at a global scale".

The plan points to examples in New York, Chicago, Denmark and Italy, and sets out eight stages for engaging artists in the precinct.

The stages include commissioning art works, offering residencies for artists and a "razzle dazzle boat".

"While the razzle dazzle boat will be a fun, Instagrammable art experience for contemporary audiences, it also has the potential to connect audiences to other cultural sites along the lake foreshore," the plan said.

"The razzle dazzle boat is an opportunity to create a high impact arrival experience for visitors to [the Kingston Arts Precinct] that sets the tone of volume of art and creative they can expect at Canberra's newest destination."

The plan also includes offering spaces to emerging, established and visiting artists.

Arts Minister Tara Cheyne said the documents would guide the future place facilitator.

"It will be exciting to see the new design team's response to the aspirations outlined in the place brief," Ms Cheyne said.

Ms Jenkin said it was important for all relevant stakeholders and community groups to "help narrate the story" of the precinct's future.

"I guess key the key challenge that we have is to harness all of that energy and all of that previous involvement into something that will create an environment and a precinct that will benefit and add value to the daily experience of the user groups and the residents and the owners of the, of the precinct," she said.

Ms Jenkin said co-design processes were a contemporary way of creating environments and revitalising former industrial sites, like the Kingston Powerhouse.

"There's scope to reimagine the heritage building into something that acknowledges the value of the design and the structure of the existing building, but also create a subsidiary building that supports all of the functionality of the heritage building," she said.

NH Architecture has worked on the Queen Victoria Market renewal project in Melbourne, along with the Melbourne Arts Precinct transformation.

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The 40,295-square-metre Kingston site is the last undeveloped block on the foreshore, surrounding the heritage-registered powerhouse and former transport depot.

Chief Minister Andrew Barr said a concept design for a new subdivision and arts buildings would be developed over the next 12 months.

"Engagement is already underway to ensure community input on incorporating Ngunnawal language across the precinct and the development of the new ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art space," Mr Barr said.

The ACT government revealed in November 2021 it had terminated a contract with Geocon to deliver the arts precinct, nearly five years after the developer was named the preferred tenderer for the site, which was first put on the market in 2015.

Geocon and the ACT government signed an agreement for the project in July 2019, after protracted negotiations pushed back the scheduled start of construction by more than a year. Construction was originally due to begin in early 2019.

The Kingston site has been earmarked for an arts precinct since the late 1990s.

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