Introduction
Name of practice: GHD
GHD web site
Project overview
GHD’s landscape architecture team is a small part of a team of over 100 of Australia’s top dam and water engineers, environmental scientists and other professionals from ACTEW Corporation (“the Client”), AbiGroup and John Holland Group who are working together as the Bulk Water Alliance (“the Alliance”) to deliver water security for Canberra in accordance with ACTEW Corporation’s Water Security Program.
The Enlarged Cotter Dam
The Enlarged Cotter Dam will increase the existing dam’s storage capacity by 20 times. The dam is situated in a recreational precinct that has been part of Canberra’s recreational and cultural history for close to 100 years. The area is a special place in the hearts and minds of Canberrans. The new dam gives the Alliance and the Client the opportunity to enhance the recreational assets of the Cotter both for locals and for visitors to Canberra.
The Brief
The Alliance was briefed to identify recreation development opportunities associated with the construction of the Enlarged Cotter Dam. The Client required the Alliance to collate feedback from stakeholders into a list of costed projects with conceptual design, as well as prepare a brief for the architectural treatment of the dam itself.
The Report
The Recreational and Visual Opportunities for the Enlarged Cotter Dam and Cotter Precinct Report (“the Report”) is a first response to stakeholder consultation activities and findings of the recreation demand analysis. It covers the broad issues and ideas to a degree necessary to communicate the scope and objectives of a number of project concepts and assist the Client in developing a brief for development activities within the Cotter Precinct.
The Report builds on previous site assessment and analysis documents prepared by the same team. As such much of this information has not been reproduced in this document. The Report considers a broad range of influencing factors including the extensive construction staging needed to build the dam, the effects of the very serious 2003 Canberra bushfires, the extensive cultural and natural heritage present within the precinct, the outcomes of community consultation, the needs of the land managers and of course the monumental size of the new dam itself.
The Report establishes a framework to enhance those aspects of the Precinct that make it what it is – the views, the access to the rivers, camping facilities, the wide open spaces and the mature deciduous trees, which are some of the oldest in the ACT.
A multi-disciplinary team led by landscape architects is working to ensure that the site continues to function well for visitors and offers them the recreational opportunities that are synonymous with ‘the Cotter’. The Report has been informed by a set of strategies and principles that consider that this is a once-in-a-generation experience for many people and recommends projects that will make a trip to the Cotter as rewarding in as many ways as possible.
Special factors
- Potentially sensitive project given the conflict between the planned infrastructure works and potential site impacts and the rich and varied cultural and natural heritage values present at the site
- No masterplan exists for the site
- High level of public interest and number of stakeholders
- Client is not the land owner or manager
- To be delivered through Alliance project delivery methodology
2010
