海角社区

The 海角社区 proudly announced the winners of the 2024 TAS Awards for Planning Excellence at the Awards ceremony on Friday, 6 December.

This prestigious event, held in Hobart at the Moonah Arts Centre, brought together over 60 planning professionals and allied experts from the built environment to honour outstanding achievements in planning across nine categories in the presence of Simon Behrakis MP, Tasmanian Parliamentary Secretary for Housing and Planning. 8 Awards and 3 Commendations were awarded by a jury of members from the industry.

The 海角社区 Awards for Planning Excellence recognise the contributions that planners make to enhance communities and create liveable, thriving and sustainable places.

We extend our congratulations to all the winners and commendations.

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Community Wellbeing & Diversity Award Winner | Designing for Livability

Awarded to: Glenorchy City Council

The Principal Activity Centres and Northern Apartments Corridor Specific Area Plans are an exceptional example of an innovative approach to aiming at reducing impediments to providing for inclusive housing. The project has introduced new local planning controls seeking to deliver on fundamental rights to housing for individuals of all abilities and life stages, and reflecting a commitment to sustainable housing diversity. The Plans aim to deliver demographic needs and meet infill housing targets by implementing place-based solutions for well-designed, universally accessible apartments.

Key objectives include ensuring that well designed liveable housing is within walking distance of shops, services, and high-frequency public transport. The Northern Apartments Corridor SAP specifically targets underutilised commercial land between major activity centres and a key transit corridor. Carefully drafted planning standards allow apartments to be developed without disrupting local businesses or compromise apartment amenity.

A notable feature was that it was produced by an in-house project team enabling council’s planners to actively shape the standards, fostering direct oversight and innovation. This approach ensured that the controls effectively addressed the City's housing challenges. The project and its outcomes are easily transferrable to other similar urban areas in the State.

Community Wellbeing & Diversity Commendation | Waterworks Reserve Master Plan 2024

Awarded to: City of Hobart

The Waterworks Reserve Master Plan provides strategic guidance to preserve and enhance the community use, natural values, heritage, and cultural significance of this important nature reserve. The Plan guides future improvement and management so that the reserve can deliver benefits for the Hobart community, its visitors, and the environment.

The plan is values-driven and informed by meaningful community and stakeholder engagement, including with Tasmanian Aboriginal people. It addresses critical social and environmental needs by providing places for nature recreation and quiet enjoyment of nature, as well as social gatherings in a natural bushland setting, helping to address social isolation and physical and mental wellbeing.

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Great Place Award Winner | Regent Square, George Town

Awarded to: George Town Council

Regent Square in George Town represents a transformative urban redevelopment that harmonizes historical preservation with modern functionality. Originally established in 1813, the square has been revitalized to meet contemporary community needs while retaining its historical essence. The project preserved an iconic rotunda and integrated a range of modern amenities, including an advanced playground with a flying fox and trampolines, a skate park, a half basketball court, and BBQ facilities.

A notable addition is the Aboriginal Gathering Space, designed in consultation with the Tasmanian Aboriginal Corporation to support cultural activities and community events. The project aligns with the George Town Structure Plan 2021, which emphasizes the creation of functional public open spaces. Collaboration played a crucial role in its success, involving continuous input from a reference group, specific consultations with local children for playground design, and engagement with the Tasmanian Heritage Council to respect the site's heritage significance.

The project sets a benchmark for integrating historical and modern elements and how thoughtful design can enhance public spaces and foster community cohesion.

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Planning Research Award Winner | Research informed planning: The City of Launceston Urban Greening Strategy

Awarded to: Jason Byrne M海角社区 (Fellow), Professor of Human Geography and Planning, University of Tasmania, Roxane Bandini-Maeder, CEO and co-founder, Geoneon, Rosanna Coombes, Strategic Projects Advisor, City of Launceston, Marc Lane, Principal - Cities and Place, WSP Australia

The City of Launceston’s Urban Greening Strategy tackles climate change with knowledge and innovation and a focus on the heightened susceptibility to heat within the Tasmanian community. The project aims to mitigate and adapt, reduce the urban heat island effect, transition to a water-sensitive city, and design sustainable communities and ecosystems, as well as remaining sensitive to heritage values.

The strategy emphasizes heat equity and the benefits of urban trees, using remote sensing for regional greening. The project is innovative, collaborative, resourceful, and adaptable to other urban areas, with the first trees being planted in heat-prone neighbourhoods within Launceston City.

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Stakeholder Engagement Award Winner | Hobart Climate Assembly

Awarded to: City of Hobart

The Hobart Climate Assembly is an outstanding example of community-led and empowered engagement. The Assembly created a ‘mini public’ and brought together a diverse group of 33 members who were representative of the diversity of the Hobart community to provide advice to Council and the community on possible responses to climate and biodiversity emergency as part of the preparation of the City’s climate change strategy.

The Assembly provided a good cross section of the community, showing the strength of genuine engagement that can be found when the community comes together to brainstorm solutions for complex problems. This unique and powerful way of grassroots engagement is transferable and adaptable, and is to be commanded.

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Strategic Planning Project Award Winner | Huon Valley Vision and Land Use and Development Strategy

Awarded to: SGS Economics and Planning, Huon Valley Council, Ireneinc and Resonance

The Huon Valley Land Use and Development Strategy is a comprehensive strategic planning document that captures the vision of stakeholders and sets a foundation for a series of wider strategic planning documents and initiatives to Renew the Huon.

The strategy was undertaken over a two-year period, in an area undergoing considerable change in profile, trends, political and planning context. The strategy provides coverage of the range of planning matters for future decision making ranging from an insightful perspective of the development of Tourism in the area to the practical requirements for housing and residential growth.

Future land use and development in the Huon Valley is well led by this strategy and the initiatives that will arise from its foundational work.

Strategic Planning Project Commendation | Adaptive Living in the Northern Apartments Corridor

Awarded to: Glenorchy City Council

The Northern Apartments Corridor Specific Area Plan within the Glenorchy municipality is an out of the box approach to using underutilised land for high density living.

The project team identified a prime strip of land currently inhibited by zoning, and worked through effective planning controls that will assist in creating one of the first mixed use transit orientated developments in the state. The controls will not only allow shared commercial tenancies with residential use but introduce design controls to allow sustainable housing development.

Instead of straight rezonings, an adaptive approach allows commercial and residential to coexist. This innovative approach to development will have real, on-ground effects, and should be an example to all Councils across the state.

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Climate Change & Resilience Commendation | Northern Midlands Solar Farm

Awarded to: Cogency Australia

The Northern Midlands Solar Farm Project demonstrates clear recognition of the importance of genuine engagement and wide community acceptance to support both the statutory approvals process and long-term community confidence in the renewable energy sector.

An owner-led example is less common in the industry and shows that some risk, and belief in good outcomes is required to achieve change. Environmental and Social sustainability considerations are demonstrated by the emphasis on future ongoing development and use of the land being in harmony with the solar farm operation.

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Technology & Digital Innovation Award Winner | Exploring Drivers, Barriers, and Enablers of School-Based Urban Greening in the Face of Climate Change

Awarded to: Grace Elliott 海角社区 (Assoc.)

Grace’s thesis investigates how schools can help combat extreme urban heat, particularly affecting young children. It explores urban greening of school grounds as a way to create cooler environments, reduce heat-related risks, and support community adaptation and wellbeing as well as additional, intangible benefits.

Through policy analysis, interviews with planning professionals, and a focus group with teachers in Brighton, Tasmania, the study reveals a lack of policy support for school-based urban greening despite strong scientific evidence and high awareness and motivation among staff.

Four success factors were identified: policy frameworks, partnerships and engagement, planning for resilience, and strategic planning. The study extends the definition of school-based urban greening as a process enhancing urban climate resilience and improving outcomes for students, staff, and communities. This research pragmatically explores factors facilitating the implementation of school-based urban greening, bridging theory and practice and the outcomes of Grace’s work are transferable across similar environments.

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Young Planner of the Year Award Winner | Sonali Raj 海角社区 (Assoc.), Planning Officer, Kingborough Council

Sonali has demonstrated an outstanding commitment and contribution to the profession. Sonali has a bachelor's degree in architecture and master’s degree in urbanism and has held roles as an architect, urban designer and planner. This experience has provided skills in strategic and statutory planning, which Sonali utilises in her current role at Kingborough Council. Sonali is assisting with the implementation of Council’s Local Provisions Schedule and has demonstrated the achievement of good outcomes including in appeal mediations.

Sonali is a member of the Young Planner Committee, previously in New South Wales and currently in Tasmania. This includes as a representative on the Policy and Advocacy team. Her contributions have included writing for the New Planner Journal, panel member at the International Student Forum and laying the groundwork for a joint alliance between institute of architecture landscape architecture professionals and Young Planners.

Sonali has been involved in the mentoring program as a mentee and mentor, and has assisted with organising events such as the Park(ing) Day and Jane’s Walk and in relation to Hobart’s Transport and Land Use strategies. Sonali’s commitment, contribution and skills make her a worthy recipient of the Young Planner of the Year Award.

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Planning Champion Winner | Tamara Burt, Team Leader - Planning & Building Services, George Town Council

As a project coordinator for George Town Council, Tamara is a strong advocate of the planning profession. Tamara has been the key lead on several important strategic documents for her municipality, including the Township Character Plans, the Hillwood Open Space Plan, and the George Town Street Tree Strategy. Under Tamara's guidance, these strategies have assisted and steered planning policies that have led and continue to lead to real outcomes on the ground, now and into the future. With her advocacy for the profession, exemplary stakeholder management skills and promotion of sustainable and achievable development, Tamara is a worthy recipient of the Planning Champion award.

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Thank you to our Awards Sponsor