City Centre Developments
The vision for the Rockingham Regional Centre is to achieve a traditional town centre character with street life, safe pedestrian spaces and ready access to a vibrant mix of commercial, civic, community and recreational activities:
- Rockingham City Centre Plan Review (Links to webpage)
- Rockingham City Centre Developments
- Rockingham City Centre Transit System (RCCTS)
- Murdoch University Campus Development
- Contemporary Arts Centre
- Transit Mall Urban Design Study
- Rockingham Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Demonstration Project
The vision for the Strategic Regional Centre is to achieve a traditional town centre character with street life, safe pedestrian spaces and ready access to a vibrant mix of commercial, civic, community and recreational activities.
The Council's Chambers building, Arts Complex, Lotteries House, Police Station, Courts and Justice Centre and the 'LifeLinks' community building are clear demonstrations of the substantial public sector commitment to the future of the Regional Centre.
The Council continues to actively seek employment generating private sector investment in the City Centre. The Council has created three development sites along Civic Boulevard from its own landholding, which are currently being marketed to generate further private sector activity in the City Centre.
The RCCTS is a State Government project, designed to link the Rockingham rail station (located at the intersection of Ennis Avenue and Rae Road), to the Rockingham City Centre, then onto the Murdoch University campus, after which it will travel to the Rockingham beachfront. It is designed to link these three major activity nodes back to the Perth to Mandurah railway.
The Public Transport Authority (PTA) began construction of the $15.1 million RCCTS in early 2007. The project began operations in late 2007, in line with the opening of the Southern Suburbs Railway. Full operational capacity was achieved in February 2008.
The RCCTS operates on a combination of existing roads and dedicated transit lanes. Stage 1 of the system uses four modern gas-powered buses offering a high frequency 15 minute shuttle service between the new Rockingham Train Station and the beachfront.
The RCCTS is ultimately proposed to operate as a streetcar system, however, implementation of the light rail component (Stage 2) will be examined as surrounding development and patronage increases over time.
Council Officers liaised closely with the PTA Project Engineers and the construction contractor to ensure that the completed project compliments the substantial existing public investment in the City Centre. The final result can be regarded as an excellent "best practice" public transport example for the centre of Rockingham.
The ongoing operation of the RCCTS will continue to build public transport capacity in years to come.
The Murdoch University Rockingham Campus was originally proposed to occupy land located to the east of Goddard Street and south of Dixon Road. This land is critical to the future expansion of the Strategic Regional Centre and the development of the RCCTS and supporting land-uses.
In association with the Rockingham Kwinana Development Office and Murdoch University, the City is examining the potential development options for this land as a part of the review of the Rockingham City Centre Development Policy Plan, which is the primary planning document guiding the development of the Strategic Regional Centre.
Given the TOD potential along the RCCTS alignment, it is essential that the master planning of the Murdoch University campus precinct recognise these development opportunities.
As a part of the review of the Development Policy Plan, the land in this precinct is being considered for a range of town centre, TOD, medium to high density housing and educational land uses.
The development of a Contemporary Arts Centre was originally identified as a priority in the 1994 Regional Arts Strategy Implementation Study. The project forms an integral part of the Council's vision for a community arts focus in the core of the Strategic Regional Centre.
The original sketch plans, for a 250 seat performing arts centre, were prepared in the mid-1990's, based on a 1994 analysis of local needs and the extensive consultation with local theatre and other community groups, carried out for the Regional Arts Strategy.
More recently, community groups and others have sought a larger venue than originally anticipated (up to 650 seats), to enable a much wider range of activities to be accommodated by the building.
Council allocated $100,000 from its 2007/08 budget towards a feasibility study to determine the most appropriate size and design of a contemporary arts theatre.
With funding assistance from the Rockingham Kwinana Development Office, Council commissioned specialist consultants to prepare a draft brief for the proposed Feasibility Study. The study brief has now been finalised.
The cost of the building was originally estimated at approx $5.2M, with both the City and the State Government contributing $2.6M each. These building estimates will be reviewed as part of the feasibility study, however, it is clear that substantial Government support will be critical to progressing this project.
Based on recent construction estimates from similar projects, it is expected that a building budget of between $35M - $50M could be expected for a 650 seat complex.
The need for the Transit Mall Urban Design Study arose out of the Minister's refusal in September 2004 of the most recent development application for the expansion of the Rockingham City Shopping Centre. The Council did not support the application as it was contrary to a number of local and state planning policies.
The Minister subsequently advised that an Enquiry by Design workshop was to be carried out by the WAPC to produce a development plan and implementation strategy to guide mixed use development, focused on an activated 'main street' heart to the City Centre, particularly integrated with the Transit Mall and the RCCTS.
The EbD Workshop was held in November 2005 and a Workshop Outcomes Report released in January 2006. Three significant outcomes of the Workshop were:
- Production of a recommended Indicative Development Plan to guide future development in the City Centre.
- An Implementation Strategy to ensure that the desired development outcomes are delivered in a co-ordinated and timely manner.
- The need for an Agreement between the parties to ensure that each understands their roles and responsibilities in expediting implementation of the EbD outcomes.
The Council considered the Workshop Outcomes Report in February 2006 and resolved to generally support the Planning and Design Outcomes, and Implementation and Staging Outcomes of the EbD. There were several outcomes relating to road network, intersection treatments and public carparking which were highlighted for further study.
Amendments to the Development Policy Plan and Indicative Development Plan were then undertaken to accommodate:
- the EbD Outcomes for the core area of the City Centre.
- to introduce new Design Guidelines for development in and around the eastern end of the shopping centre and Transit Street precincts.
- the proposed expansion of the shopping centre.
- the construction of the Transit Street and the RCCTS.
Council subsequently approved an $85M redevelopment of the shopping centre, involving expansion of the eastern end of the centre, construction of a 'retail main street' (now called Syren Street) connecting Civic Boulevard to the Transit Street (now called Contest Parade), development of streetfront buildings and a 1500 seat cinema complex.
Redevelopment works are expected to be completed at the end of 2008.
The project involves the preparation of detailed structure plans for those areas along the alignment of the Rockingham City Centre Transit System (RCCTS) that have potential for TOD development.
With closely spaced stations, the RCCTS will provide incentive for investors to focus on place-making and "mixed-use" development, clustered around the transit stops. Because of its planned size and location, and because much of the land along the RCCTS alignment is largely undeveloped, the Rockingham Strategic Regional Centre offers the best opportunity for TOD development along the route of the Perth to Mandurah railway.
The RCCTS provides an excellent opportunity for an achievable demonstration project. The review of the Development Policy Plan has explored this potential at a preliminary level; the joint study will further explore those possibilities.
The project will be commenced following completion of the review of the Development Policy Plan in late 2008.
