In September, the City of Greater Bendigo took out the prestigious 2008 Australian Award for Urban Design, recognising the transformation of its CBD over the past 14 years.
The award is managed by the Planning Institute of Australia and supported by the Royal Australian Institute of Architects, the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects, and the Urban Design Forum. It was established to recognise recent urban design projects of high quality in Australia, and to encourage cities, towns and emerging settlements of all sizes to strive for improvement.
In September, Federal Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, presented the award to Council’s Director City Strategy, Jan Boynton.
City of Greater Bendigo CEO, Craig Niemann, said the award is fantastic recognition of the transformation of the city centre since the 1994 Council amalgamations and is still a work in progress.
“This is the most significant award that a Local Government can win for its urban design,” he said. “Minister Garret was highly complimentary of Bendigo’s efforts and outcomes and our residents should join the City in being really proud of this award.
“The judging panel noted that the City has shown great public leadership by making significant public investment, which has stimulated complementary private investment programs. Together, these investments have had a focus on people, public amenity, revitalisation and the progressive realisation of its plans over time.”
Some of the major improvements made to the Bendigo CBD have included:
- undergrounding of over 12
kilometres of powerlines - working with property owners
to restore and enhance their
buildings - assistance with veranda
reinstatements - planting of hundreds of
deciduous street trees - 10,600 linear metres of quality
paving laid - installation of quality street
furniture - the award winning CBD plan
and the vision that it established - redevelopment of the Mall
- Walk Bendigo implementation
- economic response from the
private sector, which has seen a
230 per cent growth in street
dining since 2000.
“Over the past 14 years a number of people have made substantial contributions to this transformation, including successive Councillors, CEOs, engineers and planners,” Craig Niemann said. “However, the person who has been the one constant all this time is the City’s consultant architect and urban designer, Don Goldsworthy.
“This national award is a fitting tribute to his outstanding efforts in promoting quality design.”
