A coastal community with a cultural and commercial heart
The waterfront connection anchors the community to the new town centre and parklands to create a vibrant living, working and active environment. The project's core objective is not only to become a district drawcard destination, it also provides an integrated centre and social hub. To achieve this, our Landscape Architects in the Cities and Places team - as the designers of the public realm - ensured that the public domain creates a diverse and layered foundation to the town centre. Working from the master plan stages through to documentation and delivery, we explored ways to bring the sense of place as a waterfront urban village throughout the precinct.
The Team:
The Shell Cove Waterfront Precinct includes the entire boat harbour and connects the town centre to surrounding beaches, the breakwater, and the harbour entry. The public area provides space for everyday activities, social gatherings, and public celebrations. In Shell Cove, the public area incorporates the town centre, promenade, boardwalks, jetties, waterfront parklands, and nearby beaches, offering diverse ways to access and connect to the water’s edge.
The vibrant Town Centre includes a supermarket, markets, and cafés, as well as a community centre and library, with outdoor spaces for gathering, relaxing, exercise, and play. The project’s outcome is the creation of a unique place that celebrates urban living on the Australian coast.
Our Landscape Architecture team have been involved with this project since 2013. Hear what our Landscape Architects, Steve Hammond and Frederico Zanet say about this project.
The transcript:
The main attraction of this place is undoubtedly the waterfront. As public realm designers, we have focused on creating a unique space that provides access to the waterfront, catering to the needs of the community, residents, and tourists to the precinct.
We have taken a comprehensive approach, meticulously planning every aspect, from the grand strategy of master planning to the intricate details of public space design, landscape design, public realm, seating, lighting, water features, and balustrade fencing.
For us, it’s really about design thinking, from the big picture to the detail. It was important to allow flexibility for all users in the future. Timber seating is a nice example because it is not just a level change. Still, ramps are integrated into the seating that connects with the dining precinct and the boardwalk, and this timber wrapping connects the boardwalk to the concrete of the upstairs promenade.
There were many design challenges, including considering the low and high tides, creating concrete steps down to the water, and adding fun activities for the kids.
So, for us, what makes a place successful is that it can create an environment where people feel comfortable doing a wide variety of urban activities, from dining at a restaurant to having a picnic on the foreshore to jumping in the water or swimming.
So, it’s all about getting all that variety of use that makes a very active and dynamic town centre. We have two and a half kilometres of walkway around the harbourfront, and they connect down to the beach, down to the jetties and the breakwater and then out to the broader district, so you can walk to Bass Point, Shell Harbour, and embed this place into the wider precinct.
As the town centre and waterfront precinct evolve, this area is poised to become even more vibrant. With a variety of apartments and medium-density housing yet to be constructed and the parklands still in development, the future of this area is brimming with potential.
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