New Woden Precinct
The new CIT Campus - Woden project will be a place that welcomes students, commuters and Woden residents – whether to study, use public transport, access local shops and services co-located with the campus or meet up with others in new public plazas and green spaces.
The new CIT facility will be home to around 6,500 students annually. The campus will be connected to the transport interchange via a new pedestrian boulevard. This connection extends to the Woden Town Square and mall, with a new shared zone linking Bowes and Bradley streets.
Community input into public spaces
To help ensure the new CIT Campus - Woden will deliver public spaces and facilities which bring vibrancy and connection to the town centre we continue to ask for the community’s views.
We’ve previously heard that shade, shelter, seating, active travel, landscaping and a communal atmosphere matter most in this pedestrian-focused area. Based on feedback to date, secure bike storage and public toilets are also being planned.
To supplement these findings, we asked for further input from the local community on public spaces, active travel, wayfinding, safety and what you want to see included in a revitalised Woden Town Centre
The findings from this consultation, which concluded in March 2022, include:
- The community would be proud of Woden if the public spaces were clean and well maintained (75%) and there was lots to see, do and experience in the Town Centre (54%);
- The community would feel safer in public spaces which are activated by shops and cafes opening out to the public area (80%), and are wide, open and well lit (54%);
- The community would like the spaces and places around the transport interchange and new CIT campus to have ample trees and green spaces (88%), new food and beverage options (58%) and easy access to local business, services (55%) and public toilets (54%); and
- Signage is important (79%) in helping the community navigate the precinct, with respondents preferring electronic display boards (68%) which were big, bold and easy to read from a distance (75%).
We are already implementing outcomes from this consultation and delivering new project features the community have said they would like to see. This includes a large new all-weather canopy connecting the CIT and transport interchange, an increased focus on green spaces, and a new shared zone between the existing town centre and the campus.
For more detail about the above consultation you can read the What We Heard Report May 2022 – Public spaces, connectivity, safety and wayfinding here.
Image: Indicative design of the external boulevard.
Tree replanting and greening Woden
Making way for the new public transport interchange on Callam Street requires roadworks, footpath upgrades, lighting upgrades and work on essential services under the ground. To allow these works to occur some trees in the Town Centre have been removed.
We know the community care about green space and growing the tree canopy in the Town Centre. Despite the required tree removal, both the amount of green space and the tree canopy will be increased by the end of the project.
In consultation Transport Canberra and City Services, the plan below shows where new trees will be planted in this specific area of the project.
The species of trees to be planted include:
- Liquidambar styraciflua (Sweet Gum)
- Lagerstroemia indica ‘Natchez’ (Crepe Myrtle); and
- Acer x freemanii ‘Jeffersred’ (Autumn Blaze).
These trees will be installed at both 200 litre and 100 litre pot sizes, providing instant canopy cover to the street and footpaths.
At the time of installation, these trees will be 2-4m high and are expected to reach 14-20m high at maturity for both the Sweet Gum and Autumn Blaze tree species and up to 8m in height for the Crepe Myrtle species.
All three species will provide generous canopy coverage and their placement will provide consistent shade coverage for pedestrians.
Indicative design; Precinct map plan
(Click map to enlarge)
