The Acton Waterfront boardwalk opened in November 2022.
Work to extend the Acton Waterfront boardwalk by 550 metres and infill approximately 30,000 square metres of Lake Burley Griffin began on 14 September 2020.
It involved:
The new boardwalk realigns the lake edge so it is consistent with the National Capital Plan and Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin’s intended configuration for West Basin.
It also forms the foundations for stage 3 of the project, which will include a new world-class park providing a key tourism and recreation space for events, activities, and everyday uses, transforming the existing underutilised area and providing unrestricted access to the lakefront.
The reclamation works will enable the creation of a new, permanent public park. In October 2021, the ACT Government announced funding to design and consult on a new park.
As with all aspects of the Acton Waterfront, plans for the boardwalk were developed in consultation with the community and key stakeholders to capture their needs and ideas for an accessible, connected, people-focused waterfront project.
Local, civil infrastructure specialist firm, Chincivil was engaged to undertake the boardwalk extension work, following Works Approval from the National Capital Authority for Acton Waterfront Stage 2A boardwalk extension in September 2020. Information and documentation about the Works Approval, including the consultation report, is available here.
Work on Acton Waterfront has commenced, with Henry Rolland Park (stage 1) opening in early 2018.
Work to create a new lake edge consistent with Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin’s plan for West Basin (stage 2) began in September 2020, after Works Approval was granted by the National Capital Authority.
The boardwalk extension includes reclamation of a section of lakebed for the creation of a new public park. It is expected to be completed in 2022.
In addition to completing the boardwalk the City Renewal Authority are building a lakefront beach with amenities at the western end of the new boardwalk.
A temporary landscaped park will give people unrestricted access to the waterfront while the reclaimed land settles.
In October 2021, the ACT Government announced funding to design and consult on a new permanent approximately 30,000 square metre public park (stage 3). The concept designs for the permanent park are being developed through community engagement and draws on the Acton Waterfront Place Plan released by the Authority.
Further stages, including mixed-use development and connections across Parkes Way, are still several years away.
The Acton Waterfront project is first and foremost about creating a new lakeside public space that gives people direct access to the waterfront and Lake Burley Griffin.
Subsequent stags of the precinct will, in accordance with the National Capital Plan, see the development of low and medium view buildings. The primary focus will be on achieving an exemplar or environmentally sustainable development through people centred good design.
Renewal of the underutilized land between the city and the lakefront is essential to improving connectivity between Civic and its neighbouring precincts including Acton Peninsular, New Acton, ANU and Commonwealth Park.
Establishing a complementary mix of different land uses and activities in Acton Waterfront will be important in creating an active community of residents, workers, and visitors, to help bring activity and daily life to the waterfront.
Changes in planning controls to improve apartment design, as well as changes to the ACT Government’s planning approach for the precinct, through the Acton Waterfront Place Plan and the City Renewal Authority’s ongoing review of the project’s planning and development principles, means the total number of apartments will be in the hundreds.
Under the statutory planning controls set by the National Capital Plan any new buildings on the lakefront must be setback a minimum of 55 metres from the lake wall. This open setback area will be developed as the new public park.
A range of building heights and setbacks is prescribed by the National Capital Plan; a maximum of 16 metres (about four storeys) in the areas adjacent to the new lakeside park, increasing to 25 metres (about six storeys) within a setback zone.
These height and setback controls are set out in the National Capital Plan’s West Basin Precinct Code.
A key urban design principle underpinning the creation of Acton Waterfront is ensuring it reflects, reinforces and respects the relationship Canberra has with Lake Burley Griffin and its urban environment as a garden city. As a result, Acton Waterfront will:
The area in its current state is primarily surface carparks with a very low level of environmental amenity.
The National Capital Authority, ACT Government and the City Renewal Authority have conducted multiple environmental studies and reviews by independent experts and parliamentary committees. The environmental studies have confirmed the area has a low level of environmental importance. There is no evidence of any significant or important wildlife habitat or endangered species in this area.
The new Acton Waterfront, its public spaces and adjacent foreshore areas will support and attract a diversity of wildlife, including waterbirds.
The Acton Waterfront project will apply water sensitive urban design techniques to improve the quality of stormwater flowing into the lake.
Further consideration will be given to wildlife corridors and access to the lake for native animals through the landscape design of Acton Waterfront.
Acton Waterfront will extend over only a single kilometre of the lake’s approximately 48 kilometres of foreshore.
The planning and design of Acton Waterfront will incorporate and take advantage of the views across Lake Burley Griffin from the new public park and boardwalk allowing people to more easily access and experience the lake setting.
The planning of future low to medium-rise mixed-use development will respect the key views that are identified in the National Capital Plan’s West Basin Development Guidelines.
This project realigns the lake wall consistent with the Griffins’ original plan.
Future stages of this project will also realize the Griffins’ vision for the city centre to be connected to formal lakeside public spaces.
In 2004 the National Capital Authority released their Griffin Legacy document which proposed that the West Basin of the lake should be reshaped to the original Griffin alignment. This proposal was incorporated in the National Capital Plan through statutory amendments passed by both houses of Federal Parliament in 2006.
The extension of the existing boardwalk by 500 metres in-line with Griffins’ original plan and the required land reclamation will cost approximately $30 million.
Construction of the permanent public park is scheduled to occur after the completion of the boardwalk extension and lakebed reclamation. Funding for the permanent public park will be considered by Government when this stage of the project is ready to be implemented.
There has been extensive community consultation on this project for more than 18 years by both the ACT and Australian Governments.
Ongoing community and stakeholder consultation have been central to the creation of the Acton Waterfront project vision, place values and design. This will continue.
In 2020, formal public consultation by the National Capital Authority was undertaken for the Works Approval for the extension of the boardwalk.
In 2019, community and stakeholder workshops were conducted to develop a place plan for the Acton Waterfront area and to receive feedback on early conceptual design options.
Further community consultation will occur in the development of detailed designs for the public spaces and the plans for mixed-use development in future years.
A summary of communication and consultation activities previously conducted for the project is provided below:
2004
2006
2012
2013
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
In addition to the formal engagement activities, the City Renewal Authority has extensively corresponded, discussed and sought feedback from key stakeholders and the community on the project on an ongoing basis.
The current Acton Waterfront project area is predominately surface car-parking and underutilised low-quality public spaces.
Once completed Acton Waterfront will have as its key feature a high-quality public park adjacent to the foreshore. This is in addition to the other public spaces that will be included in future development stages.
Acton Waterfront will incorporate high-quality public spaces and facilities including a new jetty, picnic and toilet facilities and small pavillions for low-key uses such as cafes and equipment hire.
Temporary public toilets will be provided during the construction of the boardwalk extension.
Further inclusions will be investigated throughout public consultation for the Acton Waterfront park.
The land reclamation method will be a ‘wet fill’ method. This method has been chosen based on a review of the potential fill techniques by the consultant geotechnical engineer. To undertake the reclamation, the fill material to be used will be predominantly rock ranging in size from 5mm to 75mm.
The boardwalk is constructed of high quality, pre-cast concrete panels, each of which measures 8.1m long and 2m wide.
The outer 2700mm margin uses a ‘cooler’ coloured bluestone exposed aggregate finish. The darker coloured margin has lines of 6mm full depth saw cuts that allow light to penetrate the structure from the water below. A grooved 300mm wide tactile paver in a contrasting colour is set flush with the pavement surface and 600mm in from the lake edge. A similarly contrasting 300mm high by 2000mm long pre-cast seat element with a honed finish, replaces the grooved insert on every sixth panel, to further define the water’s edge.
The ACT Government is committed to minimising disruption to the community during construction. Mitigation measures will be taken to control noise, dust and lake water quality.
Regular updates about the construction and impacts on the public will be provided by the City Renewal Authority website and social media channels.
Yes, a car parking plan will be developed to ensure there is an adequate supply of public parking for people visiting the waterfront once it is completed.
Standard construction hours for the project are permitted and will apply between 6am to 8pm Monday to Saturday.
Yes, footpath diversions are in place for people to walk, run and cycle around the West Basin during the entire construction period.
A formal tree assessment by a specialist independent arborist assessed that most of the existing trees were in poor condition. A small number of trees (approximately 10%) were assessed as being in good condition. Where possible, the Authority will retain any mature tree that is considered worth keeping, however, construction and land engineering requirements will require the removal of some trees.
The assessment recommended that no trees could be transplanted successfully.
None of the trees to be removed are rated as Exceptional in their condition.
The permanent 40,000 square metre public park will transform the existing surface carparks and surrounding underutilised land through high quality landscaping, new public amenities and events.
The interim park will be planted with more than 200 new trees.
Henry Rolland Park which opened in early 2018 included 23,000 new plants.
The driving of the piles that form the foundation for the new boardwalk will start in late January 2021. This piling work is expected to continue for approximately six months, until early in the second half of 2021. The pile driving will generate some noise that will be audible in nearby areas. The piling will be occurring between 7am and 4pm Monday to Friday only and this will be closely monitored.
Yes, we can confirm that the construction will begin at the southern end of the boardwalk extension project site and move progressively to the northern end.
There will be a total of 104 piles, in two rows of 52 piles to form the foundation for the boardwalk deck structure. Each precast concrete pile is approximately 16m in length and 60cm in diameter and will be driven and secured into the lakebed.
The transformation of the Acton Waterfront requires the removal of the existing boat hire building. Demolition is scheduled to start on Monday 19 July 2021 and be completed by December 2021. The Acton Waterfront will incorporate high-quality facilities including a new jetty, picnic and public toilet facilities and kiosk-style buildings suitable for cafes and equipment hire.
Water testing is being regularly conducted to meet the requirements of the approved sediment and erosion control plans. No non-conformances with those plans have been recorded.
We acknowledge the Ngunnawal people as traditional custodians of the ACT and recognise any other people or families with connection to the lands of the ACT and region. We acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of this city and this region.