Hassett Park

The park is overlooked by residential and mixed use on all sides, with direct connections to all streets, providing key public domain facilities to the new and existing community. Internal movement systems are connected to existing and planned cycle routes, and link the existing suburb of Campbell to the lake. The park is near the bottom of a large catchment stretching to the top of ANZAC Parade and beyond, encompassing a large part of the existing suburb. A pre-existing drainage line and farm dam on the site was used as a design cue, with a new urban creek woven around the contours of the former gully. Sinuous walls and paths emanate from the form of the creek, structuring movement and use.

Campbell 5 is a new urban precinct providing key public domain facilities for the existing community of Campbell and the future community of the new development blocks. Streets and parks of Campbell 5 have been delivered as a framework for development; the park in particular provides immediate amenity for the existing community on the edges of the park while the new community develops. The park has a variety of environments to foster diverse use, providing for children's play, exercise, active recreation, and gathering space for community and ANZAC events. The urban stream daylights and treats stormwater, creating a delightful educative overlay that reconnects people to natural systems in the city

Design took the initiative of capturing stormwater from within the new development site, and from the existing wider suburban catchment. The first flush from the piped system is brought to the surface; flows are contained and filtered through the stream and wetlands, stored in tanks beneath the bridge, and re used for irrigation or released, filtered into the lake. Furthermore there was restoration of endangered lowland grassy ecosystems, including wildflowers, encouraging public appreciation of the wild as a new aesthetic that fosters wildlife and reduces maintenance. Trees removed for development were reused as play elements, and new trees were a balance of deciduous and locally native species

The design employs robust, ordinary materials, well detailed and finished to a high standard. Central to the structure of the park layout are concrete elements: walls, paths, bridges, and the detailed elements within the urban stream that both act as baffles to reduce erosion, and a playful way to cross the swale into the play areas. Concrete is well used in Canberra and there are local contractors who deliver excellent construction in this material. Construction was based on a well-detailed set of documents, and overseen on site through rigorous superintendence and design and quality compliance inspections, resulting in an overall lift in quality outcomes for public domain in developments of this type.

The design seeks to foster a new aesthetic that springs from natural systems, merging the wild with the functional program of urban open space. Water sensitive urban design is central in the structure of the park; it becomes part of daily movement, and part of the play experience. It heightens people's awareness and passively educates users of the role of water in the environment in an immediate and delightful way. The grassland edges foster wildlife, and introduce a wilder aesthetic to the urban park network.

Hassett Park has delivered to the new residents of Campbell 5 and the existing population of the suburb of Campbell a public realm that celebrates the value of open space in Canberra. The design is testament that the Land Development Agency can deliver a high quality public realm that goes above and beyond the needs and aspirations of the greater community and demonstrates the ACT Government's commitment to first class urban renewal projects. At the time of sale the design had a significant positive effect on the sales price for the estate and the Land Development Agency is confident that their investment will have an equally positive social investment for the C5 residents and Canberra region