Feedback is being sought on a recently released vision to renew Canberra’s 33-hectare Commonwealth Park located on the north shore of Lake Burley Griffin.
Commonwealth Park was marked as public space in the earliest concept designs for Canberra, developed by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahoney Griffin. The park opened in 1964, approximately 50 years after the first plans for the city were drafted.
Prepared by Turf Design Studio at the request of the National Capital Authority (NCA), the Commonwealth Park Vision Concept highlights several existing issues within the park. These include a lack of amenities, poor connections to the city and adjacent precincts, lack of play spaces, inadequate wayfinding and signage, increased maintenance needs and a failure to meet high accessibility standards set by the Disability Discrimination Act.
The vision emphasises that an enhanced park would more effectively serve Canberra’s expanding population, which “has grown sixfold from 76,000 people in 1964 to close to half a million in 2024.”
The NCA has invited feedback on the vision concept, which proposes:
- A new swimming and recreation venue integrated into the park
- A new lakeside garden room with endemic plantings and space to represent First Nations culture and connection to Country
- Upgrades to the permanent entertainment stage known as Stage 88 and an expanded lawn amphitheatre
- A series of new pavilions and facilities to support a broader range of exhibitions, events, displays and cultural offerings
- A new light rail station at Commonwealth Park
- New footbridge to replace the existing Allara Street pedestrian bridge with a wider and more accessible route that better links the city to the park
- New and improved play spaces
- Permanent garden beds that will provide year-round floral displays for Floriade, an existing annual flower festival held in Spring
- A relocated maintenance depot to create more space for events.
The vision is open for consultation until 20 June 2025.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
