Woden: Ripe for Reinvention

Posted on 10 September, 2019

Could this be Woden’s time? An influx of property investment and a reinvigoration of its dining precinct looks set to bring this town centre into the light.

Woden is a bit like a mouthful of jagged, broken teeth: a jumble of tall towers and squat geometric boxes that look like they’ve been placed at random. But a trip to the dentist isn’t in order. What Woden needs is a massive dose of density.

Despite some nervousness in the community, density is the solution to Woden’s ugliness. Because density is just another word for people. And people bring life.

While it’s unclear whether Woden was named for the Norse god of wisdom or the Aboriginal word for possum (wadyan or wadhan), everyone I speak to is in furious agreement on one point: Woden is ripe for reinvention.

Woden has languished after years of under-investment and has been characterised as a place of windswept squares, Soviet-style office blocks and a sea of surface car parks. But the geographic centre of Canberra is at the early stages of what could be a spectacular revival.

“Woden is definitely going through a period of significant urban renewal,” says Nichelle Jackson, Director of Canberra Town Planning.

“There’s a lot of development going on and it’s the right type of development—active development—shops, dining areas, residential. Once this is finished, we’ll have that critical mass of population and the elements that will make it as vibrant as Lonsdale Street.”

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Nichelle says Woden’s “rigid formal legacy” with its “monolithic office buildings” are a challenge, but new developments introduce a “fine grain” and “human scale” to the town centre. It’s this “fine grain” that is found in Melbourne’s laneways, and loved in the streets of Europe.

“We’re getting diverse buildings, and we’re getting a more active public realm,” Nichelle adds. “And we’re seeing that in the revitalisation of the Alexander and Albermarle buildings which will inject more life in and around the square, with retail, activity and a whole bunch of new residents.”

The rebirth of the A&A buildings is a catalyst for change, says Jure Domazet, managing director of the developer behind the project, Doma.

He admits that the dilapidated buildings on Furzer Street held back the entire town centre “because they are in the middle of the whole northern area of Woden”. But his vision for the new A&A apartments promise to transform derelict into delightful.

Built in 1968, the buildings lay dormant after the public service moved out in 2011. But Jure says the buildings’ central location and good bones made them an attractive adaptive reuse proposition.

Ideal orientation, narrow floorplates, high ceilings, large windows and on-trend concrete meant Doma’s design team could “play up the industrial aesthetic,” Jure says, and provide a blank canvas for creative types to make the most of the character.

Doma’s vision for the 188 warehouse and loft-style apartments, which are on track for completion in 2020, considers the spaces between the two buildings, which are being repurposed as commercial and retail. A childcare centre, commercial gym, cafés and gastropub are in the mix.

One of A&A’s great contributions to the area is in its green space.

“We deliberately set out to create a green oasis in the middle of the town centre with food and beverage opening up to it,” Jure says. North Walk, which runs alongside A&A, could be the “perfect spot” for weekend farmers’ markets, “changing the whole character of the town centre, providing a northern bookend to a Westfield ant-trail with the Bradley Street redevelopment forming the southern bookend”.

“People are worried that Woden is becoming all apartments and no employment, but it’s not like Woden’s running out of land for offices,” Jure adds.

“If a tender came out [for government office accommodation] there would be a lot of interest. In the meantime, there’s nothing bad with having people living in Woden. Bringing people creates opportunities.”

George Katheklakis, Managing Director of KDN Group, grew up in Woden and says he is “sentimental” about the area.

“As a kid I can remember ‘The Bridge’ with all the alternative shops. There was Norman Ross at the top [of the escalator], Palm Court and Clock Court.”

He says that Woden is, like the rest of Canberra, “poised to prosper” provided it has “the right settings in place to attract investment”.

KDN has been involved with several developments in Woden, including Charles Perkins House, home to key Woden anchor tenant the National Indigenous Australians Agency.

George, a trained architect, thinks “renaissance” is a bit rich. The Florentine idea of symmetry and beauty is a somewhat elusive goal in Woden, he thinks, but the town centre is nevertheless “in an extremely fortunate position”. The foresight of the former National Capital Development Commission means there’s enough land reserves for future office, residential and community buildings.

The area is a key employment node for the federal government, and “we need to ensure they’ve got room to grow”, he says. But we have space in spades. “If I stand at the Hellenic Club and look back towards the town centre, there are still paddocks between them.”

George thinks Woden is still “breaking free” from its initial form, with office towers connected to the shopping centre. He wants to see more “visionary” ideas for the town centre emerge and isn’t satisfied we’ve got it right with the current master plan.

The great challenge for the ACT Government is to balance the mix of land uses—with residential and retail bumping up against community, medical and aged care facilities “which are all important parts of a town centre”.

Phil O’Brien, General Manager of Amalgamated Property Group, is equally excited about Woden’s “rejuvenation”. He also grew up in the area and has been fascinated to watch ex-Canberra residents move back to Woden to raise their own children.

Amalgamated Property will deliver more than 1,000 apartments over an eight-year period. Among those is Ivy in Irving Street which will cater to everyone including live-in owners, families and young professionals looking for “amenity without the upkeep”.

Other major developments are reshaping the built environment. Geocon, which transformed the abandoned Juliana House on Bowes Street into Australia’s first Green Star-rated hotel, is now busy transforming the nearby Medicare site. Geocon’s ambitions for Grand Central Towers, inspired by the famous train terminal in New York, includes 430 apartments.

Westfield Woden has also evolved since Perron Group purchased half a stake for $335 million in 2016. In April, Westfield unveiled a $21 million upgrade to the dining precinct on Bradley Street, adjoining the HOYTS Cinema complex.

It’s amazing to see how some edgy street art, playful fit-outs and swinging seats perfect for the selfie-set can transform a space. The place is now packed with people munching on churros or downing five o’clock drinks.

“What Westfield has done is fantastic; it’s bringing people back to the precinct,” Phil says.

“But Woden town centre isn’t just about Westfield and what’s happening during the day. It’s about the night-time economy too. Encouraging residential development does that—and it hasn’t been since the late eighties that I’ve seen Woden so vibrant at night. We’ve got great confidence in Woden.”

Minister for Transport and City Services Chris Steel is also excited about the transformation happening in this central part of Canberra.

“Woden is my home town and it is really exciting to see it emerge as a mixed-used precinct with commercial and residential developments, a mass-transit transit hub, thriving businesses and services and high-quality public spaces and community facilities.”

He points to several ACT Government projects supporting the regeneration of the town centre including upgrades to public space, a new community centre and new bus interchange. “The Government is also looking at the option of moving the CIT main campus to Woden into a state-of-the-art new facility.”

Meanwhile the Government’s $1 million ‘Woden Experiment’ offers up performance spaces and sun lounges, pop-up food vendors and tennis tables. Due to the success of the installation in bringing more people to the square, the Minister has now announced that the program will be extended by six months so the community can benefit through the summer. And of course, plans for the second stage of the Canberra light rail, which will terminate in Woden, are taking shape.

“Light rail will be just as transformational for Woden as it has been for the City and Gungahlin. We want to connect light rail to Woden and extend the regeneration, jobs and an even better transport network to other parts of Canberra,” he says.

Woden’s unmet potential is in plain sight. Look up at Lovett Tower, Canberra’s 93-metres high skyscraper, and see a missed opportunity in concrete and steel. Plans to reimagine our tallest tower as a vertical retirement village have been shelved and it lies half empty. What the future holds is anyone’s guess.

“There are still lots of empty sites that haven’t got a determined future yet. The possibilities are there—but we need population to realise Woden’s potential,” says Cassandra Keller, Principal of ClarkeKeller Architecture.

Cassandra agrees that Woden needs more than just Westfield, and argues that the town centre is “starting to branch out and develop a new character”.

Cassandra designed the Southern Cross Club’s $20 million Stellar building on Yamba Drive, which opened in 2018. She calls it a “marker building” that “starts the section of rejuvenation” in that part of the town centre, attracting a diversity of age groups—from seniors’ yoga classes to parents’ groups, children’s swimming classes to hyper-fit gym junkies.

She’s excited to see “small clusters of retail opening up with different hours”, and “people living in the heart of Woden on the weekend”. Quirky craft stores and escape rooms, day spas and Indian spice huts can coexist alongside offices and apartments. In fact, that’s what the fine grain is all about.

“We’re on the cusp of Woden’s renaissance. What we’re seeing emerge now is just the very beginning of what we can expect to see in the years ahead as we densify. It’s very exciting.”

Photography: Tim Bean

This article originally appeared in Magazine: Black + White for Spring 2019, available for free while stocks last. Find out more about Magazine here.

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