Latest news with #DevelopmentWA
Perth Now
11-06-2025
- Business
- Perth Now
Eco win for Ocean Reef Marina development
The first stage of the Ocean Reef Marina development is still a while from completion but the project is already earning recognition after becoming the first marina development in Australia to receive 'EnviroDevelopment certification' at the highest level attainable. The marina was independently awarded certification by Australia's peak development industry body, the Urban Development Institute of Australia, for sustainable design and construction across six key areas: ecosystems, waste, water, energy, materials and community. Among the green features of the development will be a renewable energy microgrid, expected to reduce annual energy bills by up to 30 per cent for future residents. Your local paper, whenever you want it. The State Government also claims that more than 80 per cent of construction waste is being diverted from landfill, with recycled materials repurposed for use in roads, carparks, drainage and other parts of the project. Once completed, the project, which the State Government has invested $272.3 million in, will feature 12,000sqm of business, retail, and commercial floor space, along with more than 5ha of publicly accessible open space, including parks and playgrounds. A 50m coastal pool, the first of its kind in Perth, will be complemented by a family beach created using more than 7500 tonnes of sand trucked in for the project. An artist's Impression of Perth's first sea pool in the Ocean Reef Marina, expected to open in late 2026. Credit: DevelopmentWA / DevelopmentWA With stage one of the project set to open in 2026, Planning and Lands and Housing and Works Minister John Carey hopes the marina will become a major tourism precinct for WA. 'Ocean Reef Marina will become a world-class tourism precinct, featuring a diverse mix of residential options, lively local enterprises and attractions designed to draw visitors throughout the year, all underpinned by leading environmental sustainability practices,' Mr Carey said. 'This certification demonstrates our commitment to delivering innovative, environmentally responsible projects that enhance the quality of life for Western Australians.' The marina will also feature 1000 new homes, including apartments, single-residential dwellings and mixed-use developments. The project is expected to create 8600 jobs during construction and provide ongoing employment for more than 900 people once completed. The marina will have 1000 new homes once complete. Credit: DevelopmentWA Construction of the marina began with breakwater works in April 2021. Major construction activities, including clearing, earthworks, dredging and land reclamation, started in August 2022. The new Ocean Reef Sea Sports Club, Joondalup City RSL, and Marine Rescue Whitfords facilities are on track to open in late 2025, with the family beach and coastal pool anticipated to open in 2026 when stage one of the development is completed. Civil construction of the marina is not expected to be complete until 2030, with full build-out projected to extend beyond 2036. If you'd like to view this content, please adjust your . To find out more about how we use cookies, please see our Cookie Guide.
Perth Now
06-06-2025
- Sport
- Perth Now
Revamp of once-iconic Subiaco Oval wins architecture prize
The redevelopment of the once-iconic Subiaco Oval has earned architectural honours as one of WA's best landscape designs of the year. Subi East Oval claimed three wins at last Friday's WA Landscape Architecture Awards. Delivered as part of the wider Subi East project from DevelopmentWA, the oval's design was recognised for its reimagining of the historic space across cultural heritage, open space and civic elements. Your local paper, whenever you want it. That translated to an award of excellence in the cultural heritage category in addition to two landscape architecture awards — one for parks and open space and the other for civic landscape. The project involved transforming the one-time home of WA football into a collection of open spaces that still includes an oval, as well as a modern playground, parkour course and a Noongar Six Seasons Bidi trail woven throughout the site. The redevelopment of the iconic Subi East Oval was named as one of WA's best landscape designs of the year in a prestigious architecture award ceremony last week. Credit: Miles Noel It was designed by UDLA and OCULUS. 'This complex, high-profile project meets significant technical and community expectations with clarity and sensitivity,' judges said. 'Leadership in Indigenous engagement is central to its success, shifting from consultation to co-decision-making with traditional owners.' Subi East is regarded as one of the most significant urban infill projects in WA's built environment history, having given a new life to the oval that served as a sporting hub for over a century. It also includes restored heritage gates, repurposed elements from the original stadium, and an open-air museum honouring the oval's legacy as the historic heart of WA football.
West Australian
01-06-2025
- General
- West Australian
Bridging now to next
National Reconciliation Week (NRW) commenced on May 27. It is an important time to learn more about our shared history, culture and achievements, as well as consider how we can all contribute to reconciliation in Australia. The theme for this year's NRW is 'Bridging Now to Next', which reflects the ongoing connection between past, present and future, and calls on all Australians to step forward together. This is a timely theme and an opportunity to outwardly pay our respects to the incredible knowledge and experience which Aboriginal Elders, traditional owners and community members have in connection with their land. This deep connection to the land is directly relevant to the work the urban development industry does in the creation of new communities and enhancement of existing ones across the state. Meaningful community engagement is an integral part of forming successful places and spaces for people to live, work and play to ensure they are vibrant, inclusive and respectful. Creating a strong connection to place through listening, learning and engaging with Elders, traditional custodians and local community members is an important aspect of understanding and ensuring connection to the land is represented, understood and integrated into communities. This week, UDIA WA has been participating in opportunities to learn more about Aboriginal people's lived experience and the role we can all play in reconciliation, including attending Reconciliation WA's breakfast event in Fremantle on the morning of May 27, along with more than 1000 guests. UDIA WA also hosted its own event in partnership with DevelopmentWA on May 28, where we learnt more about authentic Aboriginal engagement practices and had the opportunity to participate on a study tour to the Subi East redevelopment site. Here, we followed the Six Season Bidi Trail, which features seasonal landscaping and artwork representing the six seasons of Birak, Bunuru, Djeran, Makuru, Djilba and Kambarang. We also visited Yagan Square and explored how this development has created storytelling opportunities for Whadjuk Noongar female artists. On Tuesday June 3 – the final day of NRW – the UDIA WA team will participate in the Walk for Reconciliation at Galup (Lake Monger), where we will walk in solidarity with local Whadjuk Noongar people and community members. Galup, which translates to 'place of fire', holds significance for the Whadjuk Noongar people as a place where many families used to camp and nurture their communities in the area prior to colonisation. UDIA WA's commitment to reconciliation has been formalised in our Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), which was endorsed last year and outlines how our organisation is taking meaningful action to advance reconciliation based around the core pillars of relationships, respect and opportunities. You can read more about our RAP in the About section on the UDIA WA website.
Perth Now
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Foodie festival to take over popular Perth CBD location
Perth's Yagan Square is set to transform into a vibrant hub of food, drink and entertainment when Taste the Square begins on June 4. The festival presented by DevelopmentWA will bring together some of the precinct's most popular venues for 10 days of curated culinary experiences and live performances. It is intended to entice locals, city workers and tourists back into the heart of the city with a program designed to get people eating, socialising and discovering the precinct. Your local paper, whenever you want it. Program highlights includes Bourbon and Brisket at Fat Controller on June 5, where guests will head underground into Stories' hidden speakeasy for a masterclass in slow-cooked meat paired with small-batch bourbons. On June 12, The Shoe will come alive with a Drag Bingo event with Dean Misdale, offering a night of cocktails, cheeky prizes, and cabaret-style performances. Tarot, Tequila & Tacos will take over Pink Taco on June 8 and 15, with Sunday margaritas and tacos and a dose of fortune-telling, with eight-minute tarot card readings available for all ticket holders. Food lovers can also indulge in Chapters of Stories, a progressive dinner experience on June 4 and 11 throughout Stories' restaurants Ugly Baby, alba and KARLA. The Fat controller hidden in Stories will host the Bourbon and Brisket event. Credit: Spectacle Media Saturday afternoons on June 7 and 14 will see Street Beats & Bites. This event offers a relaxed, family friendly vibe at Street Eats complete with live music and delicious street food. And for the foodies who are keen on a bit of everything, Around the World in 10 bites invites guests to take part in a self-guided culinary journey through a variety of different hospitality venues. The event runs from Wednesday, June 4, to Sunday, June 15. Bookings are recommended on the DevelopmentWA website.
ABC News
28-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Auditor-general finds there 'could have been fraud' at government-owned entity DevelopmentWA
An audit into DevelopmentWA, sparked in part by the conviction of a former public servant who stole millions of taxpayer dollars, has found significant vulnerabilities to fraud at the government-owned entity. DevelopmentWA is one of Western Australia's biggest land and property developers, but unlike commercial developers, it is owned by the state government — meaning any profits or losses belong to taxpayers. Auditor-general Caroline Spencer said the intention of the audit, which looked at transactions between 2017 and 2022, was to determine whether there were irregularities in public land sale information that could indicate fraud, corruption or misconduct. "We have the dubious honour here in WA of the largest known public sector fraud with Paul Whyte," she told ABC Radio Perth's Drive program. "He was the head of the housing authority within the Department of Communities, and so we saw through the Corruption and Crime Commission's hearings that land was identified as a way that you could settle gambling debts if someone was given the heads up — you know, 'buy this land because the government will be buying it in the future'. "And so we saw there a case where a seller got $260,000 profit just by, if you like, buying it in advance of a government purchase. "We wanted to see if there was any unreasonable growth in value, or properties selling too low, over a five-year period [at DevelopmentWA]. Ms Spencer said her office was able to identify a number of serious issues that meant DevelopmentWA was unable to demonstrate value for money had been achieved in all of the public land sales. "We found that one property sold for more than 50 per cent lower than its most recent valuation, with no formal rationale documented on the files, so the most recent valuation was $800,000 and then it was sold for $385,000," she said. "We found 50 per cent of 1,100 properties under a regional stimulus program, during the audit period, didn't demonstrate compliance with approved pricing methods. "We've got a case study of a piece of land that's four times larger than the lot next door drop to the same price with no justification why." Much of the detail in the report highlights issues with appropriate documentation and the following of proper processes, which Ms Spencer said led her to the conclusion that fraud could have been taking place. "If you look at it like Swiss cheese, that you get too many holes and gaps in process and people not doing their job reviewing what's being done by the staff around them and you line up those holes, then you can get things getting through," she said. "So absolutely there could have been fraud within this period." Ms Spencer stressed the importance of DevelopmentWA, and those who work for it, understanding why following appropriate processes was so important. "What you have to understand in this environment is there are commercial interests here … third parties that DevelopmentWA interacts with, they are going to want to sell property for the highest value or buy property from government for the lowest value," she said. "And so every decision that is made by this agency to sell property needs to be properly documented, it needs to be on an approved basis." Another area of concern for the auditor-general was the lax way in which conflicts of interest, gifts and benefits had been handled at the government agency. "Being aware that people are going to seek to influence you and maintaining impartiality so you can have fair dealing with all developers, with all residential or industrial buyers of state-owned land is really important," she said. "We had 891 invitations where the information was incomplete to understand what was the benefit to DevelopmentWA, what was the actual management of that potential conflict of interest by the entity for those staff members." In both her audit and in talking on ABC Radio Perth, Ms Spencer highlighted that a change in leadership at the board level had led to a better culture within DevelopmentWA in recent times, but stressed those changes needed to continue. A number of recommendations were made in the audit, and DevelopmentWA responded by saying while it "believes it has solid foundations of well-defined policies and procedures, it acknowledges best-practice requires constant evolution and improvement". "DevelopmentWA's Board and Executive will build on these audit findings and continue to strive for the highest standards in governance and decision-making robustness," it finished. Ms Spencer tabled the Fraud Risks in Land Transactions by Development WA report in parliament on Wednesday and said her office would continue to have oversight. "This is the biggest audit that my office has done on this organisation. It doesn't normally get this level of scrutiny," she said. "But … we're going to continue to monitor the governance and the transactions and the transfers of state land to ensure that the public interest is served."
