Details of Parcel B - Civic and Community Facilities

City of Casey’s continuing population growth means that Council and businesses must prepare to meet the future needs of the community and local business throughout the region.

Council has consulted with the community, its staff and arts and library users to define future requirements for civic and community facilities, which will include:

Details of civic and community facilities to be delivered through and integrated into the Casey Main Street development are summarised in this section and contained in Schedule 3 of this Invitation including indicative schematic drawings.

Base building and design specifications outlined in this section establish Council’s minimum requirements and should be used as a guide for preparing Tender Responses.

Base building and design specifications do not constitute Council’s final building brief and are indicative only.

– Council seeks accommodation that is innovative and dynamic and a beacon for design excellence both for interior design and built form;

– Council seeks accommodation which reflects the aspirations and needs of the community, Councillors and staff; and

– Council’s workplace, community library and multi-use arts facility must reflect its ideals of balancing social, environmentally sustainable design and development.

Council has appointed consultants to develop detailed individual building briefs incorporating feedback received from community, Councillors and staff. Council will collaborate with its consultants and the Successful Tenderer to develop an overall final design brief for its civic and community facilities.

Council’s tenure within the mixed use development must be long term in nature, and emphasis must therefore be placed on the durability and flexibility of its accommodation to allow expansions in the future.

A-Grade Office Space

Council’s workplace, which must connect to the Council Foyer through the Customer Service Centre (CSC). Discrete and secure staff access to the workplace from the public domain and car park must be provided.

Council Customer Service Centre & Foyer

The arrival and information point for all Council facilities, incorporating a welcome / help desk. This is the public face of Council and should be fully integrated with the public spaces of the Casey Main Street.

The CSC will be the business address of Council and should connect to the Council foyer. It should be configured and will be operated in a similar way to a retail shop front. Business functions will include publication sales, development and rates transactions and enquiries.

Civic Meeting Rooms & Council Offices

The Civic Meeting Room and Council Offices should be accessible directly off the Council foyer.

Council Chamber

The Council Chamber, including ancillary meeting rooms and Councillors’ workplace, should be accessible directly off the Council foyer.

Community Facilities

Library

The Narre Warren community library is to be accessible from the Council foyer, but should have its own address within the Civic and Community Development.

Multi-Use Arts

The Multi-Use Arts Facility is to be located in the Civic and Community Development with its own address and be accessible through its own foyer.

Performing Arts should include a large flexible flat floor with the ability to ‘roll out’ seating. It should have capacity for a large performance space (1000 seats) and be divisible/capable of being reconfigured for other events / conventions and trade shows.

The Visual Arts should have its own defined Visual Arts space within the Civic and Community Development.

Public Realm

Community Square

The Community Square must work to visually and physically link the key spaces of the Civic and Community facilities. It can be an internal or external space and must be readily accessible to the public.

Integrating Site Works

All Tenderers are required to note the requirements for integrating site works (Parcel D) as per Part 2 of this Invitation.

Car Parking

Considerable detail is warranted in developing alternative, but permanent, car parking options for the Casey ARC and the above civic accommodation space, and retail users during and post construction of the Civic and Community Development.

Council’s Urban Design Objectives

Proposals for the overall design of the precinct must deliver a coherent urban design response. It must reasonably and logically addresses the following six key urban design criteria specifically formulated for the Casey Main Street precinct.

Integration

All design proposals must ensure visual and functional integration, as well as an engagement of use and activity with the existing retail precinct to the north and the Casey ARC to the south. The critical aspect here lies in the treatment of the building edges created by the proposed structures abutting the existing facilities.

Permeability

The design proposal must incorporate clear and direct routes to and through the precinct linking the Casey Main Street and the existing facilities. This will be achieved through the use of a well connected and efficient network of paths and will include integration with all current and proposed public transport facilities.

Vitality & Active Interfaces

Vitality in the proposal will be delivered in three fundamental forms of design intervention:

a) The intelligent and strategic location of uses, with edge treatment that will activate the ground level of the proposed structures.

b) The design of iconic streets that will create an architectural address as well as frontages that will support the integration of use and activity to existing facilities.

c) The high design quality of the public realm, including streets with a good sense of enclosure and definition of space.

Legibility (identity)

In this instance, legibility will be derived by the physical form of the urban design and its activity patterns. This refers more specifically to the design quality of the public realm and the structures that flank it. The public should be able to read the urban spaces to understand its uses and establish the precinct as having a unique identity.

Patrick Northeast Drive is intended to be the ‘civic and community spine’. It must be designed to be seen, felt and experienced as a civic spine. The buildings that flank this spine must demonstrate a clear degree of ‘civicness’ in its design. Legibility here must clearly address the nodal or focal points of the precinct, understanding their significance and addressing them accordingly. This will be achieved through the critical location and sitting of buildings.