Summary

Birkdale is a coastal locality in the City of Redland, Queensland, Australia. Jacobs was engaged by Redland City Council to provide social impact and social value measures for input into the Master Plan for the 62-hectare Birkdale Community Precinct. From visioning, through to the development of an implementation plan, the aim was to explore the possibilities and benefits of the Birkdale Community Precinct that go beyond the site to radiate across the region and across generations, leaving a legacy for the future. By putting community at the heart, the design strategy – underpinned by design excellence, innovation, and sustainability – not only delivers excellence on the urban design principles of liveability and productivity, but also demonstrates how design supports the delivery of socially conscious places.

Project objectives

• To explore the possibilities and benefits of the Birkdale Community Precinct that go beyond the boundary of the site to radiate across the region and across generations leaving a legacy for the future.
• To focus on what activities will enable the precinct to be the catalyst to deliver city-wide opportunities and enriched community wellbeing and legacies for the entire Redlands community now and into the future.
• To provide social impact and social value measures for input into the Master Plan for the Birkdale Community Precinct.

Project Description

Birkdale Community precinct, located in the City of Redland, Australia, is a 62-hectare site with many perceived competing interests including large areas of dedicated conservation, the proposed site for an Olympic white water rafting venue for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic games, and to provide a precinct that puts the community at the heart of the planning, delivery, and future stewardship of the site. This project, ‘Beyond the Boundary’, explored the possibilities and benefits of the Birkdale Community Precinct (BCP) that go beyond the site to radiate across the region and across generations, leaving a legacy for the future.

This project helped place the community at the heart of the Birkdale Community Precinct, supporting the delivery of an inclusive place - with a space for everyone. By working collaboratively with Redland City Council (RCC), project stakeholders, and the voice of the community, strategies were delivered that go beyond social impacts of the site and focused on what activities will enable the precinct to be the catalyst to deliver city-wide opportunities to enrich community wellbeing and legacy for the entire Redlands community, now and into the future. The strategy represents a new approach to adding value in the early stages of design and planning for a site.

To build an understanding of place, including community demographics, and to identify opportunities for the site to be a catalyst for community connection and wellbeing, key steps included: A policy and social assessment, co-design workshops, social value strategy development, and a social value benefits assessment. Additionally, the development of an implementation plan to support Redlands City Council with measuring and delivering the social value throughout the 20-year timeframe of the project.

Key Practices Identified and Applied

Jacobs worked collaboratively with the Council, project stakeholders, and the voice of the community to deliver a suite of documents that built on its strategic understanding of the place, including community demographics and a codesign social value thread – how could this site be a catalyst for community connection and wellbeing?

The following stages were followed to produce the final report.

• Policy review and social assessment (data collection and stakeholder identification) - A review and analysis of state and local government policies and plans, a social needs assessment - including parks and recreation assessment, as well as the community’s feedback on the proposed vision for the BCP; in order to understand the opportunities and challenges within the Redlands Coast. This provided the key drivers, opportunities, and key considerations for RCC and the community.
• Co-design (inclusive stakeholder engagement / stakeholder empowerment) - Armed with the above knowledge, Jacobs investigated opportunities for social value generation. This included undertaking a workshop with key stakeholders to confirm desirable outcomes and identifying any additional key drivers or works that Council was keen to explore. The team also explored potential partnerships that Council could further investigate, to support the delivery of community benefits.
• Social value strategy (inclusive urban development) - The ideas proposed by Jacobs and those generated at the workshop were used to develop a social value strategy for the precinct. It included the why, what, and how for each of strategic themes/ directions as well as the potential benefits and measures that Council could consider in the development of the BCP master plan.
• Social benefits assessment (inclusive urban development) - To assist RCC in future measurement of social value, several economic proxies (metrics) that supported monetisation of social benefits were identified. A social value assessment was undertaken with metrics applied to the forecasted catchment population to determine the potential benefits of investments in the precinct. As the BCP proposals become more developed and refined, the social benefits assessment outputs can be revisited and updated accordingly.
• Implementation plan (inclusive urban development) - Jacobs prepared a social value implementation plan to support RCC with measuring and delivering social value throughout the 20-year timeframe of the project. Council incorporated the implementation plan directly into the Masterplan document, this represents a new approach to adding value in the early stages of design and planning for a site.

Benefits realisation

Stakeholders

Key Beneficiaries and Roles

Lessons Learned

Success factors

• The Beyond the Boundary report informs the BCP Master Plan which outlines how the 62-hectare precinct will be brought to life over the next 20 years. Having a social value strategy that was co-designed and based on the community consultation provided a foundation for the masterplan and the Design guide for this site.
• Community was placed at the heart of Birkdale Community Precinct. The dedicated and intentional implementation went beyond standard urban design and typical building principles and strategies to ensure social value of community connectedness, sustainability, productivity, and liveability are at the forefront.
• The design strategy – underpinned by design excellence, innovation, and sustainability – not only delivered excellence on the urban design principles of liveability and productivity but integrated the founding pillars of leadership and governance.

Key challenges

• How to collaborate effectively with a range of stakeholders to build an understanding of community demographics, and to identify opportunities for community connection and wellbeing.