Station Street Place Making Strategy

Urban Design
Engagement
The Client
Town of Cottesloe
Project Team
Andrew Howe
Strategic Counsel - Urban Design
Bronwyn Slater
Associate - Urban Design
The Project

As the traditional high street of the Cottesloe town centre, Napoleon Street had been recently revitalised as an attractive, people friendly main street, brimming with activity and the buzz of a refreshed retail mix. As a secondary street Station Street presented some functional challenges and is predominantly used for car parking, with varied shopfronts and lacklustre streetscape infrastructure. Recognising the potential of consolidated landholdings in Station Street to see change in the near future and success in the neighbouring Napoleon Street transformation, the Town of Cottesloe commissioned us to prepare the Station Street Place Making Strategy. Its intent was to leverage the street's redevelopment potential and contribution to the revitalised Cottesloe town centre as a shared community space.

Our Role

Informed by significant stakeholder engagement, element led the visioning process to identify key priorities for the rejuvenation of Station Street. A key role was ensuring its overall proposition was complementary to, not in competition with, Napoleon Street’s traditional high street feel. This was supported with an action-oriented place making strategy informed by community, asset, land and business owners to meet their unique needs and investment drivers. Our work entailed:

  • Visioning and idea generation workshops with the community and key stakeholders
  • ‘Great streets’ case studies and benchmarking
  • Planning framework and context analysis
  • Place vision and positioning
  • Place strategies distilled into short, medium and long-term priorities
  • Place plan depicting the strategies
  • Feedback workshops with the community and key stakeholders on the draft strategy
Outcomes

Our work united stakeholders around a series of projects ranging from catalyst to small scale – to support the achievement of an agreed vision for Station Street. One of the key strategies was reconnecting the street with the station through an innovative stairwell and pedestrian crossing, as well as prioritising pedestrian paths to crossovers. Car parking was only minimally reduced, however on balance, more on-street opportunities were presented for patrons to linger in the street. Engaging with land/business owners had a fundamental impact on the success of the strategy, guiding more effective investment decisions.

What We Delivered
  • Place vision and definition
  • Place strategy
  • Urban design
  • Workshop design and facilitation

Related Projects

Station Street Place Making Strategy
South Perth Activity Centre Public Benefit Contribution Plan
Leeuwin Barracks Vision Plan