Friday 11 October
A local project has taken home a top national award in the prestigious Australian Institute of Landscape Architecture National Awards.
The award-winning redevelopment of Felixstow Reserve, located in the City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters, has been awarded the highest accolade in the Parks and Open Space category at the awards ceremony which took place in Melbourne on Thursday 10 October.
The redevelopment project beat 12 nominees to the top spot, including two from New South Wales, one from Queensland, two from Tasmania, three from Victoria, three from Western Australia and another park from South Australia.
Mayor of the City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters, Robert Bria, said: “Felixstow Reserve has been highly praised for good reason. Feedback from the community on the redevelopment has been overwhelmingly positive and the reserve is now the perfect place to get some fresh air, relax, exercise and learn about the cultural heritage of the area.”
The reserve also took home the Award of Excellence in the Parks and Open Space, Cultural Heritage and Healthy Parks Healthy People SA categories at the state-level awards earlier this year. Praise for the project included demonstrating ‘best practice in contemporary design, incorporating considerations of site, water, community engagement and facilities’ as well as for its ‘approach to cross-cultural engagement and collaboration’.
Felixstow Reserve is located in an area of high cultural and spiritual significance for the Kaurna people of the Adelaide plains. The redeveloped reserve incorporates a trail of Kaurna cultural markers, a nature play space inspired by Kaurna wardli (houses) and a canoe scar tree. The reserve has also gained new BBQ facilities, toilets and sports and fitness equipment through the project, as well as an innovative dual-purpose wetland which collects, treats and stores stormwater to be used for irrigation across eastern Adelaide.
