Kerry Hill Architects has been chosen to take on the design and planning of a $45 million centre square development at the heart of the City of Fremantle's $220 million Kings Square revamp.
Kerry Hill Architects has been chosen to take on the design and planning of a $45 million centre square development at the heart of the City of Fremantle's $220 million Kings Square revamp.
Kerry Hill will be tasked with designing core facilities including a public library, civic chamber, administrative office space and specialty retail, together with the entire public realm of High Street within Kings Square.
The Fremantle-based firm was selected by an expert independent jury, edging out runner-up McBride Charles Ryan and third-placed CODA Architects.
The three firms were shortlisted in October from 53 eligible stage one entries and invited to prepare more detailed submissions for consideration.
At the centre of Kerry Hill's design is the "City Lawn", a public space intended to attract families and act as an informal ampitheatre for street performances and council events.
The library is located at a lower ground level and surrounded by water courts, while the council offices have the potential to be divided into two completely separate tenant spaces with separate lift cores and access.
Kerry Hill described its design as "a strong piece of contemporary architecture that is capable of adapting to future uses (and) re-establishes a civic heart to Fremantle through the creation of a large and usable public space as an extension of Kings Square."
The firm claims its design has been analysed under Green Building Council of Australia guidelines and achieves a 5-star Green Star rating with 10 per cent additional points.
The competition was open to all architects as long as at least one member of each team was an Australian registered architect.
The jury was not advised of the authorship of any submission until after shortlisting was completed.
"Quality sustainable development is what Fremantle needs and this competition, judged by an independent expert panel, will go a long way to ensuring the development we build today becomes the heritage that future generations can be extremely proud of," Fremantle mayor Brad Pettitt said.
Members of the public will soon have the chance to evaluate the competing final designs, with the city to host a public exhibiition of the shortlisted submissions.
Investment group Sirona Capital finalised a deal with the City of Fremantle in April to develop a suite of new civic facilities on the Kings Square site, as well as office accommodation and 12,500sqm of retail property.
If it can lock down an anchor tenant for the office component, Sirona could start construction as soon as 2014 ahead of a planned completion in 2016.
The group said earlier this year it had approached the state government in the hope of attracting the Department of Housing to Fremantle, which would bring an additional 30,000 square metres of office space to the city.
The process of decentralising government accommodation is yet to be finalised but Sirona managing director Matthew McNeilly said the company was continuing discussions with other prospective tenants in the private sector.