The Kelvin Grove Urban Village is an

urban village In urban planning and urban design, design, an urban village is an urban development typically characterized by medium-density housing, mixed use zoning, good public transit and an emphasis on pedestrianization and public space. Contemporary urb ...

and university precinct in Kelvin Grove,

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia that was developed after the closure of the Australian Army's Gona Barracks.

History

The Queensland Department of Housing purchased the Gona Barracks site in 2000 looking for opportunities to develop affordable housing either on the site or funded from the redevelopment of the site.

Queensland University of Technology The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It has two major campuses, a modern city campus in Gardens Point, Brisbane, Gardens Point ...

operated its Kelvin Grove campus (formerly the campus of the Brisbane College of Advanced Education and other predecessor institutions) on an adjacent site and desired to expand their campus.

Brisbane City Council Brisbane City Council (BCC, also known as Council) is the local government of the City of Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. The largest local government in Australia by population, BCC's jurisdiction includes 2 ...

which controlled adjacent parkland wanted to develop a Local Area Plan that would maximise opportunities for such a large site so close to the Brisbane CBD. Difficulties associated with any redevelopment included the heritage values of the Gona Barracks site (it was listed on the

Queensland Heritage Register The Queensland Heritage Register is a heritage register, a statutory list of places in Queensland, Australia that are protected by Queensland legislation, the Queensland Heritage Act 1992. It is maintained by the Queensland Heritage Council. As ...

in 2005), steep slopes and

contaminated land Contaminated land contains substances in or under the land that are definitively or potentially hazardous to health or the environment. These areas often have a long history of industrial production and industrial farming. Many sites may be affect ...

. A heritage assessment of the Gona Barracks site determined that it was the buildings of the upper barracks around the parade ground that, as a group, were of a greatest significance rather than individual buildings. A partnership between the Queensland Department of Housing, Brisbane City Council and the Queensland University of Technology was formed to develop a mixed-use urban village precinct using the Gona Barracks site and adjacent land. The university built its Creative Industries precinct re-using Gona Barracks buildings and introducing new buildings, sited to reinforce the rectangular form of the Gona barracks parade ground. The re-development won major planning and design awards from the

Urban Development Institute of Australia The Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) is an Australian research and non-profit organisation, with offices in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territ ...

. Following $23,000,000 on construction of infrastructure, the Kelvin Grove Urban Village was officially opened by

Queensland Premier The premier of Queensland is the head of government in the Australian state of Queensland. By convention the premier is the leader of the party with a parliamentary majority in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The premier is appointed ...

Peter Beattie Peter Douglas Beattie (born 18 November 1952) is an Australian former politician who served as the 36th Premier of Queensland, in office from 1998 to 2007. He was the state leader of the Labor Party from 1996 to 2007. Beattie was born in Syd ...

on Monday 24 November 2003.

Facilities

Unlike most Australian university campuses that comprise a large site for the sole use of the university, the Kelvin Grove Urban Village contains a mix of university buildings (some purpose-built by the university and other buildings leased by the university), apartment blocks, and retail shops. The precinct promotes itself as a hub for creative practice, as it incorporates the QUT Creative Industry Faculty and the

Queensland Academy for Creative Industries The Queensland Academies Creative Industries (QACI) is a selective entry senior state high school in Queensland, Australia which offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. The school aims to provide a platform for academic like-m ...

(a selective senior high school for students wishing to specialise in arts and entertainment). The university-owned Roundhouse Theatre is used for both educational and commercial purposes. It is Australia's only purpose-built

theatre-in-the-round Theatre-in-the-round, also known as arena theatre or central staging, is a theatrical stage configuration in which the audience surrounds the performance area on all sides. Historically rooted in ancient Greece and Rome performance practices, ...

built in 2004 to replace the La Boite Theatre Building (a smaller purpose-built theatre-in-the-round that was no longer commercially viable to operate as a theatre). The Roundhouse Theatre can seat 400 people for central staging (audience on four sides) or 340 people for

thrust stage In theatre, a thrust stage (a platform stage or open stage) is one that extends into the audience on three sides and is connected to the backstage area by its upstage end. A thrust has the benefit of greater intimacy between performers and the ...

(audience on three sides). The

La Boite Theatre Company La Boite Theatre, founded as the Brisbane Repertory Theatre Society, is an Australian theatre company based in Brisbane, Queensland. La Boite was established in 1925 and is Australia’s longest continuously running theatre company. La Boite ...

(Queensland's 2nd largest theatre company) perform at the Roundhouse Theatre.

References

External links

* {{coord, -27.4543, 153.0139, type:city_region:AU-QLD, display=title Kelvin Grove, Queensland Urban renewal Queensland University of Technology