Western Australia’s new State Design Review Panel has begun, and will now assess a range of significant public and private projects from a design perspective.
The panel is chaired by WA Government Architect Geoff Warn, and draws on a pool of more than fifty architects, planners, landscape architects, urban designers and other specialists.
The architecture specialists include David Barr (David Barr Architects), Philip Gresley (Gresley Abas), Elisabetta Guj (Architecture Design Art), Paul Jones (OMA), David Karotkin (Carabiner), Patrick Kosky (Kerry Hill Architects), Will Lakin (Group GSA), Morag Lee (Hassell), Peter Lee (Hassell), Geoffrey London (University of Western Australia), Chris Maher (Hames Sharley), Carolyn Marshall (formerly Department of Finance, Building Management and Works), Jennifer Officer (Officer Woods), Annabelle Pegrum (Pegrum Associates), Shelley Penn (Shelley Penn Architect), Alf Seeling (Architectus), Dominic Snellgrove (Cameron Chisholm Nichol), Emma Williamson (The Fulcrum Agency), Ken Maher (Hassell) and Helen Lochhead (University of NSW, National President of the Australian Institute of Architects).
The panel will assess significant or strategic government projects, as well as any large-scale private projects that are referred to them by a statutory planning body.
The panel follows the introduction of the first stage of the state’s new design guidelines, which came into force on 24 May. The first stage of the Design WA initiative splits its focus between mandating design principles for the built environment on the whole and a narrower concentration on better apartment design. It includes State Planning Policy 7.0 – Design of the Built Environment, an updated Apartment Design policy and a Design Review Guide. Future stages will focus on house design, as well as medium-density, neighbourhood and precinct design.
The policies apply to all levels of planning and development. State Planning Policy 7.0 is “the lead policy that elevates the importance of design quality across the whole built environment. It includes 10 principles for good design and establishes the framework for integrating design review as a part of the evaluation process.”
For more information on the panel, go here.
