BYRON SHIRE Mayor, Simon Richardson today announced that the Byron Bay Town Centre Masterplan won the AILA National Landscape Architecture Award for Excellence in the Communities category.
“The Communities category was for Constructed projects or strategies relating to community development that demonstrate engagement with a community and recognition and interpretation of the communities values,” he said.
“This is the top award for the category and puts Byron Bay in the mix for the National Awards later in the year.
“This is a great reflection of the hard work council, community and the consultant team put into the project and a testament to the quality of work produced.”
The AILA jury commented that the Byron Bay Town Centre Masterplan sets a new benchmark for delivering an engaging place-based approach to revitalisation of regional town centres.
“This statement is something we should all be proud of,” Cr Richardson said.
The jury also noted the intensive and rigorous community engagement process which was conducted over 16 months and included over ten (10) events and an interactive website.
Locals have forever resisted change in Byron Bay, and the master plan team tackled this head on and made ‘change’ the centrepiece of the conversation, turning this into a positive discussion around ‘place vitality’.
The graphic style of the report has been skillfully tuned to engage the target audience and communicate place principles, activation strategies and short and long term master plan solutions for twelve (12) precincts within the township.
The AILA Awards judging criteria were:
- Thinking
- Leadership
- Results
Judging of entries is based on these three ‘core qualities’. These qualities fundamentally underpin the achievement of excellence in landscape architectural endeavor. It is essential that these qualities are used to identify and describe each entry’s achievements.