Wharf Street Basin Next Generation Community Park

The Wharf Street Next Generation Community Park demonstrates how previously inaccessible drainage infrastructure can be transformed into public open space while maintaining the functionality of a stormwater basin.

The City of Canning engaged JBA as the Landscape Architect for the project with the scope spanning concept design, detailed design and contract administration support. JBA also assisted the City with construction superintendency and developing communication outputs to inform the public about the project.

Using smart design and technology solutions, incorporating environmental data and community needs, the concept includes landscape design to enhance the natural environment; interactive education stations; a bridge for pedestrians to access Cecil Avenue from Wharf Street; a boardwalk on the Wharf Street side of the basin; and technology to provide real-time information on environmental conditions at the park to aid management.

The design facilitates the following:

• Unlocking a site that is currently inaccessible and providing multiple benefits for the City while maintaining the existing hydrological function and storage capacity of the compensating stormwater basin.
• Increase the overall water quality within the compensating basin year-round.
• Provide habitat for wildlife through the planting of appropriate locally endemic plant species.
• Establish a precedent for the integration of outdoor learning, interpretation, art and technology installations to complement the City’s Smart Cities vision.
• Provide on-site facilities that will be universally accessible, resilient, water and energy efficient.
• Generate real-time monitoring of water quality and other environmental parameters.
• Provide openly available real-time information to enable interrogation by other researchers, scientists, Local Governments and the community for related purposes.
• Promote the long-term education around water quality, highlighting the often-unseen connection between land use, catchment, surface runoff and groundwater quality.
• Use data monitoring to understand and minimise the management requirements of the drainage basin and the park.
• Ensure public safety through smart lighting, usage monitoring and water access management.
• Showcase the potential to recover and restore compensating basins as part of a restorative ecological network of key ecological and cultural nodes across the city.

Projects like the Wharf Street Basin Next Generation Community Park are supporting the City of Canning’s vision of becoming a Welcoming and Thriving City.