Back to nature in Brisbane

Landscape architects Place Design Group have created a master plan for a famous patch of wetlands, 12 kilometres from the centre of Brisbane, to be given back to nature.

The final Archerfield Wetlands Precinct Plan was released at a Brisbane City Council meeting late last year. It forms part of a 20-year vision for the Oxley Creek Corridor, a 20-kilometre stretch of parkland extending from the Brisbane River to Larapinta.

The development will provide a number of community facilities for the area.

Place Design Group say the master plan, “provides the vision, priority actions and improvements to transform under utilised green space into a unique recreational destination and environmental asset.”

As a green space close to the city, wedged between Ipswich Motorway, Archerfield Airport and Bowhill Road, the project will offer, “a diverse range of activities and experiences to engage locals and visitors.” Formerly a wastewater treatment facility and meat works factory, it will now provide a number of community facilities for the area.

Nature trails for walkers and cyclists, an urban adventure playground, public buildings, open fields and a kayak launch will all feature on the 150-hectare site.A new atrium will house community facilities, forming the heart of the wetlands park. The flexible spaces will blur indoor and outdoor, with a roof canopy providing shade for open-air spaces. Visitors will enter through the brick tanks of the former treatment plant, and a large deck along the atrium’s eastern edge will look out over the wetlands.

The project will provide links to the site’s past.

An adventure playground in a post-industrial style, with pipes, tanks and gangways, will be appropriate for all ages and abilities and provide a visual link to the site’s past. A youth hub on the lower terrace will feature a games court and sheltered hangout zone.

The Wetlands Discovery Trail, a wooden boardwalk beginning at Archerfield Wetlands Park, will extend one-kilometre through the southern end of the wetland conservation area. Educational signposts about indigenous cultural heritage and the importance of wetlands for flood management and biodiversity will feature along the trail.

The Archerfield Wetlands Precinct Plan will see the former wastewater treatment site and meatworks factory restored and returned to nature.