Benefits to the nation

The project can put Australia at the forefront of positive change and the realisation that physical development can increase sustainability and social equity. ANSI will:

• Demonstrate urban design that rehabilitates land and creates a carbon sink (not just creating ‘offsets’ for the damage that a future development will cause).
  
• Be iconic and therefore attract members of embassies and overseas visitors, businesses and students to the Capital where they can learn from other sustainability initiatives in Australia.
  
• Provide an external agency to build the capacity of government in its own business sector and generate an entrepreneurial culture that can export eco-innovations.
  
• Guide wise investment in eco-solutions that meet future opportunities, such as those that will earn carbon credits in a newly emerging international market.
  
• Enable the federal government to prove its commitment to sustainability by addressing the priorities of water, climate change and the urban environment.
  
• Provide prototypes and eco-innovations that will enable resource savings to be adopted and multiplied around the country, to increase Australia’s natural security.
  
• Provide a manageable, low-risk investment opportunity - with high gain - in the nation’s ‘knowledge capital’, and serve as a national hub for regional sustainability centres.
  
• Show ‘due care’ on the part of government in addressing health risks and the multifarious system-wide impacts of climate change on the economy.
  
• Provide a head start in a newly-emerging world markets and green labelling systems by developing a competitive advantage through eco-efficient products and services.
  
• Demonstrate functioning large-scale systems (eg urban farm, transport and community garden) to guide other cities in creating urban-rural symbioses.
  
• Put Australia at the forefront of positive social change by bringing about the realisation that development can increase sustainability while revitalising the economy.

Benefits to ACT citizens

The eco-development will catalyse the development of the central urban area without sacrificing valuable open space. ANSI will:

• Effectuate the sustainability principles that are strongly supported by both federal and ACT governments in planning policies and OECD recommendations for a ‘Sustainable Canberra’.
  
• Attract overseas tourists and students, and visitors from other states to Canberra’s centre where they can partake of public institutions, businesses, and a shared public lakeside.
  
• Promote a green entrepreneurial culture, investment and new jobs through clustering of sustainability-serving enterprises and development activity in the Precinct.
  
• Add social capital to the city by creating a sense of place and community spirit, and establish the ACT’s international sustainability credentials for the 2013 Centenary.
  
• Support and collaborate with existing educational and tourist facilities in the region (Questacon, Birrigai, Botanical Gardens, National Museum and Art Gallery, etc).
  
• Provide over-night (budget) eco-accommodation to enable the (130,000) school students that visit the Capital’s attractions, to extend their visits.
  
• Generate public enthusiasm and empowerment by showing leadership in solving global problems related to global warming, urbanisation, and ecological destruction.
  
• Enshrine the ACT’s commitment to ‘intergenerational justice’ and provide a place for youth to channel their talents and energy toward sustainability initiatives.
  
• Increase the positive profile of Canberra around the world, while disseminating and exporting leading-edge sustainability education and design.
  
• Meet wider social needs for housing variety and choice, combined with mixed uses, while enhancing the life quality of occupants of nearby high-density urban development.
  
• Be an iconic contribution to Australia’s legacy and sense of pride and identity (on a par with the Opera House, Snowy Mountain project and Sydney Harbour bridge).
  
• Capitalise on the unique history of the area (eg Griffin Legacy), and contribute to tourism as a stepping-off point for other attractions in the region.

Benefits to immediate neighbours

The neighbours would enjoy many additional benefits from access to: low-cost eco-design concepts and technologies (saving materials, energy, human resource, water, etc); remediated and attractive shoreline and open spaces; greatly enhanced property values; prestige position attracting international as well as local visitors; food outlets; seminar and conference spaces (both indoor and outdoor); cost savings through advanced partnering and project management principles; recreational activities and healthy workplaces for workers; international publicity, etc.

In addition to consultations Australia wide, a consultant to the ANSI project (funded by Business ACT) conducted extensive talks with many public and private stakeholders and community organizations - including project neighbours. In this way, their activities and investments would be enhanced by ANSI.

The consultant determined from these meetings that there is a broad base of support for a sustainability Precinct. Some of the neighbours that could benefit from participation in this initiative include:

• National public education institutions (eg Art Gallery, Questacon, the National Museum, the Botanical Gardens, CSIRO Discovery Centre, and Arboretum).
  
• The Jerrabomberra Wetlands (managed by Environment ACT) which meet bilateral obligations regarding migrating birds.
  
• ACTEW (ACT government) that owns the Fyshwick Sewage Treatment Plant, operated by ActewAGL (a joint venture with ACTEW).
  
• Kingston Foreshores (ACT Land Development Agency) that is responsible for progressive land release and development for residential development.
  
• Birrigai (ACT Education, Youth and Family Services) that delivers environment education programs within the curriculum for students to year 12.
  
• East Lake (ACT Planning and Land Authority) that is planning the East Lake Redevelopment project and will involve a mixed-use urban development.
  
• The Molonglo Group (private sector) that holds vacant land between their head offices (Wetlands House) and the Birrigai Centre.
  
• Fyshwick Campus (ACT Canberra Institute of Technology) that owns and operates the Fyshwick Campus to the south of the railway line.

Last updated January 7, 2009