City announces appointment of lead architect for new Civic Precinct
At its May Ordinary Council Meeting last night, Council awarded the tender for the design of the new Civic Building and its surrounds, resolving to appoint Lyons as lead architect firm.
The Civic Building at 241 Rokeby Road houses the old Council Chambers and sits alongside the Evelyn H Parker Library, Subiaco Museum, the Fallen Soldiers Memorial, and Rankin Gardens, which collectively forms the City’s Civic Precinct in the heart of Subiaco.
Officer Woods Architects, and landscape architects GLAS and Super Natural will work with Lyons to deliver the historic project.
This appointment follows a two-stage tender process which was endorsed by Council in August 2024 and saw three submissions considered by an independent evaluation panel of four high-profile architecture industry leaders.
The panel comprised of the current and former (respectively) State Architects Emma Williamson and Geoffrey London, together with interstate experts Shelley Penn AM and Mark Jacques.
The panel reviewed all submissions against assessment criteria including architecture vision, landscape vision, project viability and user experience.
Mayor David McMullen said, “Through the architectural tender evaluation process, the City has appointed a project team based on technical expertise; portfolio work; a willingness and ability to work collaboratively with us; and an understanding of our local community.
“We have drawn on expertise from our independent panel of highly regarded architects; and we have ensured oversight and rigour though the use of quantity surveyors, and procurement and probity advisors - all in pursuit of best practice, and a project that delivers long-term value for the community.
“With Lyons and their team now appointed, the first order of business will be to map out a process and timeline to get to a preliminary design – which we will be excited to release for the important exercise of community consultation. There is a lot of community knowledge and passion that we want to capture.
“The objective is not just to construct a building. We are creating a contemporary work environment from which the City as an organisation will service our community long into the future. We are pursuing high standards of design and long-term value for money. Perhaps most importantly, there is an opportunity to create a precinct for the community that is characterised by accessible, flexible, useful and desirable spaces both indoors and out.”
The tender process was overseen by CityLab, Australia’s leading design procurement agency, with probity advisor O’Connor Marsden.
Stay tuned on the City’s website and Facebook page for future updates about the project.
Related stories:
New civic precinct a step closer as tender process begins (October 2024)
New civic building update (August 2024)
Concept design to be drawn up for new civic building (March 2024)
241 Rokeby Road update (December 2022)