Destination proposition
What are we really creating?
Not a retreat placed inside a power station. Not another attractive mixed-use list. The project needs one strong operating idea that makes the whole precinct cohere.
A nationally significant coastal adaptive-reuse precinct where industrial heritage, public wellbeing, culture, hospitality and climate-facing enterprise reinforce one another.
Three territories to test—not three promises
Coastal civic wellbeing + culture
Bathhouse or recovery, performance, creative production, landscape and hospitality. Demand and operator economics still need testing.
Climate + ocean innovation
Enterprise, demonstration, education and public engagement. This needs a real anchor institution—not just an innovation label.
Destination + daily local life
Accommodation, food, work, services and public realm. The test is whether it remains useful to locals and avoids becoming an enclave.
If the destination anchor disappeared, would this still be different from the 2014 masterplan? If not, the proposition is not ready.
Remind me: what did the 2014 masterplan already propose?
The brief version: the 2014 HASSELL masterplan was prepared for LandCorp on behalf of Synergy. It was an illustrative plan demonstrating that the site could support future urban zoning—not a statutory development plan or the scheme that had to be built.
About 147 apartments in or above the power station, plus approximately 6,970m² of retail and commercial floor area inside it.
The attractive ingredients.
- A publicly accessible Turbine Hall “urban park” with retail, commercial and civic activity
- The Boiler House as an internal street connected to residential development
- A Power Station Piazza, cafés, restaurants and retail
- Weekend farmers markets and year-round events
- Outdoor pools and a water feature interpreting the former cooling ponds
- Boardwalks, beach access, grass terraces and a coastal promenade
- Groyne, shipwreck and heritage interpretation
- A family park and family beach
The reason it should exist.
- One year-round destination anchor or institution—not simply a use mix
- A story connecting industrial energy history, Whadjuk Country, the Indian Ocean and a future-facing purpose
- An everyday operating model with repeat local use and recurring revenue
- A current ownership, infrastructure and de-constraint pathway
- Whadjuk partnership and benefit principles from the beginning
- A defined partner architecture and protected role for the originators
The distinction: we are not claiming that the 2014 plan lacked imagination. We are asking what would turn its strong physical ingredients into a nationally significant, year-round institution with a credible delivery model.