A fresh, if bleak, new perspective has been cast on the cumulative effects that public sector spending cuts have had on the territory's economy over the past five years, and on the Woden Town Centre more particularly. Commercial property manager Shane Quinn, whose company owns a property on Bow Street, is worried about the impact declining employment is having on the town centre's amenities. "If we don't correct things and focus on employment in Canberra, then Woden will die," Mr Quinn said this week. And he issued a warning of sorts to the ACT government, focused as it is on driving residential development: "Without jobs, no one can actually be there, so they have got to stabilise the employment and keep people there, or it will become a ghost city."
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The validity of Mr Quinn's caution is not in doubt. And it is applicable to other town centres. The churn and consolidation of Commonwealth government departments and agencies in and around Canberra has had a similar effect on the Tuggeranong Town Centre. And the prospect of the Department of Immigration relocating from offices in Belconnen has begun to focus attention on that town centre's vital signs too. Only Civic and Gungahlin are growing in employment terms, though the latter's expansion is off a low base.
The growth and development of individual cites is never uniform, so Woden and Gungahlin's divergent fortunes are hardly surprising. Woden, laid out and build in the 1960s and '70s, has a stock of buildings and public facilities that, while hardly shabby, are not as alluring as some of the offices constructed more recently in Civic or Gungahlin. And, where government departments once owned and occupied their buildings for the long haul, there is now a far greater willingness among secretaries to pull up stakes and move elsewhere. Add to that the desire of certain secretaries to be as close as possible to Parliament House – along with the Abbott government's determination to move some public servants out of Canberra entirely – and it's little wonder that owner/landlords like Mr Quinn are fretting about Woden's future.
The difficulty of driving employment back into Woden, as Mr Quinn has implored the territory government to do, cannot be overstated, particularly in the current economic environment. Moreover, if it is achieved simply by poaching jobs and departments from other town centres, then few overall benefits will accrue to the city's economy.
While the commitment of the ACT government to employment creation is not in doubt, its ability to facilitate stable, long-term jobs – as opposed to the short-term jobs characteristic of construction – remain limited. That is why it is concentrating on residential development in Woden.
No-one who has traipsed the town centre in midwinter would call Woden an inviting space. Even in summer it struggles to engage on a human level. Some unfortunately proportioned buildings have contributed to this unwelcome atmosphere. But Woden has good bones, and thanks to a multitude of large carparks and the Philip service centre, lots of potential. Its position, equidistant from Civic and Belconnen, is also something that will work to Woden's advantage in future.
Striking the right balance between density, scale and amenity remains the key, however. With two of Canberra's more undistinguished towers in the neighbourhood (Sky Plaza and Lovett Tower, formerly the MLC building), planners at least have a reminder of what to avoid. And in New Acton, Braddon and to a lesser extent, the Kingston Foreshore, they have good templates for what can be achieved through thoughtful redevelopment.
Cynics might argue that if landlords want to keep their buildings fully tenanted, then it falls mainly to them to provide the necessary inducements such as competitive tenancy agreements and modern or newly renovated premises. An equally good advertisement for an office building with space to let, however, is to have it within a precinct offering a diverse and interesting mix of facilities and amenities – from smart restaurants and hotels to cinemas, bars, and inviting green spaces. Woden has work to do but a distinct possibility of being such a showcase.
