Palmwoods new town square awarded at the Qld Landscape Architecture Awards

Palmwoods’ new town square, Piccabean Green, was among 28 projects across 12 categories to receive top honours at the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects’ 2018 Queensland Awards.

The project won two awards – in the Civic Landscape and Community Contribution categories - at the ceremony held in Brisbane.

In the Civic Landscape category, Sunshine Coast Council received the Award of Excellence for the design and placemaking process it undertook to deliver the new town square.

Community Portfolio and Division 5 Cr Jenny McKay said the award was a very significant achievement.

“In that category our Piccabeen Green project was against some serious competition with projects created for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games,” Cr McKay said.

“The second award was in the Community Contribution category which recognised our objectives to identify opportunities to activate the new town square, maintain the economic vitality during construction and maintaining a sustainable legacy for Palmwoods.”

This is the second time that the Palmwoods new town square has received an award.

In March, the project was honoured at the 2018 Place Leaders Award in the Small Scale Place Project commendation category.

Stephen Burton, founder and design director at POMO, an award-winning multidisciplinary design and strategy studio, said being part of this significant infrastructure upgrade was a privilege.

“Our ultimate goal was to collaborate with council for the design elements of the new Palmwoods town square to  ensure that it would complement the town’s existing character,” Mr Burton said.

The Palmwoods town square will be considered for the AILA National Landscape Architecture Awards, to be announced at the AILA International Festival of Landscape Architecture at the Gold Coast on Thursday October 11.