Date: Friday 23 April
Time: 4pm to 6pm (Tours start each hour, please specify which session you’d like to attend when registering)
Venue: East Village at Knutsford

The future of construction is here, and it’s local! The Legacy Living Lab (L3), located in the East Village at Knutsford in Fremantle, is an exemplar of modular housing and the ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ principles of the circular economy.

Take a tour of L3, hosted by the very Curtin researchers who designed and managed its build, and discover for yourself the possibilities of sustainable neighbourhoods.

Two 1-hour tours will take place:

• 4pm – 5pm
• 5pm – 6pm

The White Gum Valley Primary School P&C will be hosting a sausage sizzle fundraiser at this event. Payment by cash or card available.

Register here.

Join us for a late morning session, joined by some of the brightest minds in sustainable living and building. A great line up of speakers will share their experience, insights and knowledge on environmentally sustainable living and building techniques, and how you can apply this in your own home and life. This free event is hosted by OP Properties. Over the hour there will be four presenters followed by a Q&A panel session. Presenters are:

• One Planet Living representative
• Dr Brad Pettitt, City of Fremantle Mayor
• Dr Josh Byrne, Director - Josh Byrne & Associates
• Luke Parker, Director of OP Properties

Date and Time: Sat 7 November 2020, registrations: 10.45am, speakers: 11:00am -12:00pm, complementary lunch: 12pm - 1pm (please note the virtual session is 11:00am - 12:00pm only)

Tickets: Two ticket options are available (in person or virtual):

Register to attend in person by clicking here. The venue is the Living Lab, 27 Blinco Street Fremantle.

Register to attend the virtual livestream by clicking here.

Join us for an informative evening with some of the brightest minds in sustainable living and building. We have a great line up of speakers on the night who will share their experience, insights and knowledge on environmentally sustainable building techniques. This free event is hosted by OP Properties. Over the hour there will be three presenters followed by a Q&A panel session. Speakers are:

• A member of Curtin Universities Sustainability Policy (CUSP) Institute
• Caren McLaren, Power Ledger
• Mandy Leung, Hillam Architects

Date and Time: Thursday 29 October 2020. Registration 6:15pm, Speakers 6:30pm -7:30pm (virtual live stream is 6:30pm - 7:30pm only).

Tickets: Two ticket options are available (in person or virtual):

Register to attend in person by clicking here. The venue is the Living Lab, 27 Blinco Street Fremantle.

Register to attend the virtual livestream by clicking here.

A number of changes and initiatives have happened over recent years which to contribute to the City’s vision:

City of Fremantle

• The Knutsford Street East Structure Plan (eastern end of Knutsford Street, between Amherst and Montreal Streets) was updated in 2017 to be more viable for re-development and to provide bonuses for exceptional sustainable development.

• Working on a coordinated review of policies that affect the area and a range of other activities. For the latest update click here or see the document library.

LandCorp

• Created 90-100 town houses and apartments on Blinco St site with its Knutsford Joint venture Partner. More dwellings are planned to commence in 2019.

• Has commenced development on the former museum site on Montreal St (East Village at Knutsford).

• Is overseeing development of land in the Swanbourne St area, potentially in partnership with the private sector.

Curtin University

• Beyond WGV Community Battery Storage – research on battery storage and other sustainable development initiatives.

• Re New Nexus Smart Cities initiative – research into peer to peer trading of renewable energy link.

• Water Sensitive Cities and Low Carbon Living have investigated possible energy and water solutions that might be applied across the precinct.

Other Activity In and Around the Knutsford Precinct

• Some members of the community have been working on creating a narrative which helps to define an identity for the core - Fremantle Industrial Arts Quarter.

• A number of landowners have commenced planning for, or development of, leading edge sustainable development including the Nightingale proposal.

• Main Roads WA High Street upgrade along the north side of the Precinct.

A replacement co-located golf club house, cafe and community facility is being designed near the Montreal St entry to Booyeembara Park, close to the Knutsford Street area.

Subject to approval, the City has also received a separate cash-in-lieu contribution for improvements to Booyeembara Park, as a condition of subdivision from nearby land. We’d like your feedback on how we progress improvements to Booyeembara Park in line with the landscape master plan.

To participate in the discussion about the proposed facility and Booyeembara Park, click here to visit the project page.

What we heard

• We’d like help promoting the FIAQ.
• We need some footpaths and street trees in the area at the very least.
• We’d like clarity on what we can and can’t do to activate and plant the streetscapes ourselves (e.g. with artwork, community gardens etc.).
• We like to see traffic and parking (better) managed in the area.
• What grants are available?
• We need a place in the area to purchase basic groceries.

What we're doing (and some other ideas)

The City is encouraging FIAQ to work with local residents and artists to create an ‘entry’ sign, complemented by some sort of signal at each premise (e.g. paint on the road or kerb) to guide people into participating premises once in they’re in the precinct.

City officers have put budget requests for some footpaths in the area: this will be considered by Council, along with all other requests, for future budgets in June 2020.

We have been looking at short (as well as long term) streetscape improvements. Free street trees are already available to individual landowners on request, and a verge gardens scheme is in place. If you are interested in installing trees or upgrading your verge you can contact parksandlandscape@fremantle.wa.gov.au

You can find the current verge gardens policy by clicking here or visiting: www.fremantle.wa.gov.au/residents/trees-and-verges and we’re also looking at whether the existing verge policies capture the type of installations the area would like, and if not, how they can be improved.

For more details on what's happening under this area please see the latest update by clicking here or visiting the document library.

What we heard

What we heard

You would like to:

• Receive news about what’s happening in the area.
• Attend meetings only when an issue interests you.
• Have a say in what gets built in the area, land-uses and design of public areas.
• Meet and share ideas with your neighbours.

What we're doing, what others are doing (and what you can do)...

FIAQ (a community group focused on the Fremantle Industrial Arts Quarter bounded by Blinco, Amherst, Stack and Montreal Streets) has applied for incorporation as a Town Team: more information on their activities will be available next year and you can follow on their facebook page: facebook.com/fremantleindustrialartsquarter

Many people from outside the FIAQ area also want to participate and meet neighbours. This can be self-organised or there are several ways this can be formally supported by the City. We've identified a range of options in our latest update. To find out more you can download the full update here or from the document library.

What we heard

The vision discussed at the Feb 2019 community workshop was for Knutsford as “a world-class example of sustainable urban development”.

To find out how and why we aim to support a community-led approach to enhance and protect the creative culture of the area, nurture local businesses in our latest update, available here or from the document library.

Over the past eighteen months there have been a number of community conversations at Knutsford including workshops, meetings, a Curtin University community survey and a walking tour. You’ve asked many questions and put forward lots of ideas about what could happen in the area and how you’d like the City of Fremantle to support the area’s transition.