Working together to create a bustling CBD

-OPINION

BY PROFESSOR DUNCAN BENTLEY

FEDERATION UNIVERSITY VICE-CHANCELLOR AND PRESIDENT

 

FEDERATION University connection to Ballarat’s CBD dates back over one-hundred and fifty years to the establishment of the Ballarat School of Mines, or SMB, in 1854.

As the custodian of prime real estate along Lydiard Street, Federation has a vital role to play in creating a vibrant city centre and driving economic activity and jobs in the heart of Ballarat.

Currently, our university operations are spread over two campuses in the CBD, with our Arts Academy on the Camp Street Campus and our city technology parks on the SMB Campus at the southern end of Lydiard Street.

Dividing our staff and students in this way means we are too dispersed to create a vibrant student experience in the Ballarat CBD with the associated benefits of increased foot traffic for local traders.

To change this and breathe new life into the heart of the city, we plan to consolidate Federation’s current operations in Ballarat CBD into a single skills and innovation precinct located at our SMB Campus on Lydiard Street South.

By establishing new state-of-the-art facilities, including a new purpose-built Arts Academy, and clustering teaching activity at the SMB Campus, Federation will bring thousands of students into central Ballarat every day.

It also creates an opportunity for Federation University to give back 14,000 square metres of prime real estate on Camp Street to the Ballarat community to create a new precinct.

We will co-design the Camp Street precinct in partnership with the City of Ballarat, government, and the community to create a new cultural, entertainment, business or community precinct.

This plan is outlined in our new Campus Vision 2022 – 2025, which we have released this week and will be holding community consultation sessions on in the coming weeks.

Our campus vision extends to our Mount Helen campus, which is set on 110 hectares of parkland and natural bushland surroundings.

Just as we will cluster general teaching activities at our revitalised SMB Campus, we will cluster hands-on practical learning activities at Mount Helen to take advantage of the space and the opportunity for our students to undertake workplace learning with our industry partners.

We will also expand our existing Mount Helen Technology Park through private investment, predominantly clustered in the healthcare, aged care, government service, and information technology sectors.

This is another way we can open our campuses to the community by build new healthcare facilities for people in Ballarat and Western Victoria that provide opportunities for cutting edge research and work integrated learning for our students.

Each of our projects will exhibit the very best practice of environmentally sustainable design. We will showcase the adaptive reuse of heritage buildings with blended architectural designs that integrate the best of the past with the future.

Through our campus vision, we will start an important conversation with our communities in Ballarat, government, industry partners, staff and students on what Federation University means to them and how we can grow together.