Design & Place SEPP—What does it mean?
The NSW Government Architects Office is proposing sweeping changes to a range of the instruments of development assessment across NSW - the Design and Place SEPP.
A key document is the ‘Design and Place SEPP’, which proposes to replace SEPP 65 and BASIX. It is to work in parallel with revised ‘Apartment Design Guide’ and ‘Urban Design Guide’, and to embed draft ‘Connecting with Country Framework’. The Explanation of Intended Effect (EIE) for the proposed ‘Design and Place SEPP’ is currently on public exhibition and is open for comment.
The proposed SEPP puts Connecting with Country at the heart of a design-led, place-based approach. This means that Country must be part of design thinking, design practice, and design assessment. While this is not new for us at Nguluway DesignInc – many of our projects with the NSW Government have, to a greater or lesser degree, asked us to consider Indigenous heritage, culture and themes – we believe the Design and Place SEPP will drive a paradigm shift across NSW and across all projects.
Rather than being structured around controls or targets, the proposed SEPP is structured around the following five principles:
PRINCIPLE 1. Design places with beauty and character that people feel proud to belong to
PRINCIPLE 2. Design inviting public spaces to support engaged communities
PRINCIPLE 3. Design productive and connected places to enable thriving communities
PRINCIPLE 4. Design sustainable and greener places for the wellbeing of people and the environment
PRINCIPLE 5. Design resilient and diverse places for enduring communities
These principles are to be implemented through ‘design and place processes,’ which include:
engaging with Traditional Custodians;
place and site analysis;
site planning strategy; and
project staging, management and change over time.
At Nguluway DesignInc, we are heartened by the vision of the proposed SEPP. We understand that engaging with Traditional Custodians may impact the design of a precinct and how ideas of connecting with Country may be integrated into new developments. Our methodology already integrates connection with Country into all projects. It’s clear this is something that the design industry as a whole is also interested in and are looking for direction to deliver. On March 3rd at a public webinar on the proposed Design and Place SEPP, facilitated by the Government Architect’s office, NSW Government Architect Abbie Galvin commented on the role of the ‘Connecting with Country Framework’ as an important guidance document:
‘Essentially, what we are asking for in the SEPP is that new developments meaningfully engage with Traditional Custodians to get an insight from their approaches. It’s about being place-specific, it’s about listening and it’s about developing a common respect and understanding. At the very least it can be about understanding stories, it can be about traditional place names, it can be about respecting and acknowledging features on the site, or in the land, like local waterways or songlines, and bringing that back into public awareness. Bringing those stories back and prominent into our public places. While we are clearly at the very beginning of this, I would imagine with time this will be well and truly business-as-usual with precinct developments, and we will start getting used to the processes of how we work with knowledge-holders on their land.’
Nguluway DesignInc is uniquely placed to design and deliver projects that are in line with the proposed SEPP. Our team is led by First Nation architect, proud Wiradjuri man and member of the NSW Government Architect State Design Review Panel Craig Kerslake. We bring together Aboriginal leadership with the design and delivery experience of the team at DesignInc Sydney. We welcome the opportunity to build on the work we are already doing around inclusive and culturally sensitive design methodologies, authentic engagement with Traditional Custodians, and foundations in Country for our urban design, architecture, landscape and interior projects.
Each project, each place, each community has a different pathway, and will require a different solution – design whose processes and outcomes are connected to Country. With our unique design methodology, we are committed to working side-by-side and with respect, listening and acknowledging we are on a shared journey with Traditional Custodians, Knowledge Holders, and Aboriginal communities. Our goal is to walk these new pathways, continuing to forge new ways of designing to bring connection to Country authentically into our built environment.
